Winnipeg city council will meet Thursday for its final meeting before its summer break, and the second-last regular meeting before October’s civic election.
One item expected to draw discussion is a proposed change to the capital budget that would have taken money away from the city’s tree planting program.
The Manitoba government told the city to shift $1.2 million in strategic infrastructure basket funding to the Assiniboine Park Zoo’s Journey to Churchill exhibit.
To offset that change, city administrators had recommended reducing this year’s urban forest renewal program by the same amount, delaying some planned tree planting while keeping the overall capital budget unchanged.
But after the proposal drew public criticism, Mayor Scott Gillingham announced last week he would introduce a motion aimed at preserving the full 2026 tree planting budget.
In a news release on June 9, Gillingham said “Winnipeggers care deeply” about the urban forest, and “the public wants this tree planting funding protected.”
The mayor said he would bring forward a plan at the council meeting to do that.
The city report going to council says the province required the funding change and that it does not reflect a change in the city’s own capital priorities. The additional money for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy would fund infrastructure upgrades at the Journey to Churchill exhibit, including filtration and mechanical improvements.
This is the second time in less than a year the province has told the city to redirect money it had already budgeted. In late 2025, the Manitoba government reallocated $5.5 million that had been planned for road safety and spray pad improvements, and a Waverley West fire paramedic station. The money was redirected toward an animal hospital at Assiniboine Park the St. Boniface Museum.
Council will meet only one other time, on Sept. 24, before the election on Oct. 28.