Of the provinces, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are the most similar in their trends. In Manitoba, as in Saskatchewan, public participation in planning and decision-making is a clearly established provincial policy. It is common to invite the public to contribute to policy, planning and project development. Stakeholders are more involved than the general public, and often earlier in the process. By contrast to Saskatchewan, in Manitoba both the private and provincial sectors are increasing their public involvement activities, while the federal government's programs are seen to be declining. Also somewhat differently, open houses and stakeholder meetings are said to be more frequent, with less use of public meetings. Municipalities often use roundtables as a cost-effective technique. Much the same situation for professional public participation practitioners prevails in Manitoba as in Saskatchewan, but independents are holding their own by subcontracting to larger environmental or engineering firms. Some pressure for efficiency is evident, but not at the expense of needed program elements. Return to Public Participation in Canada
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