Ward candidate calls for St. B separation
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/10/2022 (1117 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
St. Boniface has gotten a raw deal since it joined the City of Winnipeg 50 years ago, and should now separate to become an independent municipality once more, according to one candidate for its council seat.
Marcel Boille is calling for “a new city of St. Boniface,” and vowing to ensure a referendum on having the ward leave the city is held within 18 months, if he’s elected to become the area’s councillor Oct. 26.
“St. Boniface sure as heck did not need to be part of Winnipeg to survive. It was doing very well,” said Boille, during a phone interview Monday. “We were forced into (amalgamation along with other municipalities in 1972) to help the City of Winnipeg survive. And for 50 years, we’ve been paying millions upon millions of tax dollars.”
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Marcel Boille is calling for “a new city of St. Boniface,” and vowing to ensure a referendum on having the ward leave the city is held within 18 months, if he’s elected to become the area’s councillor Oct. 26.
The candidate accuses multiple city councils of investing the vast majority of tax revenue into road construction, an arena and other amenities for the downtown ever since, to the neglect of St. B.
“The City of Winnipeg needs us to subsidize a city that was failing,” said Boille, during a campaign video he posted on Facebook.
The candidate’s campaign materials claim police and emergency vehicles also respond to incidents mostly in the downtown area, leaving police little time to deal with property crimes in St. Boniface.
“We were better off before we joined the city and we would still be better off outside, as our own city… We no longer have the right to say what we want to do in our communities. They’re our communities, they don’t belong to a councillor from Charleswood or Transcona or anywhere else,” Boille said.
While it is possible for a community to exit the City Winnipeg, as Headingley did in 1992, the change could not occur without provincial approval.
Incumbent Coun. Matt Allard and Nicholas Douklias are also running to represent St. Boniface in the Oct. 26 election.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @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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Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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.
Every piece of reporting Joyanne 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.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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