Clearing the deck and filling the seats

The winds of change are always blowing at Winnipeg’s city hall, but with a civic election looming this fall, the gusts through the council chamber at 510 Main St. seem particularly strong.

With slightly less than three months until voters head to the polls, no less than five incumbent councillors have declared they will not stand for re-election. Combine that with the possibility that one or more other members of the 15-member body could lose their bids for re-election, and what becomes apparent is that the makeup of Winnipeg’s municipal decision-making assembly will have changed dramatically when the new council is sworn in.

The five veteran councillors who have opted not to seek another term are Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry), Markus Chambers (St. Norbert–Seine River), John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry), Janice Lukes (Waverley West) and Brian Mayes (St. Vital).

All the departing councillors are experienced representatives, with Rollins and Chambers having served two terms, Lukes having been on council for a dozen years, and Mayes and Orlikow having served 15 and 17 years respectively. Had any or all of them chosen to run again, they would almost certainly have been re-elected, as incumbency remains a most formidable force in municipal politics.

Scott Gillingham would also surely have won again in St. James in 2022, had he not vacated his council seat in favour of a successful run for the mayor’s chair.

In the last election, 12 of 13 incumbents were re-elected; the only councillor who ran but did not return was Shaun Nason (Transcona), who had secured the open seat in 2018, after 16-year veteran Russ Wyatt stepped away. Wyatt’s bid to return to civic politics proved successful, as he defeated Nason by 976 votes and reclaimed his council seat, putting a slightly different spin on the power of incumbency.

(Wyatt, who last April was removed from numerous civic committees in the wake of being charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance, has not yet confirmed whether he will seek re-election. Nason is one of four council hopefuls currently on the ballot in Transcona; the deadline for candidate registration is Sept. 22).

All told, there’s a lot of elected institutional memory heading for the exit at city hall as Winnipeg faces ever more daunting fiscal, infrastructural and socioeconomic challenges. With the departing councillors having been stalwarts on various civic committees and/or the agenda-setting executive policy committee, it will be interesting to see how Gillingham, should he win, chooses to combine experienced viewpoints and fresh perspectives in the formation of council’s crucial substructure.

For his part, the mayor says he welcomes the turnover: “I’m looking forward to seeing some new faces on council this fall, alongside a lot of returning experience. That balance is healthy for city hall and good for Winnipeg.”

It’s worth noting that at least some of the departures seem destined to make it easier for Gillingham to push his agenda forward, if re-elected; while all the departing councillors described personal reasons for their exits, both Rollins and Mayes also cited deteriorating relations with the mayor as a factor in their decision not to seek another term.

Rollins described a “gradual erosion of the role played by council” under Gillingham’s leadership; Mayes lamented that “it just didn’t work out with the mayor and I will always wonder why.”

A steep learning curve, and very little time to ascend it, awaits city council’s newcomers this year. That’s why it’s more important than ever for voters to actively engage, educate themselves and choose wisely when they go to polls on Oct. 28.