As Winnipeg faces another year of relentless tax hikes, it’s clear that City Hall has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. The City’s appetite for your money continues to grow, but we aren’t seeing the return on investment. This council, under Mayor Scott Gillingham, is making choices that raise serious questions about its priorities and fiscal judgment.
One glaring example is the South Winnipeg Recreation Campus (SWRC). The city is pushing forward with a $100 million-plus project at a time when we’re being told there’s no money for the things we need. Aging community centres are losing funding, pools are closing, and property taxes, frontage levies, and fees are climbing. Meanwhile, our roads and water infrastructure are deteriorating. The North End Sewage Treatment Plant — by far the most important capital project the city has on its books — has been stalled for years. It’s no exaggeration to say that every delay at the North End Plant increases the risk of environmental harm to Lake Winnipeg. Yet, for some reason, that critical project is dragging, while a mega-rec campus in Waverley West seems to be on the fast track.
Let’s be clear: building community centres in growing neighborhoods makes sense. But building a “Taj Mahal” of community centres when we can’t afford to maintain existing ones does not.
The Cost Keeps Climbing
Back in 2019, Phase 1 of the SWRC was projected to cost $89 million. Fast forward to 2024, and the bill has already jumped by another $23 million. The city blames inflation, supply chain disruptions, and delays from the province for the cost overruns. Fair enough. Those are legitimate factors. But they’re also predictable ones. And the city’s leadership is supposed to plan for contingencies like this. The fact that they didn’t — or did and decided to ignore the risks — is their failure.
What’s worse is the trend. It’s highly unlikely the price tag stops here. Anyone who has managed large-scale capital projects in government or business knows that cost escalation is baked into the cake if you don’t have strict controls in place. Public projects in Winnipeg have a well-documented history of going over budget. Just look at the Winnipeg Police Headquarters debacle, the Southwest Rapid Transitway, or even the Winnipeg Humane
Society’s long-ago expansion.
The Politics Behind the Project
It’s hard to ignore the political angle here. The SWRC is being championed by Acting Deputy Mayor Janice Lukes, a member of Mayor Gillingham’s inner circle. This is her “legacy project.” And legacy projects in politics usually mean ribbon cuttings, photo ops, and something shiny for the next campaign brochure or for her Wikipedia page. That doesn’t make them bad ideas by default. But when the money isn’t there, and the city is cutting elsewhere, it becomes a matter of judgment. Is this really the time to spend north of $100 million on one project?
Consider this: in 2023, Winnipeg announced it was cutting annual funding for community centres by $1.4 million, leaving many older neighbourhoods struggling to maintain services. Pool closures are becoming routine. And yet, council seems content to pour vast sums into a campus that will only directly serve a four-to-six-kilometre catchment area, albeit with a population of over 120,000. Does that make sense to the rest of the city?
Why Not a Public-Private Partnership?
There’s a smarter way to do this. It’s called a public-private partnership (P3). These aren’t new, and they aren’t radical. Across Canada, P3s have delivered critical infrastructure on time and on budget. A 2020 report from the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships showed that P3 projects typically achieve greater cost certainty and risk transfer than traditional government procurement. Successful examples include Calgary’s ring road and the Union-Pearson Express in Toronto. Manitoba has benefited from P3s in the past — the Charleswood Bridge being one example, even if current council members rarely mention it.
With a P3 model, the city could still deliver a community recreation facility without the full financial burden or risk. Private investment could ensure tighter cost controls, and operational expertise from the private sector could enhance services. Meanwhile, the city’s capital could be redirected to essential infrastructure—like that stalled North End Treatment Plant. That’s where we should invest first.
Even the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has argued in recent years for municipal governments to embrace P3s to meet infrastructure needs without raising taxes. The CFIB’s 2023 Municipal Report Card pointed out that municipalities are increasing spending faster than population growth and inflation. Winnipeg fits that description.
Leadership Requires Tough Choices
Some might say, “It’s a new area, it deserves a community centre.” No argument there. But let’s separate the need from the extravagance. This isn’t about denying services to Waverley West. It’s about how we deliver them. Do we do it by spending $100 million-plus on one project while closing other facilities citywide? Or do we take a balanced approach that meets new needs without robbing old neighbourhoods of the basics?
When you’re running a household or a business, you don’t max out the credit card for an addition to your home when the foundation is cracking and the furnace is about to fail. The North End Sewage Treatment Plant is the city’s foundation. It’s where we should be focused. This $2 billion project is needed to reduce the nutrients going into Lake Winnipeg. We’re under orders from the province to get it done, and the feds have already said they’ll provide one-third of the cost. Yet, the city’s portion isn’t fully funded.
And remember this: every year we delay the plant, the price tag goes up. Between 2018 and 2023, the projected cost ballooned by over half a billion dollars. If Winnipeg fails to act, we risk not just environmental damage but massive future liabilities.
Winnipeg Can’t Afford More Status Quo Thinking
The council’s continued commitment to legacy projects like SWRC, while vital infrastructure rots, signals a deeper problem at City Hall. It’s old thinking: political priorities over practical needs. This isn’t about ideology; it’s about making common-sense decisions.
Taxpayers are being squeezed hard. Between 2019 and 2024, property taxes rose by 14.4%. And that’s not counting frontage levies, which increased by another 17%. Add in the rising cost of city fees and utilities, and it’s clear that Winnipeggers are paying more but getting less.
We can’t afford vanity projects—not now. We need infrastructure that keeps the city running, protects the environment, and ensures services are available for everyone—not just the new neighbourhoods. If the council insists on proceeding with a community campus, that’s fine. But do it through a public-private partnership. Spread the risk. Protect taxpayers.
City Hall needs to hear this message: stop chasing legacies and start delivering results.