This is Manitoba

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Get into some local listening - we celebrate Manitobans and lean into challenging conversations. Join homegrown host Marcy Markusa for a new episode every Friday that centres around one story from our province. Whether you hail from the oil patch in Virden or the wheat fields of the Red River Valley, if you fly home to Island Lake or you make music in Winnipeg - This is Manitoba is a podcast for you.

3D AGO

Can Manitoba fix health-care waits in 2026?

Manitoba’s health-care system has been strained for years. The median wait times at Winnipeg hospitals now regularly exceed 3.5 hours, according to data from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Waits for diagnostic testing and several key surgeries, including hip and knee operations, also rose this year, provincial data shows. But Premier Wab Kinew says he's confident a fix is just around the corner. In a year-end interview with CBC, Kinew was asked when his government will fix those long waits. He said that will happen in 2026. Provincial affairs reporter Ian Froese joins the show to tell us more about the interview, unpack whether this latest timeline is feasible and explain why health-care professionals say they have their doubts.

19 min
2025-12-26

Why this sand mining project is making waves in Manitoba

It’s been nearly a decade since Sio Silica staked its first claims in southern Manitoba. Initially, the Alberta-based company was searching for sand deposits as a source for the material used to facilitate oil extraction, which could then be sold to the oil and gas industry for fracking. What’s followed has been a long and winding saga for residents of southeastern Manitoba, Sio Silica executives and stakeholders –– and a battleground of political intrigue. CBC’s Bartley Kives joins the pod to take us through the evolution of Sio Silica’s plans, why residents are concerned, and the latest political turmoil that’s unfolded around the proposed resource-extraction project.

22 min
2025-12-19

More Manitobans, including those with jobs, turning to food banks for help

Food insecurity is growing in Manitoba. About 60,000 people across the province access food banks every month, according to new data from Manitoba Harvest. That represents a 150 per cent increase since 2020, and there are other notable trends. The latest numbers show that a third of people accessing food banks are employed, and more clients are families with children under the age of 18. This week, we put faces to the numbers in the 2025 Harvest Voices report, speaking to Manitobans about their experiences using the province’s food banks. We hear from Harvest president and CEO Vince Barletta about the latest data, and small business owner Miranda Mirlycourtois explains how she’s using social media to fight the stigma of being a food bank user.

14 min
2025-12-12

Why Winnipeg's parking-snitch plan failed

The Winnipeg Parking Authority pitched a plan to city hall that would make it possible for the public to report illegally parked vehicles by submitting photos. It didn’t take long for city council to park the plan. The public works committee voted in favour of temporarily stopping the plan from being pursued further. Both councillors and the public expressed concern, saying it sounded like people were being encouraged to "snitch" on their neighbours, and they worried it would pit Winnipeggers against each other. It isn't the first time the city, or the province, has explored the option of asking Manitobans to report their neighbours for bad behaviour. We chart some of the more notable snitching schemes over the years, we hear from Len Eastoe, a former police officer and founder of Traffic Ticket Experts, about the flaws in this latest plan, and Arthur Schaefer, a University of Manitoba ethics expert, shares his take on why this pitch got people talking for all the wrong reasons.

16 min
2025-12-05

Violence on Winnipeg Transit is way up. What's the city doing about it?

Violence on public transit is on the rise across the country, a new investigation from CBC News and the Investigative Journalism Foundation found. In Winnipeg, the trend is stark: violent incidents on buses have increased over 280 per cent since 2018. The Amalgamated Transit Union has been sounding the alarm for months now. Despite new measures like protective shields for drivers and safety patrols, union president Chris Scott says much more needs to be done.

15 min
2025-11-28

Wab Kinew has big plans for Manitoba. Can he deliver?

This month, the province laid out its plan for Manitoba in the speech from the throne. An end to mandatory overtime for nurses, a new fuel-generating system in Westman, Winnipeg’s first supervised consumption site and cheaper groceries –– we get more details from Premier Wab Kinew on some of the major promises he's made.

24 min
2025-11-21

How Manitoba’s arts scene got its groove back

In October, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra announced it had reached an operating surplus for the first time in five years. It’s been a struggle for Manitoba arts organizations in the five years since the pandemic, many of whom have seen years of deficits, made programming changes, petitioned governments for more funding and appealed to audiences to come back. And finally, they’re starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. WSO executive director Angela Birdsell talks about navigating post-pandemic challenges, while Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre artistic director Kelly Thornton explains how the organization is catering to audiences' changing needs.

25 min
2025-11-14

Winnipeg wants encampments to move. Will it work?

Next week, a new bylaw goes into effect in Winnipeg that restricts where people can set up encampments. The tent cities have become more common in recent years as the number of people experiencing homelessness has surged. We hear from CBC’s Cameron MacLean, who spoke to people living in the camps, nearby neighbours and city officials to find out what these new rules could mean. Community reporter Jim Agapito checks in with Osborne Village residents about what they think of the new plan. Shauna MacKinnon, professor and chair in the department of urban and inner-city studies at the University of Winnipeg and a member of Manitoba's Right to Housing coalition, weighs in on why the plan is flawed and reflects the growing pressure on governments to deliver on promises that are difficult to keep.

18 min

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THIS IS MANITOBA

Get into some local listening - we celebrate Manitobans and lean into challenging conversations. Join homegrown host Marcy Markusa for a new episode every Friday that centres around one story from our province. Whether you hail from the oil patch in Virden or the wheat fields of the Red River Valley, if you fly home to Island Lake or you make music in Winnipeg - This is Manitoba is a podcast for you.

2024-11-05

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1 min

5

out of 5

7 Ratings

Get into some local listening - we celebrate Manitobans and lean into challenging conversations. Join homegrown host Marcy Markusa for a new episode every Friday that centres around one story from our province. Whether you hail from the oil patch in Virden or the wheat fields of the Red River Valley, if you fly home to Island Lake or you make music in Winnipeg - This is Manitoba is a podcast for you.