Winnipeg | 2026 Civic Election & City Affairs

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by Danny D Oh

They aren't a union, they are an association. They are the ones who break up any union protest or picket deemed illegal.

The city certainly has no issue putting the screws to the CUPE workers, they are an actual union.

I know union people love to say that cop unions aren't real unions.

And of course they're not, in the sense that they have zero solidarity with other unions and are not members of the MFL or the Labour Council.

But they're a union. They are the certified bargaining agent for the cops, and bargain with the employer. The cops have a collective agreement that governs their employment.

They can't strike, but neither can the teachers. They're called an "association", but so is the professors' union and the admin/professional city staff.

I'd say they're a union, they're just not part of the labour movement.

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by Riverman

Correct, never thought of that as I only fly around here. I tried taking some pictures of a club event in Oshawa and the software would not let it above one metre.

The drone idea sounds dumb and like a way of trying to convince people that we can get all the functionality of the helicopter without paying for it.

The bottom line is that if we get rid of the helicopter, there isn't a cheap way to replace that function. But that doesn't make the helicopter worthwhile. There are lots of Canadian cities whose police forces don't have a helicopter.

The real question isn't "is there some cheap alternative to a helicopter" (probably no). The real question is, "could the $2.2M that's spent running the helicopter be spent more effectively in other ways" (probably yes).

[Danny D Oh]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

I know union people love to say that cop unions aren't real unions.

And of course they're not, in the sense that they have zero solidarity with other unions and are not members of the MFL or the Labour Council.

But they're a union. They are the certified bargaining agent for the cops, and bargain with the employer. The cops have a collective agreement that governs their employment.

They can't strike, but neither can the teachers. They're called an "association", but so is the professors' union and the admin/professional city staff.

I'd say they're a union, they're just not part of the labour movement.

Agree with most of this.

People get hung up on striking as the only job action possible though. In the public sector the employer can legislate any bargaining unit back to work and most have spelled out in binding CBAs as to what essential services are when the bargaining units are in a legal strike position.

Teachers can’t walk off the job in terms of basic responsibilities outlined in the contract but there’s lots of actions that can and have been taken. Recently with cuts schools have had to download para-professional duties like bus and recess supervision (city folk might not get how big the bus issue is outside of town) onto teachers and I’d see that being an immediate flash point along with the usual extra-curricular. We’ll see with provincial bargaining how the province proceeds whatever colour the government is. It hasn’t gone smoothly often in provinces that bargain this way as opposed to at the board level.

[Danny D Oh]

Originally Posted by esquire

Truly bizarre that so many people in this city can't behave like citizens in a civilized society. They need babysitters to keep them in line... according to the left only social workers and health care staff can fix the problem, according to the right only more cops can do the job.

I guess just acting like normal human beings without requiring the supervision of legions of highly paid minders is out of the question? It feels like things are breaking down.

Well yeah lots of people have been raised by no one and literally have no positive role models to go along with a life full of trauma. The number of people who are disconnected from anything really meaningful in terms of relationships and necessities of life is growing. That’s the problem, everything like social workers and police are just band-aids. We really have to interrupt generational cycles of trauma and poverty, meaning for parents and children plus their children, usually focus just on children not previous and next generations. Social workers with something sustainable to offer help, Police just react to the result.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

I'm all for spending $ on tech, if it will make a difference and if drones are most effective, then put $ into them.

can we not assume "police drones" would be in contact w air traffic control and therefor have access to be where they need to be and not follow same rules as personal drones?

Looking at the rules I don't see that. I do see that Nav Can is able to do restricted air space for emergency incidents but that takes time to set up.

[thebasketballgeek]

Loney wants to accelerate the transit master plan to be finished in 10 years instead of 2040. Two of the ways he would like this accelerated plan to be funded in the municipal level is from carbon credits and utilizing property tax revenue from commercial or residential developments on high density roads. The article also highlights that he is a proponent of electrification of our busses. Finally, it seems he wants to try electric vans for feeder routes with no transit outside of rush hour to improve last mile service in a cheaper way.

https://www.cbc.ca/1.6520398

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Loney wants to accelerate the transit master plan to be finished in 10 years instead of 2040. Two of the ways he would like this accelerated plan to be funded in the municipal level is from carbon credits and utilizing property tax revenue from commercial or residential developments on high density roads. The article also highlights that he is a proponent of electrification of our busses. Finally, it seems he wants to try electric vans for feeder routes with no transit outside of rush hour to improve last mile service in a cheaper way.

https://www.cbc.ca/1.6520398

The city can’t figure out how to provide a safe and secure ride or even keep bus shelters clean and some idiot wants to expand the system, 🞵🞵🞵🞵 me!

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by Danny D Oh

Well yeah lots of people have been raised by no one and literally have no positive role models to go along with a life full of trauma. The number of people who are disconnected from anything really meaningful in terms of relationships and necessities of life is growing. That’s the problem, everything like social workers and police are just band-aids. We really have to interrupt generational cycles of trauma and poverty, meaning for parents and children plus their children, usually focus just on children not previous and next generations. Social workers with something sustainable to offer help, Police just react to the result.

This is the result of providing to those who expect everything for free, no accountability for themselves or respect for anyone else. Remember it’s not their fault they stabbed someone or not their fault they stole a car, it’s always someone else’s fault.

Where has generational welfare gotten society, keep telling people how bad they have it and they begin to believe it and yet refugees can come with the clothes on their back, no money and not know the language and succeed in less than a generation!

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

The city can’t figure out how to provide a safe and secure ride or even keep bus shelters clean and some idiot wants to expand the system, 🞵🞵🞵🞵 me!

Have you ever heard of the concepts of induced demand and “eyes on the street” by any chance?

Well the more transit infrastructure that gets built the higher the ridership, and the higher the ridership the less crime there is on transit. Also, I don’t know why everyone is so scared about public transit when it’s statistically proven that driving a car is far more dangerous then riding public transit. The perception that transit is safer comes from car accidents being normalized and an acceptable flaw of our infrastructure never being questioned.

Also, if you actually decided to read the article you would see that the 2nd last paragraph Loney stated to have peace officers on transit for security AND to connect people with mental health issues and addictions to social services…

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Have you ever heard of the concepts of induced demand and “eyes on the street” by any chance?

Well the more transit infrastructure that gets built the higher the ridership, and the higher the ridership the less crime there is on transit. Also, I don’t know why everyone is so scared about public transit when it’s statistically proven that driving a car is far more dangerous then riding public transit. The perception that transit is safer comes from car accidents being normalized and an acceptable flaw of our infrastructure never being questioned.

Also, if you actually decided to read the article you would see that the 2nd last paragraph Loney stated to have peace officers on transit for security AND to connect people with mental health issues and addictions to social services…

More wishful thinking, I don’t worry about a stoner with a knife riding in my car unless it’s the mother-in-law!

[T'Cona]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

this is the result of providing to those who expect everything for free, no accountability for themselves or respect for anyone else. Remember it’s not their fault they stabbed someone or not their fault they stole a car, it’s always someone else’s fault.

Where has generational welfare gotten society, keep telling people how bad they have it and they begin to believe it and yet refugees can come with the clothes on their back, no money and not know the language and succeed in less than a generation!

100%

[Danny D Oh]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

This is the result of providing to those who expect everything for free, no accountability for themselves or respect for anyone else. Remember it’s not their fault they stabbed someone or not their fault they stole a car, it’s always someone else’s fault.

Where has generational welfare gotten society, keep telling people how bad they have it and they begin to believe it and yet refugees can come with the clothes on their back, no money and not know the language and succeed in less than a generation!

Not sure what you mean by generational welfare, but money isn't really a solution when there's no plan, no doubt about that.

There's success stories in all groups, but from spending the last 15 years working with youth who are disconnected from school and quite often Justice involved I can tell you that I work with as many refugees and first-generation Canadians as any other group. On the whole they aren't having success in our Canadian economy and society either...also doesn't matter from where, Eastern Europe, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, South Asia.

At some point we decided trauma is not something we want to deal with and we live with the result. If people are fine with that we'll continue down that path but it's not going to get better.

[Winnipegger]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

This is the result of providing to those who expect everything for free, no accountability for themselves or respect for anyone else. Remember it’s not their fault they stabbed someone or not their fault they stole a car, it’s always someone else’s fault.

Where has generational welfare gotten society, keep telling people how bad they have it and they begin to believe it and yet refugees can come with the clothes on their back, no money and not know the language and succeed in less than a generation!

This take is so ridiculously out of touch with reality. You act like the only thing preventing locals who rely on welfare from "pulling themselves up by their bootstraps" is pure laziness, and so-called "government handouts" have so generously compensated them that they would not rather get up from the couch.

The reality is that many local impoverished Winnipeggers living in our inner-city suffer from more than just "laziness" brought about by government "handouts". The effects of abuse, segregation, offloading problems to reserves, racism, and the residential school system over the last several decades has resulted in tens of thousands of displaced people who had nowhere or no one to turn to. They were given the option of either rejecting their family and heritage in order to participate in broader western society and increasing urbanization and the prosperity that followed, or otherwise embrace their heritage but be resigned to living life on a reserve far from the main urban centers and their associated economic opportunity.

This dichotomy of choice has led to entire generations being left behind economically and socially, and has led to the development of bad habits like alcohol and drug abuse, physical abuse and poverty, which then creates the right environment for people to seek out other means of subsistence, often getting involved in gangs and crime in order to survive and make it to tomorrow because they lack the means to better themselves due to lack of support system and experience.

The idea that inner-city low-income households just need to "work harder" glosses over so much history and nuance that the statement basically becomes meaningless. This isn't some form of "wokeism" or trying to shift blame from personal decisions to wider society, but rather pointing out the fruitlessness of such an argument. If you don't address the root causes of crime and poverty and Winnipeg and simply shrug it off as "laziness", it will never get fixed. And quite frankly, you are ignoring the historical context of this province and country, and expecting others to do so as well.

Of course there are many positive stories about people coming from terrible backgrounds and still clawing their way up despite systematic oppression and terrible childhoods. But the fact remains that it doesn't matter your culture or skin colour, if any large group of people was treated the same way we treated Indigenous peoples in this country, the exact same thing would happen. But because many people - including myself - didn't grow up facing all those same barriers, it's just too easy to assume those that aren't as prosperous as us just aren't trying hard enough.

Yes, refugees can come to this city with only the clothes on their back and acquire a house and start businesses and send their kids to post-secondary education within a generation, and that's a great success. But these same refugees come to Canada facing a different, and perhaps much easier set of barriers than the exisiting Indigenous population. Somalians and Syrians don't face the same level of systematic racism and discrimination as Indigenous peoples. They don't have 10 generations-worth of family who were abused and used by residential school systems, resulting in mental health problems and addictions. They don't have brothers and sisters and moms and dads who already have connections with the Hell's Angels or some other local gang who whisper false promises in their ear about making a quick $100 for selling drugs. They don't have security guards and police officers follow them around when they step into Superstore. Sure, refugees don't have it easy either, but they get welcomed into Canada with open arms from nearly everyone.

Indigenous people? Not so much. They were here before us and welcomed us, but we turned around and ruined entire generations of people by exploiting their land and labour, shuffling them off to the middle of nowhere, while trying to remove their culture from them.

Don't tell me impoverished Winnipeggers just need to "work harder". For the majority, the issue is much bigger than just getting off the couch and finding a job. I'd like to see you try and make it in life given the same starting point as them. Odds are you wouldn't make it very far either.

[borkborkbork]

for what it's worth, i've found that this feature of the forum is very useful:

User CP > Edit Ignore List > Add a Member to Your List

[thurmas]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/gillingham-crime-prevention-mayor-1.6521248

Mayoral candidate Gillingham unveils crime prevention plan for Winnipeg

Calls for renewed statistical analysis, joint units with RCMP to improve policing without spending more

Mayoral candidate Scott Gillingham unveiled a crime prevention plan he says was in the works well before a recent slew of high-profile violent incidents in Winnipeg.

The two-term city councillor for St. James and former Winnipeg Police Board chair gathered reporters to a meeting room in downtown Winnipeg's Alt Hotel on Thursday to present a five-page, 10-point policy document he described as an effort to make the Winnipeg Police Service more proactive.

Gillingham said if he's elected mayor this fall, he will encourage Winnipeg's police to resume the statistical analysis of crime trends on both a citywide and community basis. He'd also encourage them to revive joint efforts with the RCMP to combat organized crime and arrest habitual offenders who have warrants for their arrests, he said.

Gillingham said the police service has moved away from proactive crime prevention to the point where the service no longer has the capacity to do much beyond responding to crime.

"Many police officers are working hard, but from a strategic perspective, there's been a conscious shift in how these officers are being tasked and deployed to a more reactive approach that is struggling to cope with inbound calls," Gillingham said.

Gillingham promises new 24-hour safe space in Winnipeg's North End if elected mayor
Gillingham also pledged to expand upon pilot projects that prevent police from responding to low-risk mental-health calls in favour of sending outreach workers with crisis expertise instead. He promised to hire crime prevention officers to serve on Winnipeg Transit buses and elsewhere once the provincial government changes legislation to allow the move.

He also pledged to change the criteria for police board appointments to ensure people who serve on the board have skills applicable for advising the police.

"You need the right skill set not only to provide financial oversight, but to provide good governance oversight as well," he said, noting the police service's $320-million annual operating budget is the largest among any city department.

He stopped short of stating the qualifications of existing board members are less than adequate for the role.

Fiscal accountability
Gillingham promised Wednesday to appoint himself to the police board to ensure he could directly advise police. Under the provincial Police Services Act, only members of the board have the authority to provide any general direction to the Winnipeg Police Service.

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Gillingham promises to appoint himself to police board
Gillingham also pledged to reinstate a criminologist-in-residence program at the police service. That, he said, is the only aspect of his crime prevention plan that would incur any additional costs to the city.

"I do not support defunding the police, but I do believe that the Winnipeg Police Service needs to be fiscally accountable so that we can protect taxpayers and other city services," Gillingham said.

He said as mayor he would continue to hold increases to the police budget at or below the rate of inflation.

Three uniformed police officers and two marked police vehicles are seen on the street in front of a building, surrounded by yellow police tape.
Winnipeg police officers taped off the front steps of the three-storey apartment building at 391 Gertrude Ave., in Osborne Village, and closed part of the street after a man was shot by a police officer on Wednesday. (Travis Golby/CBC)
The eight-year councillor said advisers on his campaign team and in the community were working on this plan well before a series of high-profile incidents — including a pair of stabbings at The Forks three days apart — led Winnipeg police Chief Danny Smyth to state violent crime is not a new problem for the city.

Premier Heather Stefanson and Winnipeg Police Association president Moe Sabourin condemned Smyth's remarks, characterizing them as complacent.

'This is not new,' Winnipeg police chief says after recent violent incidents at The Forks
'The situation is not normal': Community leaders respond to Winnipeg police chief's comments on crime
Manitoba premier defends her criticism of comments made by Winnipeg police chief
"Nothing today I'm saying is a reaction to the criminal or political events of the last few days," Gillingham said.

Gillingham is one of 12 people registered to run for mayor in Winnipeg. The other 11 candidates are Idris Adelakun, Rana Bokhari, Chris Clacio, Shaun Loney, Jenny Motkaluk, Glen Murray, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Jessica Peebles, Rick Shone, Desmond Thomas and Don Woodstock.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

for what it's worth, i've found that this feature of the forum is very useful:

User CP > Edit Ignore List > Add a Member to Your List

Right because you wouldn’t want to hurt your soft eyes and ears with an alternative viewpoint, Millennials are such snowflakes!

Oh, I’m so offended by being offended, make them stop, I only want to hear what the left wing media tells me what to believe!

[biguc]

Triggered, rrskylar?

[3de14eec6a]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

for what it's worth, i've found that this feature of the forum is very useful:

User CP > Edit Ignore List > Add a Member to Your List

I had them on my ignore list for a while. But I took them off so I can laugh at them now. Such a joke.

[WestEndWander]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Right because you wouldn’t want to hurt your soft eyes and ears with an alternative viewpoint, Millennials are such snowflakes!

Oh, I’m so offended by being offended, make them stop, I only want to hear what the left wing media tells me what to believe!

This is a perfect example of a post filled with indicators that it has crafted by someone with a distinct lack of critical thinking skills, or thinking skills in general, and should not be taken seriously. The calling cards phrases of the simpleton post:

1. Alternative Viewpoint
2. Millennials
3. Snowflake
4. Offended
5. left wing media
6. ...media tells you what to believe...

These are the dying gasps of an irrelevant person, pay no attention to them. Their contribution to this forum is a net negative of no value. Pay them attention as such.

[zalf]

I did a survey for Probe Research today that was pretty focussed on the municipal election. Among the big list of names in a section about "Who would you vote for for mayor?" was Klein. I expect he's feeling out his chances.

Wasn't Orlikow the first to announce, albeit well before the formal registration date? I guess he thought better of it.