Winnipeg Minute: Issue 117

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

📅 This Week In Winnipeg: 📅

• A new poll has found that most Winnipeg residents believe quality of life has declined and that support for Mayor Scott Gillingham seeking another term is limited ahead of the October 28th municipal election. The survey found 67% of respondents said quality of life in Winnipeg has deteriorated since 2022, while 15% said conditions had improved and 17% reported no change. Only 20% said Gillingham should be returned to office, 47% said they would prefer a different Mayor and 33% were undecided. Confidence in the next Council was also muted, with just 8% expecting the next Mayor and Council to make a major difference on the city's most pressing problems and 33% expecting no difference at all. Crime and public safety topped the list of concerns at 28%, followed by poverty and homelessness at 27% and addictions at 22%. 
  
  
• The volunteer board overseeing the South Winnipeg Community Centre has handed governance of the facility to the City, saying years of criticism and public disputes made its work increasingly difficult. The board approved a resolution on Tuesday transferring authority, oversight and responsibility for the centre to the City, which operates community centres through independent non-profit boards in partnership with the General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres. The Centre had faced scrutiny after some residents raised concerns about finances, staffing decisions and board elections, though an independent audit in 2024 found no evidence of financial wrongdoing. The City says it had no concerns about how the outgoing board was running the facility and was not looking to intervene. The board said sustained public commentary and repeated challenges to its processes had contributed to earlier resignations and placed "an unsustainable burden on volunteer leadership". The Council of Community Centres will now oversee the facility while working toward electing a new volunteer board, and programs, rentals and staffing are expected to continue uninterrupted.
  
  
• On the health-care front, the Manitoba government is adding 8 social worker positions across 4 Winnipeg emergency departments and urgent care centres at a cost of $1.2 million a year. Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the new staff will offer people "more support in their time of need", with 2 positions each going to St. Boniface, Victoria, Seven Oaks and Concordia hospitals. Jane Curtis, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority's interim President, said connecting patients with timely resources will help reduce emergency wait times and long hospital stays. Health Sciences Centre is currently the only Winnipeg hospital with social workers in its emergency department around the clock, where they assist doctors and nurses with safety assessments, discharge planning and patient care. The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, the union representing the social workers, said the additional jobs are welcome but argued more is needed to support patients once they leave hospital and return to the community.
  
  
• The strain on health and emergency services is also at the centre of a call from Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Councillor Sherri Rollins, who is asking for a special meeting of City Council to address Winnipeg's drug poisoning crisis, saying the situation needs immediate action. In an open letter to the Mayor and Council, Rollins described an "extraordinarily emergent situation" in which the City does not have enough resources on its outreach team and first responders risk getting sick from the volume of work on city streets. She wants more mental health and addictions support from the provincial government, arguing that a recently announced extra ambulance for drug crisis calls is not enough, and she said the current street outreach and encampment approach is failing. Mayor Scott Gillingham said he supports holding a special meeting and described himself as "deeply frustrated" by the crisis's impact on neighbourhoods, emergency responders and vulnerable residents, adding that other levels of government must deliver more addictions, mental health and public safety resources. Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the Province keeps Council informed of its investments and stressed that the City, Province and federal government all need to be full partners in the response.
  
  
• Finally, Louis Riel School Division trustees have adopted new rules governing personal device use at public meetings, mirroring the restrictions already placed on the division's 17,000 students. The board voted unanimously on Tuesday to update its code of conduct, including an explicit requirement that every member use a divisional laptop at meetings, after a resident wrote to the nine-seat board raising concerns about tech-related distractions in the boardroom. Longtime trustee Chris Sigurdson, who raised the issue on June 2nd, said trustees need to be engaged rather than merely present and called the perception of disengagement "a problem for our division's image". Each trustee is issued a divisional laptop for their four-year term and receives a phone allowance on top of an annual salary of roughly $30,000. The change comes as Manitoba students wrap up a second full year under a cellphone ban in elementary schools, with phones also banned during high school classes. Trustees also recently revised their disciplinary rules, requiring a majority vote of active members to issue a public censure, ahead of school board elections on October 28th.

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