Mayor flip-flops on cutting tree-planting budget after intense criticism
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Public opposition has prompted Mayor Scott Gillingham to change his mind about chopping $1.2 million from the city’s tree-planting program.
“There’s been an overwhelming response (from the public). I’ve talked to our staff and the corporate finance team about the possibility of finding ways to maintain the tree budget. And I believe that there are ways,” said Gillingham.
The Manitoba government recently directed the city to spend an additional $1.236 million of its provincial “strategic infrastructure basket” funding on the Assiniboine Park Conservancy Journey to Churchill Exhibit, a city finance report says.
Finance officials recommended transferring some tree funding to fill that gap, and council’s executive policy committee voted in favour of the plan on Tuesday.
However, the mayor said public feedback about the decision convinced him to raise a new proposal to find the money elsewhere.
“The public wants this tree-planting funding protected. I agree, and I’ll be bringing forward a plan to (city) council next week to do exactly that,” said the mayor in a news release issued by his office.
Later, in an interview, the mayor said a detailed proposal will be raised at the July 16 city council meeting, which would require a final council vote.
He said the city is still working out where the money will come from.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES
When asked why he changed his mind, after voting in favour of the cost-cutting proposal two days earlier, the mayor cited public feedback and his own priorities.
“Trees are important to Winnipeggers. They’re important to me. I believe we can find a way to protect the tree budget and that’s what I intend to do,” he said.
The cut would reduce the 2026 tree planting budget to $9.825 million and “delay the implementation” of Winnipeg’s urban forest strategy, the finance report notes.
The report did not offer further details about the impact of those changes.
Gillingham noted city council increased combined operating and capital spending on the tree canopy to $33.6 million in 2026, up from $21 million in 2022. Over the past four years, that funding boost allowed the city to hire more staff, ramp up its tree-pruning cycle from once every 16.4 years to about once every 8.5 years and increase the number of boulevard and park trees planted each year to 6,686, from 4,333, he said.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES “Trees are important to Winnipeggers. They’re important to me,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said.
A member of a local tree protection group said she’s glad the city will likely cancel the cut, pending a final council vote.
“We are, of course, pleased … It’s interesting that they thought this was a good move in the first place and, secondly, that they didn’t expect there would be outrage,” said Jean Altemeyer, a member of Trees Please Winnipeg.
Altemeyer said severe weather linked to climate change raises the urgency to plant as many trees as possible and any funding cut would interfere with that goal.
“The increasing volatility of the weather and the loss of big, mature trees means it’s all the more important that more trees get planted because there’s all sorts of evidence that one of the best ways to deal with global warming is to have more trees. They take in carbon dioxide, they give off oxygen, they control storm runoff, they provide habitat,” she said.
Altemeyer said she’s “thrilled but cautious” about the update. Since the city has not yet confirmed where the money will come from, that leaves the risk another program could be cut, she said.
“We will continue to monitor (this closely.)”
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
X: @joyanne_pursaga
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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