Revenue is needed to pay for Manitoba’s pressing problems

Previously published in the Winnipeg Free Press, March 6, 2024 The first budget of the new Manitoba government needs to shore up tax revenue to pay for essential public services and act on costly social and environmental challenges …

The high cost of austerity

By Niigaan Sinclair Previously published in the Winnipeg Free Press June 23, 2023 After winning the 2016 provincial election, then-premier Brian Pallister moved Manitoba’s department of Indigenous and northern affairs under the municipal relations banner — suggesting a …

Response to True North Real Estate purchase option for Portage Place Mall

March 6, 2023 For Immediate Release Winnipeg (Treaty One): True North Real Estate purchase option goes against the community vision for Portage Place land and mall. 

Time is Now for 2020 Vision: Need Manitoba Climate & Social Action Budget

Portage Place: Let’s Take Back What’s Ours

The $41 million (in 2019 dollars) in public money invested in Portage Place means that Portage Place is ours. We fought for that money in the 1970s: it was the Inner City Committee for Rail Relocation that struggled …

A Climate Emergency Calls for a Green New Deal (Not a Pipeline)

By Laura Cameron I feel like I’m living in two alternate realities. On the one hand, governments in Canada and around the world are heeding the voices of the youngest and most vulnerable communities and have declared a …

Social Impact Bonds: A Costly Innovation

by Jesse Hajer Social Impact Bonds or ‘SIBs’ are a relatively new mechanism for governments to fund social services, but since being introduced they have been controversial, due to higher costs and payments to private investors. Despite funding …

Manitoba’s Climate & Green Plan: Catastrophic Failure of Leadership

By Mark Hudson Last week, the Manitoba government announced it would amend Bill 16, the “Climate and Green Plan,” to eliminate its flat $25/tonne carbon tax, leaving it essentially empty of any real action on climate change. Just …

No Poverty Reduction Strategy in Speech from the Throne

By Josh Brandon Tuesday morning, I received a phone call from a Make Poverty History Manitoba member. He lives on a disability benefit that provides him only $180 per month for food and other basic necessities. He wanted …

Income Security to End Poverty in Manitoba

By Andrew Clark Income security programs in Manitoba and Canada are not keeping pace with the growing problem of poverty. Change is needed to ensure low income and vulnerable people and families do not become entrapped in a …