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River Heights-Fort Garry Coun. John Orlikow says he plans to retire from Winnipeg’s city council at the conclusion of the current term this fall.
Orlikow announced Friday he will not make a sixth run in this October’s municipal election. He was first elected to council in a 2009 byelection and won subsequent elections in the southwest ward in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
“Everybody’s getting a little bit older, and you see your friends kind of dropping off and sometimes getting sick,” the 57-year-old councillor said at city hall.
“So it just puts that a little bit more in perspective, that if I do have that time to do something else, now is the time, before it’s too late.”
Orlikow served on council with three Winnipeg mayors: Sam Katz, Brian Bowman and Scott Gillingham. He sat on council’s executive policy committee under both Bowman and Gillingham and chaired four different council standing committees.
Gillingham said Friday he was proud to work with Orlikow.
“In a day and age when it’s easy for the public to be really critical and negative on those who are elected officials, Coun. Orlikow taught me and others that we should be proud of the work we do, to do it with integrity and to work hard,” the mayor said.
Orlikow cited the construction of the Waverley underpass, the Bill and Helen Norrie Library and the Brenda Leipsic dog park as among his achievements on council.
Leipsic preceded him in River Heights-Fort Garry before she died of cancer in 2009.
At the same time, Orlikow said he will not look back fondly on 17 years of fights both inside and outside city hall over the development of the Parker lands in Fort Garry.
That began in 2009, when council was only given seven days to consider a deal that saw the city exchange about 25 hectares of unserviced land in Fort Garry for four hectares of serviced land along the Fort Rouge yards.
That turned into litigation between the city and Parker lands deverloper Andrew Marquess over the pace of the development.
Marquess plans to build 1,918 residential units on the Parker lands.
“The Parker lands was just [a] brutal, brutal fight all the way through, and … I’m going to leave now with not a shovel in the ground, and that’s OK,” Orlikow said.
“We’ll let some other councillor deal with that going forward.”
Marquess declined to comment on Orlikow’s pending departure from city hall. In a statement, Marquess said he first approached city hall with development plans in 2013 and started work in 2025 on roads and other infrastructure to make way for the new homes.
That work will be completed in 2027, he said.
Wide-open race
Orlikow’s departure means there will be at least one wide-open race for a Winnipeg council seat this fall. His longtime assistant, Georgina Sabesky, a potential candidate to run in the ward, declined to comment Friday on her interest in running.
Former city planner Sara MacArthur declared her intention to run in River Heights-Fort Garry earlier this month.
Three other city councillors have not declared whether they will run again in October’s civic election.
St. Vital’s Brian Mayes and Janice Lukes in Waverley West said Friday they will announce their decisions before the end of June.
Transcona’s Russ Wyatt did not respond to a request for comment.
Candidates for council may register on June 30. Mayoral candidate registration began on May 1.
The election will be held Oct. 28.