Mark Requinta
What would you do to make transit service in Winnipeg more functional, reliable and safe for its users? What plans do you have, if any, to reduce car dependency in the city?
Winnipeg Transit needs to be reliable, safe and practical enough that people can confidently use it for work, school and everyday life. I support improving service frequency on busy routes, reducing cancellations, maintaining cleaner shelters and stops, and strengthening safety through better lighting, security presence and coordination with community safety resources.
Reducing car dependency should be about giving people better choices, not making driving unnecessarily difficult. We should build a transit system people actually want to use and continue improving safe walking and cycling connections where they make sense.
What do you think the city should be doing to ease the housing and homelessness crisis? What specifically would you change about the city’s current approaches?
We cannot continue managing homelessness one encampment at a time without addressing the underlying problem. I would push for stronger coordination between the City, Province, housing providers and community organizations so people can move from the street into appropriate shelter, supportive housing, treatment and longer-term housing.
At the same time, neighbourhoods and businesses deserve safe, clean public spaces. Encampments cannot simply become permanent communities without sanitation, safety standards or accountability. I support compassionate intervention combined with clear enforcement when public safety is at risk.
The City should also speed up housing approvals, encourage construction on vacant and underused properties and take stronger action on neglected and derelict buildings.
Public disorder has become a major concern among surveyed voters. How should the city best deal with it? The police budget is a major expense for the city, are people getting value for money?
Public safety is one of the biggest concerns I hear while speaking with residents. People should feel safe waiting for a bus, walking downtown, operating a business or taking their children to a park.
Police need to remain focused on violent crime, weapons, repeat offenders and serious public safety threats. But police cannot solve every social problem. Mental-health crises, addictions and homelessness require appropriate outreach and health services as well.
With a large police budget, taxpayers are entitled to measurable results. I would expect greater accountability, effective deployment of officers and resources directed to the neighbourhoods experiencing the greatest problems. I also support exploring stronger community-based police and safety presence in areas where residents repeatedly report disorder.
While poverty and addictions are largely another government’s responsibility, are there ways that you see that the City of Winnipeg could be doing more to solve these issues?
Although health care, income assistance and addictions treatment are primarily provincial responsibilities, the City cannot simply say these problems belong to another level of government.
The City can help by making municipal land available for supportive and affordable housing, working faster with organizations providing housing and recovery services, improving community recreation and youth opportunities, and ensuring people experiencing addiction or homelessness are connected to services rather than continually cycling between the street, emergency rooms and the justice system.
I would also continue pressing the province and federal government for their fair share of funding. Winnipeg taxpayers should not be expected to carry these responsibilities alone.
Voters are concerned about the rising cost of living and affordability. What do you see are ways the City of Winnipeg could make life less expensive for residents?
City Hall has to recognize that families are already under tremendous financial pressure. Every tax, fee and increase matters.
I would focus first on delivering core services efficiently and carefully reviewing spending before asking residents for more money. We should reduce unnecessary delays and red tape that increase the cost of housing and doing business, make transit dependable and affordable, maintain roads and infrastructure before expensive problems become worse, and pursue economic development that expands our tax base.
Affordability also means getting better value from the taxes residents already pay. People should be able to see the results in safer neighbourhoods, reliable services, maintained streets and cleaner communities.
Vivian Santos (incumbent)
What would you do to make transit service in Winnipeg more functional, reliable and safe for its users? What plans do you have, if any, to reduce car dependency in the city?
Reliability and safety are the priorities. I want to see more service hours, a stronger direct line between rider feedback and Transit’s Director so route and reroute decisions actually account for real usage patterns (not just the shortest path on paper), and more transit officer presence on routes where safety incidents are rising. On car dependency: continued investment in frequent, dependable transit and safe, physically separated bike routes are the most realistic long-term ways to shift habits, alongside targeted infrastructure like the Arlington Bridge that reconnects underserved communities without forcing more car trips.
What do you think the city should be doing to ease the housing and homelessness crisis? What specifically would you change about the city’s current approaches?
The real fix is a faster pipeline into stable, supportive housing, not just shelter beds. I support the province’s Transition Centre opening at 190 Disraeli (targeted November 2026) as a meaningful step toward consolidating ID, housing navigation, and other supports in one place, but a building alone doesn’t solve homelessness. I’d change the city’s approach to be more upfront that shelter/encampment responses are a bridge, not a solution, and push harder for supportive housing units to come online faster.
Public disorder has become a major concern among surveyed voters. How should the city best deal with it? The police budget is a major expense for the city, are people getting value for money?
This needs a both/and approach: enforcement where there’s genuine criminal behaviour, paired with the social supports (mental health, addictions, housing) that address root causes, because policing alone hasn’t solved it. On value for money: I think residents deserve a clearer public accounting of outcomes tied to the police budget, not just spending totals, so council and voters can actually judge effectiveness rather than assuming more budget equals more safety.
While poverty and addictions are largely another government’s responsibility, are there ways that you see that the City of Winnipeg could be doing more to solve these issues?
The city doesn’t run health or income supports, but it controls things that matter a lot day-to-day: bylaw enforcement to make sure property owners manage garbage and enclosures properly (reducing rummaging and related conflict), funding for community spaces and recreation that give people, especially kids, alternatives and stability, and advocating hard to other levels of government using our on-the-ground data, since Point Douglas carries a disproportionate share of this crisis.
Voters are concerned about the rising cost of living and affordability. What do you see are ways the City of Winnipeg could make life less expensive for residents?
Compost rollout, transit reliability, and recreation access all matter here, since they save residents real money (fewer car trips, no need to pay for programming elsewhere). I’d also push to keep property tax increases and water rates predictable and tied to clear service outcomes, and prioritize on our current infrastructure repair.
Compiled by Trinity Kakegamic
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