END CHILD HUNGER

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“Winnipeggers Living in poverty affects every aspect of life. It limits where people  can travel when they cannot afford gas or bus fare, and it can force  families into impossible situations, like choosing between paying for  housing and paying for food. Reducing poverty produces better outcomes  in education, employment, and community safety. The City of Winnipeg  has many policy tools to address poverty issues in the areas of safety for  all, transit, housing, recreation, and more. Reducing poverty is also a key dimension of reconciliation — the Truth  and Reconciliation Commission considers poverty and homelessness  as just some of the devastating legacies of residential schools, and  Indigenous people continue to be overrepresented among those living in  poverty.1 Since other AMB chapters such as housing, safety, and Indigenous  relations address poverty reduction policy, this poverty reduction chapter  will focus on areas including living wage, education, social procurement,  and community economic development 

  Poverty reduction plan

 After many community organizations advocated hard for a comprehensive  poverty plan in Winnipeg, the City of Winnipeg responded by putting out  its first poverty reduction strategy in 2021.2 It was created with the help  of frontline community members to tackle poverty at its root causes, but  was released with no resources or new budgetary commitments. At the  time of the four year budget cycle at the City of Winnipeg, Make Poverty  

 History Manitoba’s City Working Group advanced several priorities for  the City to include in its budget, in the areas of safety, transit, youth  programming, and staff training in anti-oppression. Unfortunately, none  of these were funded.3 The AMB will resource the Winnipeg Poverty  Reduction Plan to make a real dent in poverty in Winnipeg. Expenditures  related to transit, recreation, and safety are listed in other chapters 

 Living wage

 All Winnipeggers should have access to an income that enables them to  meet all their basic needs and to participate fully in their community and  in the economy. The 2025 Winnipeg living wage, as calculated by CCPA  Manitoba, is $19.77 an hour.4 The living wage provides a wage sufficient  to afford necessities such as food, shelter, childcare, and transportation,  but it does not cover the costs of loans, debt payments, or saving for  retirement. While the provincial government is responsible for setting the  minimum wage and for setting Employment and Income Assistance rates,  

the City can play a role in improving income and employment outcomes  for Winnipeggers with its own hiring practices, ensuring a living wage  for City of Winnipeg employees and contractors. CUPE Local 500 has  negotiated wages for the lowest paid employees that are equivalent to  a living wage, which is a step forward. However, all service providers  and sub-contractors going forward should pay a living wage. The City of  Winnipeg has previously estimated the cost of ensuring all contractors  pay at least a living wage to be $1.6 million 

 Buy local

 The “elbows up” movement began in Canada in response to the threats  of tariffs from the U.S. Local purchasing programs ensure that municipal  tax dollars achieve a greater economic impact within a given city or  region, recirculating within the local economy to promote employment  and spending, rather than leaking out to other jurisdictions. Winnipeggers  spoke out about this in spring 2026 when a long-standing local contract  for food services at several golf courses was granted to an American  corporate food contractor, Aramark, over the iconic local restaurant  Salisbury House, which had held the contract for 16 years. The City stated  this decision was in part a result of local preference prohibitions within  North American free trade agreements.6 While there are limits in Canadian trade deals to buying local, they  are not determinative. Winnipeg can establish a Buy Local policy and  identify suppliers with intrinsic characteristics. For example, the city  could give preference to unionized workplaces, co-operatives, or certified  sustainable or fair-trade goods and services.