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?

For people to choose transit, it first has to be reliable, safe and convenient.

Winnipeg undertook a major redesign of its transit network in 2025, and now we need to use actual ridership and service data to identify where it is working and where adjustments are required. The City has already committed to annual service planning following implementation of the new network.

In communities like Transcona, I believe we should also be looking at different-sized vehicles and flexible or On-Request service for lower-density neighbourhood routes rather than assuming a full-sized bus is always the best solution.

Safety is equally important. Riders and operators need to feel secure at stops and on buses. I support a coordinated model involving Transit staff, Community Safety Officers and targeted police resources where the evidence shows they are needed. Recent targeted enforcement on Winnipeg Transit produced measurable reductions in reported violent crime during the initiative, which shows that visible presence can make a difference.

Accessibility also matters. During my previous term, I repeatedly raised concerns about Transit Plus accessibility, including the former 500-metre service restriction. Council ultimately eliminated that barrier effective in 2021. 

On reducing car dependency, my approach is straightforward: give people realistic choices rather than trying to make driving deliberately more difficult. Connect missing sidewalks and cycling routes, improve transit frequency and reliability, and make it easier to walk or cycle safely to schools, businesses, community facilities and transit. Winnipeg’s Transportation 2050 plan similarly calls for improving walking, cycling and transit choices. 

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?

Housing affordability and homelessness are related, but they are not the same problem and require different responses.

On housing, the City should continue reducing unnecessary delays, modernizing approvals and making it easier to build a range of housing. Winnipeg has already approved more than 14,800 net new housing units under its Housing Accelerator Fund targets as of September 4, 2026.

More supply is important, but development also has to be supported by roads, sewer and water infrastructure, transit, recreation and other services. Growth should be responsible and should respect established neighbourhoods.

Homelessness requires much closer coordination between the City, Province, federal & Indigenous governments along with community organizations. During my previous term, I saw firsthand positive results from working with organizations such as St. Boniface Street Links, and I continue to believe community organizations with frontline experience coupled with a strong desire to eliminate the repeated challenges those on our streets face daily have an important role to play.

The City currently funds 24/7 outreach and supports safe-space and stabilization services (I believe St.Boniface Street Links has been shut out of funding at the city level). I would put greater emphasis on measurable outcomes: how many people are being connected with shelter, treatment, income supports and permanent housing?

At the same time, parks, sidewalks, transit shelters and community spaces have to remain usable and safe for everyone. Compassion and accountability should not be treated as opposing ideas. Outreach should come first wherever possible, but outreach needs to lead somewhere.

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 requires both enforcement and prevention.

When someone is committing a violent offence, threatening people, trafficking drugs or repeatedly damaging property, there needs to be an effective law-enforcement response. At the same time, sending police to every situation involving homelessness, addictions or mental-health challenges is neither the best use of police resources nor the best response for the individual.

I favour a coordinated approach involving police, by-law enforcement, Community Safety Officers, Fire Paramedic resources and trained community outreach organizations, depending on the situation.

The Winnipeg Police Service’s 2026 operating expenditures are approximately $370.8 million. With that level of public investment, residents have every right to expect accountability and measurable results.

I support our police officers and the difficult work they perform, but no City department should receive a blank cheque. Council should be examining frontline deployment, response times, overtime, administrative workload, technology and whether trained civilian personnel can perform functions that do not require a sworn police officer.

The question should not simply be whether we are spending more or less. It should be: are we putting the right resources in the right places and getting measurable public-safety results for taxpayers in our neighbourhoods?

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?  

Yes, but Winnipeg needs to be clear about its role.

Municipal government cannot replace the provincial health, addictions, mental-health, income-support and housing systems. If the City tries to become another social-services department, taxpayers will pay twice and accountability becomes blurred.

Where the City can make a difference is at the street and community level.

We can support effective outreach organizations, provide safe public spaces and recreation opportunities, help community organizations access facilities, improve coordination between 311 and frontline agencies, and ensure that people encountering someone in crisis have somewhere appropriate to call other than automatically relying on 911.

The City is already contracting for 24/7 mobile outreach to people experiencing homelessness. I would want stronger performance reporting attached to those investments so Council and the public can see whether programs are actually connecting people with housing, treatment and ongoing supports.

Most importantly, all governments need to work from the same plan. We cannot continue moving people from a park to a shelter, from a shelter to an emergency room and back onto the street and call that success.

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?

We need to be clear on what City Hall can control. The City of Winnipeg cannot control grocery prices, mortgage rates or the cost of gasoline, but it absolutely controls how efficiently it spends taxpayers’ money.

Winnipeg’s municipal property tax increased 3.5 per cent in 2026, while many City fees and charges are also scheduled to increase. Every increase eventually affects households, whether people own their home or pay rent.

My priority would be examining value for money. That means reviewing programs and processes continuously, reducing duplication, making better use of technology, improving procurement and project management, and ensuring capital projects are properly scoped before taxpayers are committed to them.

We should also streamline permitting and development processes because unnecessary delays eventually become part of the cost of housing and doing business.

Transit needs to remain an affordable transportation option. Recreation and community services also need to remain accessible to families, seniors and young people.

There will always be pressure to add another program, position or expenditure at City Hall. Council’s responsibility is to distinguish between what would be nice to have and what residents genuinely need.

For me, affordability comes down to a fairly basic principle: before asking Winnipeg families for more money, City Hall should be able to demonstrate that it is making the best possible use of the money it already receives.