Speaking Up Fall 2022: Why Politicians and Big Business Love P3s, but the Rest of Us Shouldn’t with Simon Enoch

Registration required for event.  Please register for this and other events this fall at http://policyfix.ca/2022/09/14/speaking-up-fall-2022/

Winnipeg’s Financial Cupboard is Bare

By Ian Hudson and Katherine Burley

Election 2022 Winnipeg’s next mayor

October 6, 2022 

I’m being asked which mayoral candidate with the potential to win Winnipeg’s election has the better platform when it comes to policing, recreation, housing, taxation and equity, topics we regularly publish on at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) Manitoba office. 

Experiences of trauma prevent people from planning for financial future, finds new report 

October 4, 2022

Code Red: Winnipeg’s Fire and Paramedic Service Infrastructure Deficit

For Immediate Release (Treaty One, Winnipeg): October 3, 2022  

CODE RED: WINNIPEG FIRE AND PARAMEDIC INFRASTRUCTURE DEFICIT LOOMING – NEW REPORT

New report: Falling Behind: Service and Wage decline at the City of Winnipeg

by Jack MacAulay and Niall Harney

Report Launch: Safer Schools Without Policing Indigenous and Black Lives in Winnipeg

This event will launch Fadi Ennab’s report, Safer Schools Without Policing Indigenous and Black Lives in Winnipeg in partnership with Police-Free Schools Winnipeg.

Register for the event by clicking here.

Speaking Up Fall 2022


Thursday October 13, 7pm – 8:15 pm online

Why Politicians and Big Business Love P3s, but the Rest of Us Shouldn’t, with Simon Enoch

Zoom Registration here

Proponents of Public Private Partnerships (P3s) like to paint a very rosy picture of what the model can deliver. It’s a way for cash-strapped governments to deliver public infrastructure it otherwise couldn’t afford; it delivers projects on-time and on-budget; it harnesses private innovation to deliver cost effective and efficient building methods. Yet, governments that rely heavily on the P3s for public infrastructure are now awash in debt, and preside over crumbling schools, hospitals, roads and water plants. How P3s promise so much and deliver so little? CCPA-SK Director Simon Enoch breaks down the P3 model, demonstrating how it is a rigged game, designed to benefit big corporations and politicians, and leave the public holding the bag.  

Simon Enoch is the Director of the Saskatchewan Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Regina. He is the author of two reports on P3s – “Is There Value in Value for Money Assessments? Testing the VfM Test in Western Canada” and “A Partnership in Name Only: How the Public Sector Subsidizes the P3 Model – as well as numerous blogs and op-eds.


Thursday November 10, 7pm – 8:15 pm

Health Transformation and Innovation for Northern First Nations, with Dr Barry Lavalee

Zoom registration here.

Dr. Barry Lavallee is a member of the Metis community of St. Laurent, Manitoba and a descendent of Duck Bay and Lake Manitoba First Nations. He is a family physician specializing in Indigenous health and northern practice focused on the healing needs of First Nation and Métis communities. Barry’s research is centered on chronic diseases, transgenerational trauma, the impact of colonization on Indigenous communities and international Indigenous health. He was the Director of Student Support and Education for the Centre for Aboriginal Health Education and Indigenous Health UGME Curriculum Lead for the University of Manitoba. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin INC. (KIM), focusing on Health Transformation and Innovation to address inequities for Northern First Nations.


Thursday December 8, 7 pm – 8:15 pm

Choice, Inclusion, Social Justice: Get Ready for the Battle! with Ellen Kruger and Kemlin Nembhard

Zoom Registration here

Access to reproductive health services is a social justice issue. Such access helps guarantee the right of “security of the person” for women. During the 1980’s, in Manitoba and Canada, there was a protracted reproductive choice campaign that resulted, in 1988, in the elimination of the law restricting abortion services in Canada. The struggle for reproductive health services and reproductive choice has continued since then. To expand and entrench access to reproductive health, including access to abortion services, there is still much to be done. We will need to organize to prepare our community for the onslaught against reproductive health services that is bound to come to Canada from the United States.

Ellen Kruger is a long-time women’s health activist. She was founding board chair of the Women’s Health Clinic which opened in 1981 and the chairwoman of and spokesperson for the Coalition for Reproductive Choice from 1981 to 1989.


Kemlin Nembhard is the Executive Director of the Women’s Health Clinic in Winnipeg.

MB “Family Affordability Package” inadequate to deal with the rising cost of living – CCPA MB Response 

August 31, 2022 

For Immediate Release (Winnipeg, Treaty One) – The Manitoba government’s announcement today is insufficient to address the impacts of inflation on Manitoba families. 

Families with children: It is regressive for public funds to provide a flat amount for families with a household income of less than $175,000 a year with children. The cost of necessities, such as shelter, food and fuel, make up more than half of the expenditures of poor households (in the lowest income quintile). Comparatively, households that are higher up the income ladder spend less than 30% on such necessities. 

A Living Wage for Winnipeg is $18.34/ hour, Brandon $15.66/hour, Thompson $16.25/hour: Report

August 25, 2022 Winnipeg, Treaty One Territory – The Manitoba Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives calculates that a family of four, with two working parents, would require a wage of $18.34/ hour in Winnipeg, $15.66/ hour in Brandon and $16.25/ hour in Thompson in order to maintain a modest standard of living in each respective city. The living wage reflects the income required to support a family based on the actual costs of living in a specific community. This includes costs for housing, transportation, and food, among other items.