Emphasizing the need for an even stronger partnership with the Province of Manitoba, Mayor Scott Gillingham has written to the leaders of the three main provincial parties to outline priorities for the City of Winnipeg in this provincial election.
"Manitoba is unique among the provinces as our capital city represents such a significant share of our population and economic activity," said Gillingham. “Manitoba will only succeed if Winnipeg succeeds first, so we have to work as a team with our provincial leaders to address these pressing issues. Together, we can make major progress on shared goals like improving community safety and growing our economy in a sustainable way.”
The key requests in Gillingham's letter are as follows:
- Homelessness & Addiction – Collaborate with the City to develop a “one plan” approach to homelessness and addiction that includes the provision of wraparound support services and effective data tracking.
- Deal for Growth –Build a new municipal funding model that replaces arbitrary grant amounts with a designated share of growth revenue (e.g. PST, income tax). This would incentivize municipalities to aggressively pursue economic development, as their return-on-investment timelines would more closely match those of the senior levels of government.
- Adjust “Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program” (ICIP) Funding – Join the City in increasing its share of eligible project costs for the new biosolids facility at the North End Water Pollution Control Centre, the purchase of 100 zero-emission buses and 135 diesel buses and transit technology upgrades, the replacement of the North Transit Garage, construction of the South Winnipeg Recreation Campus, and the renewal of the St. James Civic Centre
- Crime & Safety – Work with the City to develop a comprehensive community safety plan that focuses on crime prevention.
- Transit Funding – Create a capital and operating funding partnership with the City to expedite the Transit Master Plan.
Gillingham looks forward to further discussions with the party leaders on these important priorities, and reiterated that the City of Winnipeg is committed to building an effective and mutually beneficial partnership with the next provincial government.