Creative Resolutions In Action

If you are interested in what makes a Livable City, you are probably familiar to the work of Lisa Prime.

She is known throughout this industry for her ability to bring this diverse array of stakeholders together. This includes identifying opportunities that benefit from the convergence of environmental, business and social considerations.  Lisa believes, that we need well-constructed policies to guide the planning for major development projects including infrastructure revitalization featured in regional economic plans.

Why you should care?

When the Winnipeg METRO Region was charged with helping the Province develop its Regional Growth Management and Servicing Plan, Lisa Prime was one on the first persons we reach out to.  After all, she is an expert at developing policy, master plan and strategy as well as implementation collaborations for real estate development, including low carbon technologies. Lisa also brings an expertise in partnerships, funding, procurement and government relations with in the public sector, development and corporate clients.

Lisa has been involved with several bell weather projects like Mattamy Homes, City of Markham and Enwave; and a leadership policy for the 2041 Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan.

On Today’s Podcast

On today’s podcast we talk with Lisa Prime from PRIME Strategy & Planning as she works with the Winnipeg METRO Region to develop a Regional Growth Management and Servicing Plan. From her work on Toronto Waterfront and the Don River restoration project Lisa discusses similarities that she might draw on from her experience when looking to sustainably plan a growing METRO Region such as the one in Manitoba.

Lisa also shares the importance of working with partners in business and industry and the opportunity to bring folks together on a shared benefit and find ways to improve processes but also improve performance with a made-at-home approach.

Highlighted Quotes

I think the opportunity to bring folks together on a shared benefit and find ways to improve processes but also improve performance and the objectives you are trying to do in this world of climate change based city planning approach is super important.

You do a better job of working together and finding those right tools and levers to support the development community than working against them. 

I think the opportunity to apply a regional lens to a project area with several communities and find a collaboration approach that can really benefit the whole.

When do city building nowadays, city/region building and deal with growth issues we have to factor in climate change. 

Paul Thomas is a scholar, teacher, researcher, and mentor in the field of public administration and has been for over 40 years. Over his long and distinguished career, he has encouraged an ethical standard for public service in Manitoba. Paul is currently the Professor Emeritus for the Faculty of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba and is still very active in the METRO Region community. 

Why you should care?

Do you ever think that the challenges of Manitoba would raise to the level of complexity of a world hotspot like the Middle East? Former Premier Garry Doer once compared our provincial challenges and the skills of our guest today as both raising to that level.   He said that if Paul Thomas could solve the intransigency our systemic challenges, he would qualify to solve world peace or at least the challenges of the Middle East.   How could you not want to hear what he has to say about Manitoba today.  

Paul brings the perspective of a distinguished professor, researcher and expert in public administration.  In some cultures, we would revere this lifetime of perspective and call him an elder.   So listen up and pay attention to this installment.

On Today’s Podcast

On today’s podcast we talk with Paul Thomas a scholar, teacher, researcher, and mentor in the field of public administration for over 40 years. Over his long career he has encouraged an ethical standard for public service in Manitoba and raised the bar for public servants and elected officials alike. 

Since 2003 when Thomas and his team wrote and released A Partnership for the Future: Putting the Pieces Together, he had been thinking about the necessary elements to get the Region moving and one of them was exploring what makes a Metro Region Model work. 

In this episode, we have the chance to talk with Thomas and get his sage advice about what will get leaders to the table and keep them there. Upon reflection of his twenty plus years of seeing the regional issue tossed around in report after report, Thomas still believes that building a long-term plan is long over due and still a very worthy cause. 

Highlighted Quotes:

There’s no silver bullet here, there’s nothing here that makes it easy, it’s just hard grinding work. It takes commitment, it takes patience and it takes perseverance.

­­­­­You've got to do something to force action by governments – and I tried it on two other occasions. 

we’ve got to speed it up, we’ve got to make greater headway 

other city regions are moving faster than us and their getting the advantage 

We live in a global world now where economic activity people capital jobs moves all over the globe. We won’t get into the game unless we organize ourselves effectively. 

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If you could,

When you think about the future of Manitoba, most people think of Jobs, Technology and jobs again. Mike Moore is one the people who knows that the backbone of being ready to join the global economy start with, (Drum Roll Please!) LAND USE. How we build the plan for how we will use our most valuable if resources, our land, is where it all begins.

Dorothy Dobbie is a businesswoman, writer, a photographer, a speaker, a former Politian, a publisher and a radio host. 

Why you should care

In today’s there are few opportunities for people of two countries to have something, anything, to facilitate warm friendships through an inspiring and enriching experience.  That is what Dorothy Dobbie is charged with in her new role as the Finance Chair of the Board of the International Peace Garden.  With her career that includes being a businesswoman, a writer, photographer, speaker, politician, publisher and radio host this new role will call on all here many skills.    

In this role she is called on to build new opportunities to collaborate nationally through renewing this magnificent garden by enhancing the programming toward peace and justice.   This garden is a jewel for Manitoba, straddling the boarder with North Dakota, it has a long and prestigious history.  In 1928 it was created through the vision of Dr. Henry J Moore, a Canadian Horticulturist who was inspired while attending a gathering of gardeners in Greenwich, Connecticut.  He conceived of creating a garden on the international boundary where the people of the two countries could come enjoy the experience and lead to building warm friendship.  

On Today’s Podcast 

In this episode we talk to Dorothy Dobbie, a businesswoman, a writer, a photographer, a speaker, a former Politian, a publisher and a radio host. 

Dorothy is currently the founder and president of Pegasus Publications a media company that is responsible for many important local, regional and national publications.

In 1988 to 1993, Dorothy was a member of the Canadian Parliament.  She served as parliamentary secretary on several high-profile portfolios.

Dorothy is an enthusiastic community leader and was awarded a Queen’s Jubilee medal for her community involvement. Dorothy is also my mentor and friend. 

Throughout Dorothy’s career she has consistently worked to bring communities together.

One of Dorothy’s passions these days is her incredible work on the International Peace Garden. Not unlike today the International Peace garden project was spearheaded by strong leadership from the highest levels of society and saw Lady Eaton from Canada and Clara Jane Ford from the US as early champions. The International project sparked the imagination of many and drew people it, the art of the possible with 50,000 people attending the dedication ceremony on 14 July 1932.

Dorothy is also involved with the One Million Tree Challenge launched this September by the City of Winnipeg in partnership with CN and Tree Canada. The initiative will see one million trees be planted as the population of the city grows to one million over the next 20 years. The One Million Tree Challenge encourages involvement from every level of the community and will help the city of Winnipeg to maintain its tree canopy despite the threats of emerald ash border beetle and Dutch elm disease. Dorothy encourages individuals as well as organizations such as the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region to get involved.

Highlighted Quotes

What we hope is to build a conflict resolution centre where we will be able to bring people from all over the world to talk over their problems and difficulties and arrive at peaceful solutions.

When you work together, when you collaborate, when you cooperate – you build something bigger. 

If your communities come together and plan and c...

Dave Boles is the vice president of Winnipeg Communities for Genstar Development Company – a development company with the vision of bringing land to life.

Why you should care:

Where do you live?  Are you happy there? Are you raising your family in a community you like?  Is your house overpriced?  Are there cost efficient alternatives to single unit housing in Manitoba?  If you have any questions about this topic you must listen to our conversation with Dave Boles.  As a leading representative in the development community, Dave shares the ins and outs of how developers sit at the crossroads of investors, the government, the real estate markets and infrastructure planning that helps define our housing marketplace.  Dave shares some of his wisdom of the market to help us understand what actually determines these decisions.  You will be surprise for sure.

Dave Boles understands all or this from the point of view as a developer with Genstar Development Company.  With a background in planning and years of experience with Winnipeg communities, Dave emphasizes the importance for a regional land use infrastructure and servicing plan within the Winnipeg METRO Region.  Dave explains how this will lead to increased predictability in the market, which is an asset to investors, and in the long run will benefit the Province as we stirive to compete in the global market.

On today’s podcast:

In this episode we talk to Dave Boles, Vice President of Winnipeg Communities for Genstar Development Company - a valued member of the METRO Region Partner Network - where we explore the link between good planning and investment attraction. Dave, who is not originally from Winnipeg, holds a masters’ degree in planning from the University of Guelph and an MBA from the University of Winnipeg.

Dave has a long history as an urban planner and brings his experience from other jurisdictions to link regional land use with infrastructure planning in the Winnipeg METRO Region and he echoes what many leaders in land development are saying: to ensure that communities thrive long into the future, good planning makes for better decision making.

Dave sees firsthand housing market trends in the Winnipeg METRO Region. There are a variety of different housing types that cater to different household situations, demographics and certainly immigration is an influencing factor.

With the development community making major investments in the Winnipeg METRO Region, it is important that we build partnerships and find collaborative ways to work together to ensure that our region becomes even more attractive for investors and long-term planning in the region is a great place to begin to build these partnerships. 

Highlighted Quotes

I got into planning because I believe in good community building, good city building, good region building and that’s what drove me in the first place, it interested me.

We’re making large investments in land, sometimes longer-term land, particularly when your making an investment in longer term land the infrastructure isn’t necessarily in place yet but there is a plan to put it in place. That’s important. 

The driver for us now in the decisions we’re making and where we already have made investments in land and where we’re developing communities, it’s all about affordability.

Looking at it from sort of more the perspective of “where would we invest?” you follow the pipe, but the pipe is going to go where it makes the most sense to go,

Have you ever met someone that is so smart and so accomplished and yet so engaging in their personhood that every time you see them is memorable? That is how it is with Merrell-Ann Phare. She is not a flash in the pan expert, but someone that will dazzle you with her in depth knowledge of water, the law and Indigenous rights. So if you get a chance to hear her, like on this podcast, you would be wise to listen.

Robert Sandford is the EPCOR Chair in Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. 

Why You Should Care

Canada is a land of over 30K lakes, abundant land and has a reputation as a nation with an abiding respect for its resources. So why would we believe that our access to our water supply is anything but secure? My next guest on Creative Resolutions in Action knows something about water and climate security. In fact, did you know that Canada was tied for 7th among the G-7 countries for its progress on climate change? Bob Sanford did.

Bob Sandford has spent his life working to understand our relationship with water here in Manitoba, in Canada and as well as in other parts of the world and he has some strong words and a stark message we had better all pay attention to. 

Sandford who has worked with all levels of government in Canada and across the globe believes that leaders, at all levels and across all sectors, need to be planning. He also shares that planning on a regional scale may be the best way forward to address our water and climate related impacts in Manitoba. 

Sandford urges leaders to transcend individual and local interest and to unify the region around solutions such as the ones proposed in the Collaborative Leadership Initiative, an initiative which brought Chiefs, Mayors and Reeves to the decision table for the first time in over 150 years to begin to tackle the challenges of water, economy and the prosperity of our communities.  

On Today’s Podcast 

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In this episode we talk to Bob Sandford who holds the EPCOR Chair in Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. Bob is the co-author of the UN Water in the World We Want - a preeminent report on water globally. 

Throughout Bob’s career he has consistently translated scientific research into action to guide decision makers across all sectors. Over the past ten years Bob has turned his attention to Lake Winnipeg and has championed various initiatives that aim to bring attention to one of the most threatened lakes in the world. Bob has also supported the Collaborative Leadership Initiative over the past two years and speaks across Canada on the importance of Chiefs, Mayors and Reeves coming together to begin to tackle shared objectives around the environment, the economy and in our communities.  

Canadians don’t know how fortunate they are and how much potential we have here to deal with very serious pending problems.

We’re no longer waiting for climate change. 10 years ago we described what might happen as the climate warmed, now we are showing and demonstrating to people what is happening. 

We need to restructure our governance and the best way to do that is to start regionally. 

(The Collaborative Leadership Initiative) is a huge economic growth opportunity and its an opportunity to build a stronger Manitoba in the future. 

If I had one piece of advice to offer everyone involved in the Collaborative Leadership Initiative, in terms of moving forward, I would offer this: you have no choice.

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Have you subscribed to Creative Resolutions in Action yet? If you want a mixture of smart conversation, expert advice,