Ready for change in the ’Peg

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This article was published 06/03/2024 (633 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winston Churchill once quipped “When the facts change, I change my mind.”

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham deserves praise for his recent change of heart to now advocate for reopening the iconic Portage and Main intersection to pedestrians based on new information.

The city’s draft multi-year budget also suggests that the mayor is rethinking the urgency of his central campaign commitment to extend the Chief Peguis Trail and expand Kenaston. Budget increases are proposed to be allocated instead to neglected areas such as planting more trees, replacing outdated infrastructure and increasing water treatment capacity issues.

I can think of three other areas where a change in direction would be welcome by Winnipeggers. One is homelessness.

Up to now, the mayor’s strategy on tackling homelessness has mostly involved waiting for action from the federal and provincial governments. However, it is clear given recent pronouncements of fiscal restraint from both Premier Kinew and Prime Minister Trudeau that the city cannot rely on this approach.

Instead of accepting the status quo, the city can draw inspiration from Toronto where Mayor Olivia Chow is advocating for community land trusts. These innovative investment vehicles attract community and private foundations, plus other investors who want to make a social impact by channelling their real estate and bond portfolios to expand affordable housing options.

One source of capital for new affordable housing units is the Winnipeg Foundation, where the mayor sits as board member. The foundation’s most recent annual report indicates that it has $259 million invested in real estate and mortgages which aren’t in the non-profit sector and not even in Winnipeg. I bet Winnipeg citizens would also jump at the chance of being a part of the solution and invest to get both social and financial returns.

While Toronto boasts five community land trusts, Winnipeg has none. The success of the Parkdale Land Trust, which already manages over $100 million in affordable housing assets, underscores the potential for growth. There are over 10,000 foundations in Canada and it should be noted that the increase in foundation investments in land trusts is robust.

A new approach can also be taken to address crime and help rejuvenate Downtown Winnipeg. Rather than naively thinking more police will solve crime in Winnipeg, the mayor and his council colleagues should focus on reducing the workload of the Winnipeg Police Service. This can be accomplished by identifying individuals whom the police are in frequent contact and engaging the non-profit sector to offer more effective interventions — paying non-profits what police would have expended with business-as-usual approaches.

This shift will not only enhance public safety, but also enable the WPS to respond more promptly to calls for service. Importantly, this can be achieved not by spending more money or cutting the WPS budget, but by setting aside a portion of the WPS budget increase to enable them to foster these new, innovative partnerships.

Lastly, I urge Gillingham to catch up to other cities that are placing a priority on creating green jobs. The Community Energy Investment Roadmap, unanimously passed by council in July 2022, outlines how Winnipeg can create 100,000 person years of employment by modernizing city services — such as offering innovative financing for homeowners to install cost-saving heat pumps and solar power.

Furthermore, the city can significantly expand the availability of electric vehicle chargers on civic properties and collect revenues from users for this service.

Winnipeg’s social enterprise sector continues to stand ready to partner with the mayor and council to address homelessness, reduce police workload and create thousands of new green jobs. Given that the mayor has demonstrated an ability to be flexible in the face of new information, there is hope that he will adjust his approach on these files too.

Shaun Loney is EY Entrepreneur of the Year, an author and a co-founder of a dozen social enterprises that hire people with barriers to employment. He ran for mayor of Winnipeg in the 2022 election.