Winnipeg Minute: Issue 76

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

📅 This Week In Winnipeg: 📅

• The Standing Policy Committee on Community Services will meet today at 9:30 am. The Committee will review the Winnipeg Arts Council’s 2024 Annual Report. It highlights a year of artistic growth, community engagement, and funding challenges. The Council invested over $4.1 million in local artists and organizations, restoring grants to pre-pandemic levels and supporting more than 180 projects. Highlights included the City of Song initiative, which marked Winnipeg’s 150th anniversary with over 100 events that reached nearly 60,000 people. The Council also supported youth arts development, Jane’s Walk, and numerous grant programs across disciplines. Poet Laureate Chimwemwe Undi capped her term with a Governor General’s Award and later became Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate. The year also marked the retirement of longtime Executive Director Carol A. Phillips, honoured for her 18 years of leadership, with Dominic Lloyd set to succeed her in 2025. Financially, WAC reported a small deficit.
  
  
• Winnipeg has identified five City-owned sites for new supportive housing projects designed to help vulnerable residents facing homelessness, health challenges, or other barriers. The developments, located on Sherburn Street, Plessis Road, Stella Avenue, Poseidon Bay, and McPhillips Street, will be built in partnership with the Province and local non-profits. These facilities will offer private and accessible suites, shared kitchens and dining areas, activity spaces, and on-site staff to provide daily living assistance and connect residents with community services. The housing will prioritize groups such as women at risk of gender-based violence, youth aging out of care, refugees, and people leaving hospitals or encampments. Public information sessions are being held this week, followed by a rezoning hearing on September 12th where residents can share feedback. City officials say the initiative is a central part of their plan to address housing insecurity.
  
  
• A Winnipeg Regional Health Authority survey of over 9,000 patients reveals mixed experiences in the city’s health-care system. About 80% of respondents rated their overall care highly, but many reported long waits, staffing shortages, and feeling ignored during critical moments, such as heart attacks or injuries. Patients described challenges like slow triage, unanswered call bells, limited access to showers, and poor communication with staff. Manitoba Health Coalition and Manitoba Nurses Union leaders emphasized that many issues stem from overworked staff and systemic pressures rather than individual negligence. Positive feedback was also common, with patients praising nurses and other health-care workers for their professionalism and compassion. Survey results are used to inform daily operations, and follow-up calls are offered to those who rate their care poorly. Health officials stressed the importance of patient feedback in identifying areas for improvement while acknowledging that most experiences remain positive. 
  
  
• With Winnipeg Transit’s recent network overhaul, charter services to schools were discontinued, forcing students to adjust to regular bus routes or rely on private charters arranged by some school divisions. For example, Pembina Trails Collegiate students who previously took charter buses now face longer walks, multiple transfers, and less predictable schedules. The new system aimed to increase frequency on regular routes and provide coverage to schools without charters, but gaps remain in certain areas. Pembina Trails and Seven Oaks school divisions have hired private charters to maintain service to specific schools. Other divisions, such as Winnipeg and River East Transcona, are not offering private charters at this time. Louis Riel School Division is assessing potential service gaps and seeking parental input to address issues long-term, including the possibility of paid bus service or adjusted school start times. Meanwhile, a motion to extend Winnipeg Transit transfer tickets from 75 to 90 minutes passed its first committee stage, responding to concerns that students and riders often run out of transfer time. 
  
  
• Speaking of transit, Mayor Scott Gillingham is backing a tougher stance on fare evasion in an effort to increase revenue and improve safety on City buses. Winnipeg Transit estimates it loses between $7 million and $10 million each year from unpaid fares, and officials say most security incidents involve passengers who did not pay. Community safety officers, who have the authority to detain people and carry non-lethal weapons, are now patrolling bus stops to ensure payment. The team has grown to over 30 members since its launch last year and aims to reduce conflicts that often begin with disputes over payment. The transit union, which has long called for stricter enforcement, supports the plan but warns it may take years to change rider behaviour. Riders themselves acknowledge that unpaid fares are widespread and often linked to disruptions. 

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