By James Turner, Winnipeg Better team leader

Elections truly matter —  the one in Winnipeg on Oct. 28, 2026 especially so.

I know — it’s a ways off yet. But we learned from doing this project in 2022 that reaching out to you sooner and getting you engaged today is the best way to shape the coverage to focus on YOU, and your concerns about Winnipeg and how it’s run.

Here’s the sales pitch:

Winnipeg Better is a project from senior journalism students in the Creative Communications program at Red River College Polytechnic. We will work over the next year to spotlight major issues city and its council will contend with after the next election.

But instead of focusing on horse-races of council and mayoral candidate competitions or personality contests, we want to give you a more holistic, comprehensive approach to how this election is covered and put your priorities at the heart of how we do the work.

From the city’s revenue problems, its massive infrastructure deficit, troubles with crime and the future of downtown, the next mayor and council will have a lot to deal with.

Our immediate ask of you is to please fill out our simple survey that asks the question which will shape how we spend our time: “what do you want candidates to be talking about as they compete for your vote?“

LINK TO SURVEY: https://forms.gle/RPLcRHGEvp8D4UBJ8

Our mission is to cultivate dialogue and be a go-to accessible resource on serious civic issues that voters, not just politicians care about.

Your responses will help shape a “citizen’s agenda” for the election, which you can read all about here: https://pressthink.org/2018/11/election-coverage-the-road-not-taken/

The goal of this method is to focus our work on the things you care about and go beyond what the candidates want to talk about. And, given the response from 2022, people will pay attention and read/watch/listen to the work.

Over the coming weeks and months, this site will be updated frequently with fresh material.

In the six-seven (ha!) weeks just prior to the election, a new team of journalism students will take the reins and focus on mayoral candidates, ward races and developing voter’s guides.

Happy reading.

We welcome your feedback and thoughts. Reach out at any time at jmajorrrc@gmail.com

James Turner, journalism instructor, RRC Polytech