Winnipeg CMA in 5 years (2026)

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by esquire

Everytime this subject comes up we always hear about induced traffic, etc. but the reality is that the SW/SE corners of the city have added large amounts of residents with very little road/transit capacity to show for it. I don't think Kenaston widening is really a frill. At this point I'd say adding lanes to Kenaston, Bishop Grandin, Lagimodiere are a must. I realize interchanges are an unrealistic dream for Winnipeg but maybe start adding road capacity because many roads are becoming increasingly choked day in, day out.

There are some parts of Winnipeg that are still faring quite well in this regard. If your main commuting route is a street that was widened decades ago like Portage or Main it's not so bad. I could see areas like West K or Westwood becoming increasingly popular in the years ahead.

I understand that it's pricey to add interchanges, but we should try and add them along these three roads and chief peguis. At least start by adding them in a few key locations (bishop/waverly, bishop/st mary's/dakota, bishop/st anne's kenaston/mcgillivray, Lag/bishop, Lag/fermor, Lag/regent, lag/ CPT, CPT/ gateway, CPT/ Henderson.

Honestly add one once in a while for crying out loud, and then don''t screw around with transit either, steal the intellectual property from some other city that has plenty of experience and do it as efficiently as possible, make it a P3, do something.

[esquire]

^ Yes. Honestly, I am not the world's biggest cheerleader for interchanges but I don't think it is unreasonable for a city of Winnipeg's size to build at least one every decade. Which would basically be more than we have been building in the last 40 years. I mean, what are the most recent actual City of Winnipeg interchanges (i.e. not on the Perimeter or on provincial highways)? That Kenaston/Bishop pseudo-interchange/flyover thing, then before that what, Pembina/Bishop over 30 years ago? Almost every interchange in Winnipeg itself is from the Metro Winnipeg era in the 60s.

Surely our politicians can shake a few dollars out of Ottawa's coffers to fund a few of these things.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Yes. Honestly, I am not the world's biggest cheerleader for interchanges but I don't think it is unreasonable for a city of Winnipeg's size to build at least one every decade. Which would basically be more than we have been building in the last 40 years. I mean, what are the most recent actual City of Winnipeg interchanges (i.e. not on the Perimeter or on provincial highways)? That Kenaston/Bishop pseudo-interchange/flyover thing, then before that what, Pembina/Bishop over 30 years ago? Almost every interchange in Winnipeg itself is from the Metro Winnipeg era in the 60s.

Surely our politicians can shake a few dollars out of Ottawa's coffers to fund a few of these things.

Well we could use them at least to make our existing big roads functional. Long stretches of bishop could use a full rebuild, why not do the work while you're at it? Same with Lag, I honestly think that if we are seriously considering adding lanes to roads, we should do the correct thing and add freeflowing capacity and enhance the safety of the roadway as well. We don't need 12 lane freeways to slice up new swaths of land that aren't already disturbed by the presence of a large road, but honestly, some of these seem to be a no-brainer. It also doesn't have to happen overnight. But we should be looking at upgrading infrastructure, as the personal automobile doesn't look to be going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

[BlackDog204]

It has just been announced that StatsCan may have made a huge error, and under-counted the non-permanent residents by one million people. So essentially Canada could have as many as 41.2 million people right now.

Housing prices are going to go through the roof. I guess this also means the Winnipeg metro area could have as many as 920,000 people

[Atrial78]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

It has just been announced that StatsCan may have made a huge error, and under-counted the non-permanent residents by one million people. So essentially Canada could have as many as 41.2 million people right now.

Housing prices are going to go through the roof. I guess this also means the Winnipeg metro area could have as many as 920,000 people

Growth overall has been good for Winnipeg and Manitoba. But wow, what a failure of the government to miss a MILLION people

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by Atrial78

Growth overall has been good for Winnipeg and Manitoba. But wow, what a failure of the government to miss a MILLION people

My feelings exactly. Underestimating the population by 100k is concerning, one million is ridiculous. In overall numbers, Canada may have added more people than the United States in the past 12 months. We do not have the infrastructure to support such a drastic population change.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

We do not have the infrastructure to support such a drastic population change.

Exactly this. Canada is weird in that we refuse to build adequate housing and various types of infrastructure. We always gripe about Winnipeg but pretty well every major city in Canada punches below its weight when it comes to transportation infrastructure. That may have worked when we were riding the coat tails of large infrastructure/housing investments in the 1960s and overall population growth was fairly low, as it was all through the 90s.

Now our weak infrastructure is getting strained to the max as population growth continues unabated, and don't even ask about housing.

This does not seem like a recipe for social happiness.

[Biff]

Stats Can Jul 1 population estimates are out - Manitoba gained 41,000 people from Q3 to Q3

Originally Posted by LuluBobo

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1...pid=1710000901

July 1, 2023 population is out

Ontario - 15,608,369
Quebec - 8,874,683
BC - 5,519,013
Alberta - 4,695,290
Manitoba - 1,454,902
Saskatchewan -1,209,107
Nova Scotia - 1,058,694
New Brunswick - 834,691
Newfoundland - 538,605
PEI - 173,787

Yukon - 44,975
NWT - 44,972
Nunavut - 40,673

[Biff]

So depending how the percentages work out for the Winnipeg capital region 65% or 70% of the province - Winnipeg gained between 26,500 and 28,500 people over the lest year.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by Biff

So depending how the percentages work out for the Winnipeg capital region 65% or 75% of the province - Winnipeg gained between 26,500 and 28,500 people over the lest year.

And most probably moving to south winnipeg if traffic volumes are an indicator

[Winnipegger]

I'm absolutely baffled by how provincially and likely in the City, we've just had one of the biggest years for population growth and housing starts remain modest at best. There's been barely any notable or interesting announcements in the Winnipeg Construction forum over the last year or so.

I understand recent interest rate increases make affordability an issue for those looking for single detached, and make the business cases for multifamily more challenging, but I just don't know how we can cram so many people into a housing stock that isn't growing nearly as fast as population growth. I anticipate vacancy rates are dropping everywhere and rents are going up. Even though housing prices have dropped ~8% from their peak during COVID, mortgage payments are still 2% higher than they were at the peak due to higher mortgage rates.

Naturally from a data perspective I'd anticipate Winnipeg will see a few big apartment building announcements in the coming years to accommodate recent growth, but the new reality may just be that developers prefer low vacancy rates, high rents, and puttering along with status-quo greenfield developments that contain a mixture of single-detached and high-density apartments near the edge of the city which is just barely enough to accommodate growing population while doing absolutely nothing for urban fabric, transit-orientated development, or downtown livability. I'm guessing that despite having a record amount of potential renters, it's still less financially risky to build cookie-cutter grey apartment blocks out in Bridgwater than it is to build more 300 Mains downtown.

I know there isn't one single organization/government/developer responsible for this, but it would sure be nice to somehow get everyone in a room to agree to take advantage of this population surge by building up central areas instead of adding density to the edges of our city.

[drew]

Within the current environment, multi family housing is not profitable enough for most developers to build. Partly because of interest rates, partly because of increases in costs of labour, materials, etc.

Somethings gotta give eventually, and I suspect we will be seeing a big uptick in multifamily construction soon - especially after the recent GST announcement by the feds.

[wags_in_the_peg]

my elderly parents moved into a 50+ apartment in Bonavista (south of Island Lakes, building only 50% full and its been open for 6+ months).

it's been awhile since i drove down Bishop Grandin but was shocked to see how many buildings have gone up at the old SugarBeet area / Refinery district. Also, out in Headingly at the "westport". in the Exchange the 90 Alexander building will have 210 units. South pembina has Halo which is 400+ and many other developments happening along that stretch

I see quite a few rentals coming on market.

[cheswick]

There seems to be a lot of 4 story ish apartment rentals going up in the north mcphillips suburbs. Aurora has a bunch of them and theres a number going up on templeton. There's a building nearing completion on Templeton that had a phased plan of 4 buildings depending on the uptake and they just went to community committee for the final 2. So seems like things are going well there. I know a number of Ukrainian immigrants are renting in the area.

[drew]

There are lots under construction right now. But AFAIK not a lot in the pipeline after that tho. Everything being built now was in the works before all the covid and inflationary issues were a factor.

[anthonyk]

I'd assume property cost and taxes are driving developers away from downtown. Well, that in combination with the pressure to build higher due to the cost of land, increasing costs/sqft and reducing ROI. But I'm just pretending to know what I'm talking about, still learning

[trueviking]

New 2022-23 interprovincial migration numbers from StatsCan this morning. Banner year for Alberta, N.S. and N.B., 4th worse for us (worst since '90), bad for Ont.

AB +56,245
NS +8,526
NB +6,914
PE +1,587
NF +542
QC -6,052
SK -6,388
BC -8,228
MB -10,246
ON -41,929

Net interprovincial migration rate, per thousand residents as of July 1, 2022. Not a good look for Manitoba. Suggests unresolved problems with quality of life and career opportunities here.

AB +12.4
PE +9.3
NB +8.5
NS +8.4
NF +1
QC -0.7
BC -1.5
ON -2.8
SK -5.3
MB -7.3

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by drew

Within the current environment, multi family housing is not profitable enough for most developers to build. Partly because of interest rates, partly because of increases in costs of labour, materials, etc.

Somethings gotta give eventually, and I suspect we will be seeing a big uptick in multifamily construction soon - especially after the recent GST announcement by the feds.

GST from feds, PST from province (vote NDP), An extra $20 billion in Canada Mortgage Bonds for rentals announced today, $4 billion housing accelerator fund.....things seem like they are lining up to bridge the cost gap that interest rates and construction costs are causing.

[wags_in_the_peg]

the 8 people i know that left in past 2 years (family of 3, single x3, couple x1) went to AB & BC and in all cases they WFH. so have a ton more "free time" and want to spend it in nature. they live in smaller towns so pricing is reasonable.

Originally Posted by trueviking

New 2022-23 interprovincial migration numbers from StatsCan this morning. Banner year for Alberta, N.S. and N.B., 4th worse for us (worst since '90), bad for Ont.

AB +56,245
NS +8,526
NB +6,914
PE +1,587
NF +542
QC -6,052
SK -6,388
BC -8,228
MB -10,246
ON -41,929

Net interprovincial migration rate, per thousand residents as of July 1, 2022. Not a good look for Manitoba. Suggests unresolved problems with quality of life and career opportunities here.

AB +12.4
PE +9.3
NB +8.5
NS +8.4
NF +1
QC -0.7
BC -1.5
ON -2.8
SK -5.3
MB -7.3

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

the 8 people i know that left in past 2 years (family of 3, single x3, couple x1) went to AB & BC and in all cases they WFH. so have a ton more "free time" and want to spend it in nature. they live in smaller towns so pricing is reasonable.

Interesting because all the people I know that are leaving only consider Calgary as a viable option and are in no way interested in the small town life. Edmonton would be considered an unwelcome compromise, Vancouver is too expensive, GTA is always option No 2 but also major affordability issues, and it seems we have a large enough French speaking population in Winnipeg where Montreal is the perceived No 3 (in a lot of cases number 1) option these days.

Different desires for different ages I suppose.