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This article was published 14/2/2020 (220 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

AS Winnipeg waits for March 6, the day the city’s executive policy committee will present the civic budget, it is clear we are at a crossroads, or perhaps a tipping point.

Winnipeg can continue with business as usual, on the track of top-down economic and fiscal policy in which low taxes attempt to lure private economic investment and developer profits dictate the expansion of our city, or we can recognize that restraint and mismanagement of public investment results in the conditions of injustice, despair, desperation, addiction and crime.

If we opt for the second choice, we can chart a new course toward good urban planning and adherence to those plans in both development decisions and budget deliberations.

The recent release of the Winnipeg Food Atlas illustrates how much of a change to investment is necessary — for instance, we funnel more than $639 million a year into treating diabetes, when what’s needed is support for efforts to prevent it. Illnesses such as diabetes that are described as "lifestyle related" are, in reality, equity related.

Political leaders would do well to listen to people who work in public health, and heed the research from jurisdictions that are moving in the right direction in terms of smart urban design and planning, and budgets that invest in wellness.

As we connect the dots of the effects of years of mean-spirited and short-sighted economic policy, we cannot continue to use the excuse of cutting our way to balanced budget in order to keep taxes down. We’ve won the race to the bottom — Winnipeg has the lowest municipal taxes in Canada. And the results are dire.

Now we must redistribute investment into the social and ecological determinants of health and well-being, which means into subsidized and public green housing, quality after-school and childcare services, income supports for low-wage workers and those who can’t work, and quality efforts to ensure food security.

This will require political and government leadership to work together collaboratively across jurisdictions and departments.

Recreation is not a frill. It is part of our health-care system; it prevents costly illness. Recreation facilities are, in effect, health infrastructure. More people swimming at the renovated Kinsman Sherbrook Pool means less people in critical care down the street at Health Sciences Centre.

Senior levels of government, if they were smart, would be funnelling funds into municipal recreation and active-living strategies and facilities. The social impact and health benefits from wise investment into community services would be measurable.

Our urban environment and access to transportation have a lot to do with healthy public policy and health equity. People who cannot afford transportation to where they can buy quality food are at risk of nutrition insecurity as they fill up on corner-store and food-bank fare of cheap, sugar-laden and starchy food.

People who work long hours, who eat out because they can’t take time to shop for and cook healthy meals, are in a similar position. A city designed for cars, where people rarely walk, bike or get active, is more likely to have a population facing obesity and at risk for diabetes. People whose work life is so time-consuming they do not have time for recreation, physical activity and family time can be as much at risk, as the Food Atlas shows, as those who are stressed due to poverty.

Our work/life balance is affected by our built environment and our city’s economic policy, because these are what make or break our ability to "choose" to live healthy.

Winnipeg has a complete communities direction strategy that integrates and addresses these issues. The problem comes at budget time, when decisions at city hall don’t follow it. Winnipeg has policies to make our city equitable, healthy and sustainable if city council and administration follow their own rules.

The upcoming civic budget must be more innovative in order to raise revenue by turning problems into job creation, in such areas as green energy, contaminated-site remediation, food security and urban agriculture, public and active transportation, urban forestry, wellness, and child and elder care, to name a few.

A green jobs plan for Winnipeg must be top priority for future investment. The days of tax cuts and urban sprawl must be put behind us. The stresses of poverty and working just to pay for an unsustainable way of life create a fast track to illness.

We should aspire to make Winnipeg the healthiest city in Canada, with improved health equity and health outcomes for all of us, guided by a budget that is forward-looking, green and fair. After all, fair is the new smart.

Marianne Cerilli is a health educator, former MLA and community development aficionado.