Road investment focus of election campaign messages: MHCA

The MHCA will use radio ads, social media posts and regional road billboards to encourage people to vote for better roads, as part of the provincial election campaign this fall.

The media campaign begins September 4 and runs through to the election October 2. The provincial election takes place Tuesday, Oct. 3.

The intent is to ensure provincial candidates, leaders and parties talk about the importance of highways and roads to communities and the economy, underscoring the need for strong investment planning.

The MHCA, further, is hosting with eight other business associations a Party Leaders Forum September 12. The breakfast forum will see Premier Heather Stefanson, Opposition leader Wab Kinew and Liberal leader Dougald Lamont answer questions about their plans, post-election, to grow Manitoba’s economy.

For tickets to the Forum, click here.

The party leaders will also be laying out their economic growth plans in articles they will submit for the MHCA September 23 supplement in the Winnipeg Free Press.

The election campaign strategy was discussed August 30 at the MHCA Executive Committee meeting.

The Committee approved a motion that calls upon a Canadian Construction Association committee to strike a task force to review and make recommendations regarding the future of environmentally sustainable technologies and equipment in the heavy construction industry.

The motion will be taken to CCA’s Civil National Advisory Committee, chaired by Nicole Chabot, immediate past chair of the MHCA Board of Directors. Its mandate is to:

• Assess the state, environmental advantages and opportunities of emerging and market-ready options for heavy equipment, new materials and operational practices.
• Assess the various barriers to accelerated adoption of environmentally responsible practices such as resource management, integration of low-carbon technologies, recycling of materials and cost-benefits of new equipment and practices.
• Examine opportunities for retrofitting and decommissioning of equipment
• Assess the implications to industry, business and workforce re-training arising from public policy and regulatory direction mandating reduction of carbon footprint.

Other items discussed by the Executive Committee include:

• MHCA, through the WCR&HCA and leading Canadian business associations, will be advancing the Canada Trade Infrastructure Plan at the federal level. CTIP’s principles were endorsed by the Premiers’ Council of the Federation in July; the goal is to see the federal government endorse CTIP and in Budget 2024 signal its intent to begin working on the strategy.
• A formal process document for reviewing roadbuilding specification changes has been drafted. An external consultant assisted City of Winnipeg, engineering and heavy construction representatives in drafting the process for the Specification Review Working Group, which discusses proposed roadbuilding specifications. We appreciate Coun. Janice Lukes’ support in this important development.
• Scott Aikman, of Glacial Aggregates, was named co-chair, with a representative of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, of the provincial Quarry Rehab Advisory Committee, which met in August.
• The committee was informed that:
  • The 2023 program consists of
    • $1.8m rehab on private lands (Over-subscribed in 2023 as $4.6m in project application were received)
      • Approvals for $1.8m expect by the end of August
    • $1m on Crown land rehab
      • Expectation is that tendering could occur mid to late September.
  • The provincial program office has been augmented, and pre-planning for the 2024 program is underway
  • Quarry rehab levy will increase to $0.22 per tonne in 2024; Committee members noted that at least three months’ notice was required.
  • Timeliness in quarry in quarry approvals and renewals was raised.
• City Council’s Public Works Committee will be asked to approve the formal terms of reference for a Goods Movement Advisory Committee, of which MHCA is a member, at its October meeting. It will also discuss a recommendation;
  • to identify the importance of trade to Winnipeg and regional economies, and the role that transportation plays in trade growth
  • criteria be adopted to assess, in the design of the transportation system, the need to ensure the efficient and cost-effective movement of goods
• The Manitoba government committed to establishing a working group to review and update the Builders Lien Act to further the development of prompt payment rules.