By Chris Lorenc
One of the primary human needs, after water, is shelter. This is the core service REALTORS® help provide to citizens and our communities.
And it’s one of the key affinities between the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board and the heavy construction industry — nothing gets built until pipes go in the ground and the roads get laid. So, we are both critical, foundational steps to people finding a home.
We are both foundational to strong, thriving neighbourhoods and to the success of a city.
That success rides on economic growth — the key to job creation, secure incomes and lasting careers.
The Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA) anchors all its advocacy in the proposition that economic growth is job #1 for all levels of government.
But it takes investment, first, to pursue and execute on the essential elements required for economic growth.
First, our economies — federal, provincial and municipal — rely on trade to generate the revenues necessary to fund the core services and cultural amenities that make our communities whole and livable. So, we need to see the federal and provincial governments agreeing on a trade corridor investment strategy.
Second, our transportation systems in and out of our towns and cities, our provinces and beyond, need to be modern, efficient, connected and fluid. Trade requires seamless movement of goods and people.
This is why municipalities have to think about maintaining and funding new transportation assets — a strategy to ensure they can accommodate population and commercial growth, looking not just at the immediate construction costs but also the “life-cycle” costs, such as maintenance.
Municipalities today are not able to craft and invest in such a strategy because they are strained for cash.
This then brings us to the third, pivotal aspect of a truly workable, wholistic approach to economic growth. Cities must be enabled with modern, innovative ways to generate revenue to allow them to invest strategically to attract new citizens, businesses and commercial
developments.
At present, however, Canada’s municipalities are shackled in their ability to raise revenues because — as creatures of provinces — they’re tied to an antiquated model struck at the turn of the last century around their responsibilities and their taxing authority.
That’s why they rely so heavily on property taxes. It’s why the fees and levies at their disposal are rising, steeply.
It’s also why they are regularly forced to go, cap in hand, to the steps of Broadway to ask that transfers and funding agreements are renewed and updated, to reflect the rising cost of services as ratepayers demand solutions to the issues of homelessness, crime and addictions.
It’s why we need a better deal — a new fiscal deal that brings city-building into the 21st century.
This starts with a conversation between our municipalities and the provincial government, to strike a better, fairer balance between responsibilities and revenue sharing.
At present, municipalities own more than 50% of public infrastructure but they get just 10 cents of every tax dollar raised.
How can a city raise sufficient resources to invest in new cultural and recreational amenities that make them alluring, and to lay down the water and sewer infrastructure necessary to open new residential or commercial developments?
These are all things vital to competing for new business, attracting site selectors who scout for industrial or commercial relocations, and drawing in young professionals seeking career advance.
We cannot allow our municipalities to stagnate for lack of revenue-generating power.
A new fiscal deal can rebalance the sharing of revenues and open new taxing powers so municipalities can take advantage of taxes that grow the economy (income, retail sales). But it doesn’t stop there. Municipalities must help themselves.
That is why the MHCA has proposed that Winnipeg City Council put economic growth at the heart of all its city development strategies, including OurWinnipeg, the Transportation Master Plan, and the Strategic Priorities Action Plan. And to ensure all departments and senior administration offices are focused on economic growth, including in budget priority planning, Winnipeg should appoint a Chief Economic Development Officer, reporting to the Chief Administration Officer.
These first steps would give the mayor and council “skin in the game” at the table, talking to provincial counterparts about re-aligning the fiscal deal.
A new fiscal deal would not be a silver bullet. Municipalities today face enormous challenges; housing being just one of the main priorities.
But it is a start — a necessary start — without which cities will simply be shaving money from one municipal service line to fund another.
That is not the way great cities are made. We need to talk about building greatness, not squeezing more pennies from property. We need to talk about a new fiscal deal.
And if you agree with this, too, please call the Mayor and tell him that, and then call your MLA who can get the conversation started.
Chris Lorenc is the President & CEO of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association and the Western Canada Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction Association.