Planning framework for Winnipeg and its neighbours that stirred debate this summer faces potential defeat

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Peggy

The mayors and reeves of Winnipeg and its surrounding municipalities are slated to vote Thursday morning on the future of a contentious regional planning framework.

Members of the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region face a decision on whether to approve Plan 20-50 and forward it over to the province, or defeat the planning framework for Winnipeg and 17 surrounding municipalities.

It became a lightning rod this summer for a range of anti-government grievances, including some that had nothing to do with the contents of the plan itself.

“I believe it’s dead in my mind,” East St. Paul Mayor Carla Devlin said in an interview Wednesday.

She supports the idea of regional planning for major roads and other infrastructure projects, but is less enthusiastic about proscriptive rules governing the size of lots in new residential areas.

The plan also calls for regional co-ordination when it comes to expanding transit service and co-ordinating things like wastewater treatment or emergency services.

Opposition to the plan from the leaders of five municipalities led the provincial NDP to effectively undermine it by introducing legislation that allows municipalities to opt out of the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region.

Devlin said if the plan is defeated, as she expects, the future of the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region is in doubt.

“It’ll be a challenge to be effective. I don’t know how that’s going to look and I don’t know who’s going to leave,” Devlin said. “I think that’s in everybody’s best interest to work within Winnipeg Metropolitan Region and work for the better good of Manitoba.”

Earlier this year, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham expressed concern the collapse of the planning framework would make it more difficult to attract businesses to the Winnipeg region.

“We need better collaboration between the province, rural municipalities and the city. If we don’t get serious about co-operation, other regions — like Calgary, Minneapolis or even Saskatoon — will eat our lunch,” Gillingham said in a statement in August.

“Manitobans want to know all levels of government are working together, not against each other — whether it’s through an amended capital region plan or a different agreement.”

Gillingham declined to comment this week on Thursday’s vote.

Jennifer Freeman, the executive director of the provincially appointed body responsible for co-ordination in the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region, said she could not comment prior to the vote.

Leave neighbourhood planning to councils: mayor

Devlin said Freeman will require support to develop some form of successor plan. That plan, she said, should leave neighbourhood planning to municipal councils.

“I think that the density targets got into the weeds of municipalities and raised some eyebrows. I think that we have to have a gentle approach to development in municipalities and ensure that autonomy is still at the level of the council,” Devlin said.

The East St. Paul mayor also said she feared Premier Wab Kinew’s snap decision in August to allow municipalities to opt out of Plan 20-50 will embolden large groups of people to bully elected officials at municipal council meetings.

Several municipal leaders complained about a lack of decorum at a public hearing about the framework in Winnipeg in July. A second hearing slated for Niverville in August was cancelled after an even larger crowd showed up.

“We’re seeing individuals that don’t reside in our communities present during public hearing processes, and therefore government has empowered a certain body of people to think that they can control public hearings,” Devlin said.

Glen Simard, Manitoba’s municipal relations minister, brushed aside that concern. He insisted the NDP government is trying to unite municipalities by allowing some members of the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region to opt out of a regional planning framework.

“Rather than dictating the rules of the game to municipalities, we want them to build a consensus and decide what’s best for their communities,” Simard said Wednesday in an interview.

A map of Winnipeg Metropolitan Region, encompassing Manitoba's capital and 17 surrounding municipalities. — The Winnipeg Metropolitan Region encompasses Manitoba’s capital and 17 surrounding municipalities. (Winnipeg Metropolitan Region)

Simard also dismissed concerns the province is dawdling on a review of the municipal board — an unelected provincial body that has been the target of criticism — after making a snap decision on Plan 20-50.

The Manitoba Association of Municipalities has long protested a decision by the past Progressive Conservative government to grant that board expanded powers, including the ability to overturn land-use decisions made by municipal councils.

Kinew said in August his government was still reviewing those expanded powers.

Simard declined to say when the long-promised review will be complete.

“The process will be what the process will be,” he said.