Sign of the pre-election times: Sals snub highlighted on downtown billboard By: Malak Abas Posted: 5:47 PM CDT Monday, May. 4, 2026 Last Modified: 8:57 PM CDT Monday, May. 4, 2026 Updates

An unusual piece of pre-civic election season political messaging has popped up in downtown Winnipeg.

A large billboard — propped up by wooden stilts outside of the condo building at 500 Waterfront Dr. — includes strong words about Mayor Scott Gillingham, declaring he “does not support local businesses,” along with graphics of Gillingham, the Salisbury House logo and an enlarged copy of a letter to the editor sent to the Free Press critical of the mayor.

The signage is referencing a controversial decision by the City of Winnipeg last month to end its contract after 16 years with local restaurant Salisbury House to serve food and drinks at two city-owned golf courses. The city will instead go with the services of a U.S.-based company.

The owner of 500 Waterfront Dr., Michael Mark, told the Free Press on Monday he “approved” the billboard’s set-up outside of his South Point Douglas neighbourhood building as a way to get people “thinking about the upcoming mayoral election” scheduled for Oct. 28.

Mark said he has long had concerns about the mayor’s handling of a number of issues, including the encampments on the riverbank adjacent to the Waterfront Drive property, but Salisbury House losing out to Aramark Canada, the Canadian arm of a multibillion-dollar U.S. company, was the last straw.

“It’s not just because of the Salisbury House snub, but because of all the damage Scott Gillingham has done … People are struggling, and I feel bad for the struggling families here, I really do,” said Mark, a 63-year-old electrical and mechanical engineer.

The golf course contract change sparked calls to prioritize local businesses in procurement processes. A motion to be discussed by city council this month will, if approved, result in a report on options to update the tendering process that could award points for businesses based locally.

Colin Fast, a spokesperson for Gillingham, said the facts of the matter are getting lost in the fray: the city, as it stands now, is legally not able to give preferential treatment to local businesses while procuring contracts.

“Misinformation is an ongoing challenge. On this issue, the facts are straightforward … Provincial and federal trade rules prevent the city from awarding contracts simply because a business is local,” he said. “That’s the law, not a political choice.”

“Provincial and federal trade rules prevent the city from awarding contracts simply because a business is local.”

The city’s public service handles contract procurement; council does not vote on or approve the bidding process for contracts.

Gillingham has said he will support the aforementioned motion.

Sals manager Dave Petrishen said he hadn’t seen the billboard before being contacted by the Free Press, but said its message “mirrors what we’re hearing from the people that come into our restaurants.”

“People are really, really upset, and a lot of people reached out and (asked) what they can do to help,” he said.

While conversations are in early stages, Petrishen said Sals has heard from local companies looking to partner with the restaurant chain. He hopes conversations at City Hall result in action that could give locals a competitive edge when up against big corporations.

“You want to give an edge to somebody who’s your neighbour, somebody who could be building a house beside you,” he said.

“You want to give an edge to somebody who’s your neighbour, somebody who could be building a house beside you.”

University of Winnipeg political science Prof. Malcolm Bird said he sympathized with Gillingham’s situation and noted the procurement process was once “one of the most fraught areas of public policy.”

“You would use procurement to reward your friends and buddies and allies with nice, juicy contracts, and that has kind of gone away, thank God,” he said. “Now, we have very formalized and rigid and professionalized procurement processes.

“And, of course, what that means is that there’s a lot of things like discretion that are taken away from politicians, including things like discretion about favouring local producers and companies over international ones or big ones.”

One person not impressed by the Waterfront Drive protest signage is the author of the April 23 letter to the editor it highlights.

Winnipeg resident Tom Pearson said he’d like to see the billboard come down.

“I think that Mayor Gillingham is feeling some heat over this, and he deserves to, but I don’t agree with people that pull this kind of nonsense,” he said Monday.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

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Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.