Winnipeg Minute: Issue 112

Winnipeg Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Winnipeg politics

📅 This Week In Winnipeg: 📅

• On Tuesday, the Executive Policy Committee will meet at 9:30am, with the City of Winnipeg's 2025 annual audited consolidated financial statements among the items on the agenda. The statements report an overall consolidated surplus of $491 million - nearly double the $271.6 million surplus recorded in 2024 - but the headline figure is significantly inflated by $384.4 million in capital-related revenues from the water and waste utility. Stripped of those revenues, the City's General Revenue Fund ran an unaudited deficit of $14.3 million. Consolidated revenues totalled $2.3 billion, an 11% increase over 2024, driven largely by a 5.95% property tax increase that added $67 million in taxation revenue. Consolidated expenses reached $2.2 billion, up 3.5% from 2024, with the largest increases in protection and community services ($30.9 million) and utilities operations ($24.2 million). The City's net financial liabilities held steady at $1.2 billion, and capital investments reached $788 million.
  
  
• Also on the agenda is a second round of interim measures to partially replenish the City's Financial Stabilization Reserve - the emergency fund used to manage unexpected budget pressures. Council policy requires the reserve to hold a minimum balance equal to 6% of tax-supported operating expenditures, currently $85.1 million, but the reserve closed 2025 at just $25.9 million - a shortfall of $59.2 million - and has been below the mandated minimum every year since 2021. Administration is proposing two one-time transfers to close part of the gap: $3.4 million from the Southwest Rapid Transitway (Stage 2) payment reserve, and $15 million redirected from the City's share of the Accelerated Regional Street Renewal program, totalling $18.4 million. Both transfers require a two-thirds vote of Council. Even if approved, the reserve would end 2026 at a projected $44.2 million - still $45.4 million short of the 2026 minimum target of $89.6 million. Administration has attributed the reserve's depletion to the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, significant snow events, and cost overruns in key departments. Further structural measures are expected to be brought forward as part of the 2027 budget process.
  
  
• Winnipeg is set to receive $4.05 million from the federal government's Housing Accelerator Fund to support 150 additional housing units. The funding is part of a national round in which 32 "high-performing" municipalities shared $42 million in total. As a condition of accepting the funds, the City must increase its housing supply target by 150 units - to 14,251 new homes by December 2026. As of a report considered by the Executive Policy Committee in February, Winnipeg had approved building permits for 10,975 dwelling units, leaving roughly 3,000 still needed to meet its existing 14,101-unit requirement by December 5th. Mayor Scott Gillingham welcomed the announcement, saying the funding demonstrates "the federal government's confidence in Winnipeg," and Councillor Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood) said Winnipeg is "leading the way in building the homes our growing city needs." The new money is on top of the $122.4 million the City has already secured from the fund overall, of which three of four $30.6-million installments have been received. Council is expected to consider recommendations for allocating the additional funds in the coming months.
  
  
• Speaking of the Housing Accelerator Fund, also on Tuesday's Executive Policy Committee agenda is a motion arguing the federal program does not go far enough in supporting homeownership for ordinary Winnipeggers. Referred from the April 30th Council meeting, the motion from Councillor Shawn Dobson (St. James) and Councillor John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) argues that the fund flows primarily to corporate and institutional investors building rental properties - and does not help Canadians build home equity or achieve long-term financial security through ownership. The motion calls on both the federal and provincial governments to eliminate the Goods and Services Tax and Provincial Sales Tax on building materials used in newly built homes intended for owner occupancy, with savings passed directly to buyers. It also asks that any future programs include a minimum 10-year owner occupancy requirement, to ensure public funds support genuine homebuyers rather than speculative or investment-driven activity. Councillors Dobson and Orlikow argue that a shortage of affordable owner-occupied housing in Winnipeg means many residents may never have the opportunity to build equity through homeownership.
  
  
• Downtown Winnipeg's historic Fort Garry Hotel is on the market for the second time in seven years, listed jointly by real estate firms Avison Young and Cushman & Wakefield. The 113-year-old national historic site on Broadway opened in 1913 as a Canadian National railway hotel - a 10-storey, 262-room property designed by Montreal architects George A. Ross and David H. MacFarlane. No asking price has been attached to the listing; the City has the property assessed at $9 million, but real estate professionals suggest the market value is likely in the tens of millions. The urrent owners acquired the hotel in 1993 and made a series of renovations, including the construction of a 10th-floor spa. The hotel was previously listed for sale in October 2019, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic brought the hospitality industry to a near-standstill. The listing compares the Fort Garry to other historic Canadian hotels such as the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, the Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton, and the Banff Springs Hotel.

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