Loney focuses on ‘systems change’ at mayoral campaign launch

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This article was published 07/06/2022 (1382 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A five-point plan to “do things differently” — especially when it comes to emergency services —received a wide audience Tuesday, as Winnipeg mayoral candidate Shaun Loney pledged he’d be “bringin’ friends” to change the municipal status quo.

The economist and former civil servant launched his campaign in front of about 150 supporters in the heart of the Exchange District.

Loney is one of nine candidates who’ve registered to run for mayor in the fall. The nomination period is Sept. 14-20. The municipal election is Oct. 26.

Mayor Brian Bowman isn’t seeking a third term.

His top priority, Loney told the Free Press, is reducing the workload for city police and emergency responders by shifting focus to the social services sector and tackling the issue of homelessness.

Loney’s “strongly opposed” to defunding police and said he wants to free up officers to focus on serious crime by helping vulnerable people find work.

“Most of our problems are not money problems; they’re system problems. So we’ll be coming forward with systems change, and I know how to do that,” he said, pointing to his career creating jobs in the North End with BUILD (Building Local Industries toward Local Development). He founded the energy-efficient home retrofitting organization 16 years ago.

His platform also includes pledges to relocate the CP railyards, maintain existing roads and bridges instead of embarking on expensive expansions, promote electric buses and green jobs, and create a “tree trust” to protect the city’s canopy.

“You can see by the crowd that’s forming here that our incredible campaign will be very competitive and we’re going to go about doing things differently,” he said Tuesday evening.

The crowd at the Cube in Old Market Square watched a campaign video that explained Loney was inspired to run for mayor after he helped clean up a homeless encampment near his home in St. Boniface and saw that a woman had set up shelter in a tree trunk.

“What we’re doing now is not working. We’re really struggling in a bunch of different areas, and in each of these areas where we’re struggling, our campaign is bringing forward hopeful, new ideas. We’re going to get the city that we all want by embracing new, modern tools,” Loney said.

Other registered mayoral candidates include: Idris Ademuyiwa Adelakun, Christopher Clacio, Scott Gillingham, Jenny Motkaluk, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Rick Shone, Don Woodstock and Rana Bokhari.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca