Canada Belongs to the People Who Live Here

A public accountability position by Jannetje Van Went

I want film crews to work here. I want Canadian artists, tradespeople and local businesses to succeed. I also want a government that remembers whose streets, neighbourhoods, heritage and public resources make that work possible.

In 2020, Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative government proposed changing traffic control rules for film productions. Its stated concern was that productions might choose somewhere else if they could not secure traffic control services. That tells us what question the government was prepared to answer for the industry. I want to know whether it asked equally hard questions for the public: What protections remain? Who pays the full cost? Who gets the jobs? What happens when residents or small businesses are disrupted?

That is the standard I will apply to every major deal involving public land, public money or public authority. An industry’s threat to leave cannot be the end of the discussion. Government’s job is to negotiate for the people it represents.

I oppose the Progressive Conservative approach where it puts a company’s convenience ahead of a clear public accounting. Film, mining and energy can create real jobs and value. Their size or revenue alone does not tell a family whether wages are enough, whether housing is affordable, whether a street is safe, or whether a community has a say in what happens to it.

Before a government changes a rule or grants an incentive, the public deserves plain answers:

• What is the change, and who requested it?

• What public protections still apply?

• What will residents and local businesses receive?

• Who bears the costs and risks?

• How will the government measure the result and correct harm?

I want those answers in public records, before decisions are made whenever possible. I want meaningful consultation with affected residents, workers, municipalities and Indigenous governments. I want local benefits that can be measured and enforced.

This October 28, Winnipeg voters will choose municipal leaders. I will ask candidates how they will protect neighbourhoods and heritage, administer filming permits fairly, and account for the use of city streets and services. I will keep pressing provincial leaders about provincial law and incentives, and federal leaders about federal decisions. Each government should answer for the powers it actually holds.

My position is simple: Canada’s success must be measured by the lives of its people, not only by the balance sheets of the companies operating here. If public power helps create private profit, the public must be able to see the return.