Today was budget day for Winnipeg City Council. Perhaps the most important day of the year. And I watched it so you don’t have to!
Spoiler: it passed 14 – 2 and it’s a huge step in the wrong direction.
There’s plenty of discourse on Twitter (I’d suggest starting with Millennium for All’s feed).
You can watch the entire meeting below.
But it’s over four hours long so I’ve gone ahead and created a table of contents, bookmarking the important moments.
If you’re extremely short on and you only have 10 minute to spare, watch Councillor Allard’s Introduction to his amendment and imagine what a great city we’d have if we had more than one urbanist on council. Or maybe the impassioned speeches by the delegates in opposition to the budget.
Delegations
Think about what kind of amazing city we would be living in if their positions were flipped!
In Support
- Loren Remillard, The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce (5:42)
- Chris Lorenc, Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (12:13)
In Opposition
- Michael Redhead Champagne & Mary Burton – Fearless R2W (43:04)
- Kate Kehler – The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg (49:51)
- Ryan Beardy – Gang Action Interagency Network (55:26)
Police Budget
Note: this was presented “as information” only.
- Chambers – St. Norbert, Introduction (1:21:33)
- Wyatt – Transcona, a plea for more council oversight of police board, etc (1:26:08)
Budget
- Mayor Gillingham, Intro. Summary of high level items (1:38:58)
- Browaty – North Kildonan, his highlights (1:43:36)
Amendment
Arguments in Support of Budget
- Rollins – Fort Rouge-Easy Fort Garry (2:18:13)
- Gilroy – Danielle McIntrye (2:27:00)
- Wyatt – Transcona (2:38:07)
- Chambers – St. Norbert (2:48:04)
- Schreyer – Elmwood-East Kildonan (2:53:04)
- Orlikow – River Heights-Fort Garry (3:03:49)
- Mayes – St. Vital (3:11:58)
- Eadie – Mynarski (3:20:42)
Closing
The Vote (3:46:51)
Notably Silent
If you live in the following wards, your representative was totally silent during the most important council meeting of the year.
Please think about this when they’re up for re-election in 4 years.
- Evan Duncan – Charleswood – Tuxedo – Westwood (contact info)
- Shawn Dobson – St James (contact info)
- Devi Sharma – Old Kildonan (contact info)
Update: I should note that Councillor Sharma was on leave for most of the day and attended remotely for the vote. She may have had more to say if she was able to be present during the meeting.