Incorporating wisdom, funding model, candidate crossfire: mayoral roundup

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This article was published 14/10/2022 (1412 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayoral candidate Shaun Loney laid out plans for his first 100 days in office Friday.

“It was about letting Winnipeggers know that I’m ready to lead on the issues that are most important to them, particularly public safety, homelessness and creating green jobs,” Loney said in a phone interview after his city hall news conference, where he was flanked by supporters.

Most important among his plans would be a meeting with Indigenous elder Mae Louise Campbell the day after voters go to the polls on Oct. 26, Loney said.

As mayor, he would offer tobacco and try to build her wisdom into the ethos of his administration, he said.

The latest polling numbers — from a Leger survey commissioned by Scott Gillingham’s mayoral campaign — show Loney in fourth place among decided voters.

According to the survey released Thursday, 28 per cent of decided voters would cast a ballot for Glen Murray, 19 per cent would support Gillingham, 14 per cent would select Kevin Klein, and 13 per cent would vote for Loney.

Winnipeg voters will select from 11 mayoral candidates in the municipal election.

Murray wants slice of PST

Murray is seeking to change the way the province provides funds to the City of Winnipeg, by asking the Progressive Conservative government to spike the current annual operating grant funding model.

In a Free Press interview published Friday, Murray said he will ask the province to instead give the city one percentage point of the seven per cent provincial sales tax.

Klein and Gillingham trade shots

Klein took aim at Gillingham for his fiscal promises and budgeting practices while sitting as city council’s finance committee chairman during the past six years, and at Murray’s fiscal management during his time as Winnipeg mayor (1998-2004).

Klein, the outgoing Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood councillor, instead promised to implement a zero-based budgeting process at city hall, which would require all expenses to be justified in each new budget period.

He also highlighted a past pledge to appoint all city councillors to the budget working group.

Gillingham later fired back at Klein, accusing Klein of misleading the public on Gillingham’s positions and the city’s financial status.

“Mr. Klein doesn’t understand even the basics of municipal finance, and he’s clearly not ready to lead the city,” Gillingham said in a statement.

Motkaluk weighs in

Jenny Motkaluk also criticized Gillingham, calling him a “tax-and-spend conservative” for his proposed fiscal policies and for his work as council finance chairman. (Gillingham has proposed a 3.5 per cent property tax increase in the next year and a one-time increase of frontage levies.)

“As mayor, I will create a culture at city hall that ensures we prioritize infrastructure that helps create jobs and investment in our city without raising your taxes and without fueling inflation,” Motkaluk said in a statement.

She also criticized federal Conservative MP Marty Morantz (Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley) and provincial Progressive Conservative MLA Doyle Piwniuk (Turtle Mountain) for their donations to Gillingham’s campaign.

She challenged the two politicians to say whether they’re inflation busters or tax-and-spend conservatives.

Woodstock has plans for police budget

Don Woodstock promised to put the money the city charges the Winnipeg Police Service for rent on its downtown headquarters, gasoline, equipment purchases and other expenses back into the force’s budget.

The city also needs help from the provincial government to address addictions and mental health, he said.

“To tie up the police workforce with functions that the provincial government should be doing is the number one reason Winnipeggers are not getting the response from the police when called,” Woodstock said in a news release.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera