Winnipeg Minute: Issue 87

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

📅 This Week In Winnipeg: 📅

• City Council meets on Thursday at 9:30 am. A major agenda item is the proposed Encampment Policy and Response Protocol, which sets citywide standards for managing homeless encampments. The plan includes designated safety buffers around schools, child-care centres, transit stops, and critical infrastructure, paired with coordinated outreach and cleanup procedures to balance safety and support needs. Housing is another major focus. Council will review an initiative to accelerate supportive housing on City-owned land, in partnership with the Province of Manitoba. Five sites, including Sherburn Street, Plessis Road, Stella Avenue, Poseidon Bay, and McPhillips Street are proposed for 15-30-unit buildings that include on-site supports, trauma-informed design, and accessibility standards. 
  
  
• Winnipeg’s Executive Policy Committee reviewed a proposed five-year Parking and Mobility Strategy that would overhaul how the City manages curbside space, parking, vehicle-for-hire services and emerging mobility options. The plan ties into major long-term planning frameworks and would be rolled out gradually, with some elements requiring further public consultation or budget approval. Key goals include improving curbside management through data, supporting sustainable transportation options, and modernizing the parking system with better information tools and oversight. Demand for paid parking has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, and vehicle-for-hire trips hit a record in 2024. Debate focused heavily on concerns that expanding paid parking could harm small businesses, particularly in areas outside downtown. Some residents argue that the strategy is a revenue grab that would deter visitors, reduce neighbourhood parking availability and burden businesses already facing pressure from lost parking spaces and infill development. City Council will decide whether to adopt the strategy.
  
  
• Speaking of parking, small business owners on Academy Road say Winnipeg Transit’s plan to replace their three storefront parking stalls with a new bus stop is threatening their ability to operate. Four shops received notice in early October that parking would be removed with no consultation or appeals process. The businesses rely on those spots for customer access, loading, and deliveries, as the building has no rear lane. The landlords were also unaware of the change and have raised concerns about structural impacts on the aging building. Business owners say meetings with Transit officials did not lead to meaningful dialogue and their Councillor has offered little support. They argue the new stop location will worsen safety near an already difficult intersection and fear the change will hurt sales during the critical December retail season. Proposed alternatives, including a nearby property owner offering to fund upgrades for a different stop location, were declined by Transit.
  
  
• Winnipeg says it is ahead of schedule on its Housing Accelerator Fund targets, reporting that more than half of the permits needed to add 14,000 new homes by 2026 have already been issued. The program uses policy changes, infrastructure upgrades and streamlined approvals to speed up residential development. Upcoming initiatives include dedicating City-owned land for affordable and supportive housing, digitizing the permitting system, and launching a $2.52-million catch-basin pilot aimed at unlocking up to 3,000 new infill units in partially separated sewer districts. However, the catch-basin pilot has raised transparency concerns. St. Vital Councillor Brian Mayes says he learned of the project only through a media release and argues it has not been properly reviewed by Council committees. He questioned the City’s housing projections and whether sewer upgrades would benefit affected neighbourhoods. The City maintains the program is delivering results, with new infrastructure funding and progress on higher-density development corridors.
  
  
• Councillor Russ Wyatt is asking a Manitoba judge to overturn an Integrity Commissioner’s finding that he harassed the City’s former Chief Administrative Officer through comments he made in 2023. The reprimand stemmed from Wyatt publicly saying he would move to fire the CAO if action wasn’t taken regarding a planner involved in the Parker Lands lawsuit. Wyatt argues the decision goes too far and could discourage Councillors from speaking openly about issues of public concern. His lawyer says the Commissioner failed to properly consider context or alternative responses before recommending a reprimand. The City’s lawyer counters that Wyatt’s remarks improperly pressured a senior employee during an active legal matter and crossed the line into coercion under the code of conduct. The integrity report concluded the CAO could reasonably view Wyatt’s comments as threatening, and Council accepted that conclusion in 2024. Wyatt wants the reprimand quashed and his legal costs covered. The judge has reserved his decision.

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