| |
Posted Today, 12:38 AM
|
 |
Moderator
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Posts: 7,337
|
|
Quote:
Outgoing Winnipeg councillors back candidates to succeed them as election registration opens
3 Winnipeg councillors who are not seeking re-election have declared their preferred candidates
Cameron MacLean · CBC News · Posted: Jun 30, 2026
Outgoing Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes, left, endorsed consultant and community advocate Nafiya Naso to replace her in the Waverley West ward. (Cameron MacLean/CBC)
The race for Winnipeg’s 15 council seats officially began Tuesday, as candidates began filing their registration papers at city hall.
Three wards are guaranteed to elect new representatives, after longtime councillors John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry), Janice Lukes (Waverley West) and Brian Mayes (St. Vital) announced they will not seek re-election in October.
All three have thrown their support behind a candidate they hope will replace them, and were at city hall Tuesday to endorse them.
In St. Vital, Mayes endorsed Louis Riel School Division trustee and lawyer Chris Sigurdson, who is leaving the school board after 16 years to run for council.
"I very much enjoyed the last 16 years being a school trustee and serving the people," Sigurdson said. "But I think it's time to move up to a different level, to serve in a different way."
Mayes, who is running for trustee position in Louis Riel, said Sigurdson's years of public service make him a natural successor as councillor.
"Chris has got 16 years as a trustee. We don't agree on everything, but we agree on a lot of stuff," Mayes said.
St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes, right, passed a symbolic baton to longtime Louis Riel School Division trustee Chris Sigurdson. The two are mutually endorsing each other, as Mayes has registered to run for Sigurdson's seat on the school board. (Maggie Wilcox/Radio-Canada)
Sigurdson endorsed Mayes to replace him as the Ward 2 trustee on the Louis Riel School Division board.
In Waverley West, Lukes endorsed consultant and community advocate Nafiya Naso, who she said has helped her on community projects over the past year and a half.
Naso, who came to Canada from Iraq more than 20 years ago and has worked as an advocate for Yazidi refugees, said she decided to run after nearly two decades living in the ward.
"This city and the community has given so much to me, and I felt like it's the right time for me to step up and pay forward to the community," she said.
Affordability, recreation, community safety and poverty reduction will be among her priorities if elected, Naso said.
Lukes said she believes Naso has the skills to tackle the city's growing challenges.
Georgina Sabesky, John Orlikow's longtime assistant, is looking to replace him as the councillor for River Heights-Fort Garry. (Cameron MacLean/CBC)
"I've seen how dedicated she is, how she has the ability to communicate with many different individuals in the community," the outgoing councillor said. "I just think she could really do a good job for the residents and for the city."
In River Heights-Fort Garry, Orlikow endorsed his executive assistant, Georgina Sabesky, who has worked in his office for more than 16 years.
Sabesky said years of working with residents inspired her to seek elected office.
"I love helping people, picking up the phone, seeing what they're thinking and seeing what they want to see in their community, and then making it happen," she said.
Incumbents face challengers
In other wards, challengers are beginning to line up against incumbents.
St. Boniface is already shaping up to be one of the busier races.
Restaurant owner Nicholas Douklias is making his second bid to unseat incumbent Coun. Matt Allard, after running in the 2022 election.
"Over the last four years, nothing's changed and nothing's gotten better. In fact, things have gotten worse," he said.
Robyn Vilde, a former Royal Bank of Canada employee and bartender who previously ran as a candidate for an Ontario provincial seat, is also entering the St. Boniface race.
Vilde said he has watched the neighbourhood lose community amenities, while homelessness and safety concerns have become more visible.
"I've only seen it getting worse," Vilde said. "I decided it was time for somebody else to get involved."
In Transcona, Chris Giesbrecht filed papers to challenge incumbent Coun. Russ Wyatt, who is facing a sexual assault charge. Wyatt has said he is innocent.
Chris Giesbrecht is running to take the Transcona seat currently held by Russ Wyatt. (Maggie Wilcox/Radio-Canada)
Giesbrecht, who works as an assistant to Conservative Elmwood-Transcona member of Parliament Colin Reynolds, said he hopes voters are looking for a different kind of candidate.
"I think in this race a candidate who is maybe not so much in the news will stand out," he said.
Shawn Nason, who represented Transcona on council from 2018 to 2022 after winning a wide-open race to succeed Wyatt and ran unsuccessfully for re-election in 2022, has also registered.
Candidates have until Sept. 22 to submit their nomination papers. Winnipeg voters head to the polls on Oct. 28.
|
CBC Manitoba
|
|
|
Prev
, and Georgina Sabesky deals with my whining very well. She is very good at making me see the councilors point of view. In fact, I lately thought that I would rather she be the councilor than him. We'll see who else registers, but I would vote for her.
Linear Mode
