The Winnipeg Metropolitan Region (formerly called the Winnipeg Capital Region and the Manitoba Capital Region) is a metropolitan area in the Canadian province of Manitoba located in the Red River Valley in the southeast portion of the province of Manitoba, Canada. It contains the provincial capital of Winnipeg and 17 surrounding rural municipalities, cities, and towns.
Other places in the Region besides Winnipeg with a population over 1,000 are the city of Selkirk; towns of Stonewall and Niverville; and communities of Oakbank, Oak Bluff, Stony Mountain, Teulon, and Lorette. As the most densely-populated and economically-important area of Manitoba, the region accounts for two-thirds of the province's population and 70% of the provincial GDP .
It also includes the smaller census metropolitan area (CMA) of Winnipeg, with the addition of the Brokenhead 4 Indian Reserve.
History
In the late 1990s, issues such as providing Shoal Lake water to nearby municipalities and allowing exurban housing growth beyond Winnipeg became more important. At the time, Mayor Susan Thompson voiced the idea of a regional planning authority to mediate such issues.
In June 1998, former Great West Life President Kevin Kavanagh was appointed by Premier Gary Filmon to chair the Capital Region Review Committee. The panel looked at land-use planning and economic development between the City of Winnipeg and surrounding municipalities. Thompson along with the mayors and reeves of the 14 municipalities adjacent to Winnipeg began to meet on a regular basis starting in October 1998, thus forming the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region. Due to a change of government in September 1999, however, creating a regional planning authority took longer than originally foreseen.
The Capital Region was originally defined in 2006, through The Capital Region Partnership Act, to include 16 municipalities.
A pro-economic growth planning document was released in November 2018, called Securing Our Future: An Action Plan for Winnipeg's Metropolitan Region.
In October 2019, Dentons released a speech and discussion document, For the Benefit of All: Regional Competitiveness and Collaboration in the Winnipeg Metro Region, which sought to reform regional planning. Upon publication, Premier Brian Pallister and Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman spoke in favour of creating a new entity to manage development and transportation in the Winnipeg Metro Region.
Membership
The Winnipeg Metro Region is located in the Red River Valley in the southeast portion of the province of Manitoba, and is bounded to the north by the south basin of Lake Winnipeg.
The Region was originally defined in The Capital Region Partnership Act (2006) to include 16 municipalities. Since that time, the Town of Niverville and the Village of Dunnottar have been incorporated into the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region, giving the Region 18 municipalities in total.
The Region today comprises the following cities, towns, and RMs:
City of Winnipeg
City of Selkirk
Town of Stonewall
Town of Niverville
Village of Dunnottar
RM of Cartier
RM of East St. Paul
RM of Headingley
RM of Macdonald
RM of Ritchot
RM of Rockwood
RM of Rosser
RM of Springfield
RM of St. Andrews
RM of St. Clements
RM of St. François Xavier
RM of Taché
RM of West St. Paul
However, there are some municipalities that are geographically (entirely or largely) within the Region's territory that are not officially part of the Metro Region. These include the town of Teulon, the village of Garson, and the Indian reserve of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.
Winnipeg census metropolitan area
The Winnipeg Metro Region includes the smaller Winnipeg census metropolitan area (CMA), with the addition of the Brokenhead 4 Indian Reserve. The included CMA municipalities are:
Winnipeg
East St. Paul
Headingley
Ritchot
Rosser
Springfield
St. Clements
St. François Xavier
Taché
West St. Paul
Demographics
Population
The population of the Winnipeg Metro Region is greatly concentrated within the city of Winnipeg itself, which has 86.5% of the Region's population residing in less than 6% of its land area. On the provincial level, the city has 54.9% of the province's population, while the Region's share is 63.5%.
Ethnicity
Language
The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses.
Governance
Regional partnership is led by a board of governors. , board members include: