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Mike Sudoma \/ Free Press<\/p>\n
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Mayoral candidates (left to right) Mike Vogiatzkis, Scott Gillingham and Kevin Klein prepare for Wednesday evening\u2019s mayoral debate in the CBC Studio in downtown Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
Gillingham shot back by noting Klein was Manitoba\u2019s environment minister in 2023. He accused his opponent of failing to make a dent on the cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Mr. Klein had moved to get the provincial funding for the North End plant \u2026 that plant would have cost us less, and he didn\u2019t get us the money, and so now it costs us more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NDP government has promised funding for the plant, most recently committing $500 million in August. In 2022, while Brian Bowman was Winnipeg\u2019s mayor, and before Klein was the environment minister, then-premier Heather Stefanson announced the province would contribute $167 million to the second phase of upgrades to the plant.<\/p>\n
Klein told reporters after the debate that he found those comments \u201cflippant and disrespectful,\u201d and said Gillingham was invited to attend meetings about the treatment plant that he had called while he was minister. He said the City of Winnipeg, provincial staff and \u201cnational experts\u201d were invited, but Gillingham sent Coun. Brian Mayes instead.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think if Mayor Gillingham had taken the time and left his office to come down and sit and listen to the experts and listen to (them say) maybe we\u2019re going overboard on what we\u2019re doing at the North End treatment plant, that we\u2019re trying to build the Taj Mahal when we should be focusing on different things, I think we\u2019d be in a different position with the money,\u201d he said at a scrum after the debate.<\/p>\n
Gillingham said Mayes was the chair of the water and waste committee at the time and Klein \u201ccould have given (him) a call.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only other candidate invited to participate in the debate, Mike Vogiatzakis, watched the two spar since he has no connection to the project. The three candidates also discussed homelessness, Winnipeg Transit and taxes.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Mike Sudoma \/ Free Press<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Mayoral candidate Scott Gillingham.<\/p>\n Klein said his costed property tax plan will be released Friday while Gillingham said his will be released \u201cbefore voters go to the polls on Oct. 28.\u201d Vogiatzakis said he would not release a costed plan because he\u2019s \u201cnot a politician\u201d and wants to meet with stakeholders after being elected.<\/p>\n During the debate, Gillingham accused Klein of \u201cburning bridges\u201d through his columns with the Winnipeg Sun and a podcast, and said Klein had insulted Premier Wab Kinew and Prime Minister Mark Carney.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, I don\u2019t see you being able to partner with other levels of government, given your track record of being so divisive and writing scathing columns\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Klein dismissed Gillingham\u2019s claims as \u201cdeliberate misrepresentation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not like Scott. I think we have to be more demanding of our provincial and federal leaders so that we get what Winnipeg deserves,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n Both Klein and Gillingham have promised to hire additional police officers.<\/p>\n Klein said the city needed a set timeline on when the mayor would bring in those new officers, and Gillingham said it would be within \u201cseveral\u201d years.<\/p>\n \u201cIn several years, is that five years, is that 10 years?\u201d Klein asked.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Mike Sudoma \/ Free Press<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein.<\/p>\n Later, Gillingham told reporters he plans to begin hiring police officers in the next budget year, and then continue working towards adding 120 net new police officers through the four-year budget, but the hiring could take longer.<\/p>\n Vogiatzakis said he wants to launch an apprenticeship cadet program in which they are guaranteed work as licensed police officers in four years.<\/p>\n In a segment where candidates could only respond \u2018Yes,\u2019 or \u2018No,\u2019 Klein said he hasn\u2019t taken the bus in the last six months, while the other two said they had.<\/p>\n Only Gillingham said he believes it is safe to take the bus and he acknowledged problems with the route changes.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve said consistently it has not rolled out smoothly. I wish it would have rolled out differently \u2026 we\u2019ll keep making the adjustments until we get it right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Only Vogiatzakis said the city should scrap its Transit network overhaul and go back to the old system.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking about doing things for the future, but it\u2019s the people now that are struggling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Gillingham and Klein both said they would not reduce water and waste bills, while Vogiatzakis said he would. All three said they would raise property taxes. Vogiatzakis and Klein both said Winnipeggers are not getting their money\u2019s worth from the taxes they pay.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Mike Sudoma \/ Free Press<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Mayoral candidate Mike Vogiatzkis.<\/p>\n Vogiatzakis pitched what he called a \u201ctax-free zone\u201d downtown, where some new businesses would be exempt from business taxes, PST and GST, but would still have to pay property taxes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would work out a plan to help entrepreneurs for a year, two years, whatever the plan would be, with (Premier) Wab Kinew, and we would work out something to encourage businesses to come downtown with no taxes at all,\u201d he said after the debate.<\/p>\n CBC Manitoba chose the three candidates based on who was polling above 10 per cent among decided voters, plus or minus margin of error, in a Sept. 18 poll from Abacus Data.<\/p>\n Several candidates who were left out of the debate took to social media. Don Woodstock announced he would livestream at the same time as the debate and answer the same questions posed to the candidates, while Noah Redden announced he would hold a virtual town hall on Instagram Wednesday.<\/p>\n malak.abas@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Malak Abas Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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