Winnipeg Minute: Issue 122

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

📅 This Week In Winnipeg: 📅

• On Wednesday at 9:30 am, a special meeting of the Appeal Committee will decide whether to uphold City approval of a 10-storey apartment and office building on a City-owned Winnipeg Transit property at 425 Osborne Street, in the Lord Roberts neighbourhood. The project would place Winnipeg Transit offices on the first two floors and 131 residential units above, with 30% of the suites designated deeply affordable and a further 15% affordable. In June the Director of Planning, Property and Development approved variances allowing the building to reach 126 feet instead of the 75 feet the zoning permits, and to provide 17 on-site parking spaces instead of 59, along with 10 bicycle stalls instead of 66, with additional parking on the adjacent transit site. Four area residents have appealed, arguing the tower is out of character with a neighbourhood of 6 to 8 storeys and that the reduced parking will push overflow onto nearby residential streets, where transit drivers already compete for spaces. One appellant is asking that the height be cut to 7 storeys and that at least 85% of units be given an on-site stall. 
  
  
• A Winnipeg property management company says the City has ordered it to clean up a long-standing homeless encampment on the riverbank behind its apartment building at 35 Balmoral Street, or be billed for the work through its property tax. Martin Sharp, Chief Executive of AML Properties, said the order requires all garbage, including tents, to be removed, and warned that if the company does not comply the City will do the cleanup, add the cost to the property tax bill and could apply a penalty fee. Sharp questioned how he can clear the site while people are still living in the tents, and why the responsibility falls to him when the Province and the City are jointly working to remove encampments. The City said its enforcement officers respond to complaints, that crews observed abandoned goods and furniture at the rear of the building, and that it handles encampments on public property while private owners should contact police. Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Councillor Sherri Rollins called putting the responsibility on the property owner unacceptable, describing it as unfair and illogical. Sharp said he is appealing the order to the City's community services committee, which must be done within 14 days at a cost of $250.
  
  
• Mayor Scott Gillingham is on the defensive over the City's response to drug-related disorder in West Broadway, after his office told a frustrated resident that housing, homelessness, mental health and addictions fall under provincial jurisdiction. Residents of Spence Street told the Winnipeg Free Press that open drug use, vandalism and theft have escalated this year, with an annual June block party postponed to September and one neighbour's front window nearly smashed in broad daylight while children were inside. One homeowner emailed the mayor's office on July 10th to call the police service's recent drug crackdown a failure and demand his plan for the crisis, and when the office suggested she contact her MLA about addictions treatment, she accused the mayor of shirking his responsibility. A spokesperson insisted residents were never told not to contact the City, pointing to initiatives including an expanded needle cleanup program, community safety hosts, discounted transit for low-income residents and support for more than 2,600 affordable housing units during Gillingham's term. Councillor Sherri Rollins, who represents the area, said residents are exhausted by governments shifting responsibility instead of delivering solutions, and dismissed the mayor's $100,000 commitment to a safe-walk program in the Exchange District as "Band-Aids" for a gaping wound. Voters head to the polls on October 28th.
  
  
• Meanwhile, Winnipeg's first Chief Construction Officer, Tom Sparrow, is leaving the job after about 15 months, with his final day set for July 31st. The position was a 2022 campaign pledge from Mayor Scott Gillingham, who said it would provide expert advice to Council and help the City attract competitive bids on major infrastructure projects, including the $3.1-billion upgrade of the North End sewage treatment plant. The Mayor said Sparrow, who started on April 1st, 2025, left for personal reasons and is returning to Alberta, and that he would like to fill the position as soon as possible if re-elected. Chief Administrative Officer Joseph Dunford has recommended that Council recruit a new Chief Construction Officer after the October 28th municipal election. In April, Sparrow told the public inquiry into the Winnipeg police headquarters project that the City publicly shares too much financial detail on its major projects, describing it as "playing poker with an open deck". That project's cost rose from an initial $135 million to $214 million once flood damage and late security upgrades are included. Gillingham said the departure was unrelated to Sparrow's testimony at the inquiry.
  
  
• Longtime Councillor Jeff Browaty is facing a challenge in North Kildonan, where Orvie Dingwall launched her campaign for the ward's Council seat last Thursday. Browaty, first elected in 2006, is among the city's longest-serving members of Council and has represented the northeast Winnipeg ward for almost 20 years. Dingwall, a health sciences librarian at the University of Manitoba and former president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association, says her campaign will focus on improving core municipal services, renewing aging infrastructure and giving residents a stronger voice in decisions affecting their neighbourhood. She argues North Kildonan residents have faced declining municipal services despite paying more in taxes and fees, pointing to aging infrastructure, public transit, ambulance response times and rising water rates. She also criticized Browaty's support for a proposed roadway through Kilcona Park, saying protecting public green spaces should be a greater focus at City Hall. The North Kildonan race is expected to be one of several closely watched contests in the October 28th municipal election, and other candidates may still enter before nominations close.

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