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Candidates in Winnipeg’s mayoral race made a new slew of campaign promises Wednesday.
Incumbent mayoral candidate Scott Gillingham took his campaign to West Kildonan, where he announced the new library inside Garden City Shopping Centre will feature a new initiative that will extend its hours of operation, if he’s re-elected.
The public library, which will be the city’s 21st, is under construction and will open sometime next year, he said.
Gillingham said that if he’s re-elected, a new pilot project called Homework Libraries would be launched at the site. Under the pilot project, the library’s hours of operation would match the mall’s.
“We also know that families are very busy. Parents are working, kids have school and sports and other activities,” he said at a news conference outside the mall.
“Sometimes, the hours when families really need these library services don’t line up with the hours that the library is open,” Gillingham said.
“We want to change that, and Garden City is the perfect place to start.”
He credits Devi Sharma, who is seeking re-election as councillor in Old Kildonan, for bringing forward the Homework Library idea.
Gillingham said if the pilot project is successful — which would largely be determined through usage — he would work with council to expand it to four other libraries across the city, but not in the downtown area.
He says the cost to run the pilot program at Garden City Shopping Centre is “well under a million dollars.”
The library, which Gillingham says is the first completely new branch “in decades,” will have dedicated spaces for children, study areas and computers, and rooms for programming and tutorials.
Also on Wednesday, mayoral candidate Kevin Klein promised a $2 bus fare for seniors. The current cash fare for seniors is $2.95.
In a news release, his campaign said the initiative would be paid for by shifting existing funds and through reductions in city expenditures.
This announcement builds on Klein’s recent promise to overhaul Winnipeg Transit’s new system, which came into effect in June 2025 and reduced the number of stops from roughly 5,200 to 4,000.
Another mayoral candidate, speaking at the city’s animal services agency site Wednesday, announced a strategy to improve animal welfare and reduce the number of feral cats in the city.
“Winnipeg is facing a crisis that city hall has ignored for years, and far too long,” Don Woodstock said.
“Under a Woodstock administration, we are putting an end to this crisis once and for all.”
Winnipeg mayoral candidate Don Woodstock announced a strategy Wednesday to improve animal welfare and reduce the number of feral cats on the streets. (Adam Yadaoui/Radio-Canada)
Woodstock announced a four-year plan — if elected — to reduce the feral cat population, triple annual sterilizations, launch a recruitment push to bring in 60 new veterinary professionals, establish community rescue grants and expand the animal services agency’s facility.
He is also promising to double the Winnipeg Humane Society’s subsidized spray-and-neuter assistance program grant from $380,000 to $760,000 annually, and to build two new satellite care facilities with dedicated surgical capacity for cats and dogs.
Woodstock says these commitments would be funded through “a smart public/private funding model,” using corporate naming rights for the new facilities, infrastructure grants from all three levels of government, and an annual live donation drive to be hosted by Woodstock.
He says that if elected, his administration would do this without asking taxpayers “for a single dime.”