2018 Winnipeg Municipal Election

Winnipeg held its municipal and school boards election on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. Voters elected a mayor, one councillor in each of the city's 15 wards and school trustees, and answered a question on opening Portage and Main to pedestrian crossings. Mayor Brian Bowman, a lawyer first elected in 2014 to succeed Sam Katz, sought a second term against seven challengers, among them business-development consultant Jenny Motkaluk. No incumbent mayor of Winnipeg had been defeated since Stephen Juba unseated George Sharpe in 1956.

The election was the first held on wards drawn by the 2017 Winnipeg Wards Boundaries Commission, whose final report took effect on September 17, 2018. On 2016 census figures, ward populations ranged from 32,171 in St. Charles to 68,112 in South Winnipeg - St. Norbert, against an average of 47,016. The commission moved all of St. Charles's neighbourhoods to St. James and Charleswood - Tuxedo and created a new ward, Waverley West, chiefly from South Winnipeg - St. Norbert. It renamed St. James - Brooklands - Weston as St. James and Charleswood - Tuxedo - Whyte Ridge as Charleswood - Tuxedo, and named the rest of South Winnipeg - St. Norbert "St. Norbert", noting that council could amend ward names by by-law; the official results name that ward St. Norbert - Seine River.

Four councillors did not run again: Jenny Gerbasi in Fort Rouge - East Fort Garry, Mike Pagtakhan in Point Douglas, Russ Wyatt in Transcona and Marty Morantz in Charleswood - Tuxedo. Janice Lukes, councillor for South Winnipeg - St. Norbert, moved to Waverley West, which left St. Norbert - Seine River without an incumbent, and St. Charles councillor Shawn Dobson ran against St. James councillor Scott Gillingham.

In all, 216,003 electors voted, a turnout of 42.33%, down from 50.23% in 2014. Bowman was re-elected with 53.3% of the vote, 65% of those who answered the Portage and Main question voted "No", and council returned 10 incumbents and five new members.

Mayoral Race

Bowman won with 114,222 votes, 53.30% of the 214,303 votes cast for mayor, to 76,554 (35.72%) for Motkaluk, a margin of 37,668. Tim Diack was third with 10,548 (4.92%) and Don Woodstock fourth with 4,738 (2.21%); the other four candidates received between 788 and 3,527 votes each. In 2014, Bowman had won with 111,504 votes (47.5%), ahead of Judy Wasylycia-Leis (58,440) and Robert-Falcon Ouellette (36,823).

Computed from the City's results by voting subdivision, Bowman led in 11 of the 15 wards. His share was highest in Fort Rouge - East Fort Garry (69.2%), River Heights - Fort Garry (67.6%) and Daniel McIntyre (60.5%). Motkaluk led in four wards in the north and east of the city: Transcona (48.5% to 40.1%), Elmwood - East Kildonan (46.4% to 40.8%), Mynarski (43.9% to 39.4%) and North Kildonan, by 139 votes. Bowman's narrowest lead was 40 votes in Old Kildonan (41.5% to 41.2%). In Waverley West, which had no council race, he received 58.2%. Diack's best ward was Point Douglas, with 13.4%. Of the 618 voting subdivisions, Bowman led in 438 and Motkaluk in 177; three were tied. CBC News described the results as showing a city divided along north–south lines, with Motkaluk's main support in the northeastern parts of the city.

In his victory speech, Bowman said: "Winnipeg has chosen a positive vision over division and a return to a status quo of the past." Motkaluk said she had spoken to Bowman and congratulated him.

The Candidates

Brian Bowman, a privacy lawyer, had been a longtime provincial Progressive Conservative before he won the 2014 race. He did not formally launch his campaign until mid-September. He pledged property tax increases of 2.33% a year, $4.1 million moved from a transit garage roof replacement to 55 heated bus shelters, and $4 million more for a recreation facility in Waverley West; CBC News reported that fixing roads, with a $976-million, six-year plan, would be a top priority of a second term. A Probe Research poll in late August put his approval at 52%, down from 59% in the fall of 2017; Bowman attributed the drop to changes he had made, including growth fees.

Jenny Motkaluk grew up in the North End's Luxton neighbourhood, studied molecular biology and worked in research-equipment sales before becoming a business-development consultant. She had finished second to Ross Eadie in Mynarski in 2010. She registered on May 1, the first day of the campaign period, saying: "I'm running for mayor to defeat Brian Bowman, just to be clear." She proposed keeping Portage and Main closed, building no more rapid transit lines after the Southwest Transitway and doubling the number of police officers in schools from 17 to 34. Four councillors endorsed her: Jeff Browaty, Jason Schreyer, Ross Eadie and Janice Lukes, all members of council's six-member unofficial opposition.

Other candidates. Tim Diack, a Winnipeg police officer known as a Point Douglas beat officer, had sought the Progressive Conservative nomination in Point Douglas in 2017; he proposed a secure intake facility of 50 to 100 beds for methamphetamine psychosis. Don Woodstock, a former Winnipeg Transit driver, had run provincially, federally and for council. Doug Wilson, mayor of Morden from 2006 to 2010, called poverty the biggest issue facing Winnipeg. Umar Hayat, a self-described entrepreneur, campaigned against expanding rapid transit. Filmmaker Ed Ackerman and Venkat Machiraju, an engineer who advocated an inner ring road, also ran. Ten people registered for mayor; eight were nominated by the September 18 deadline.

Campaign Issues

In a Probe Research poll for CBC, conducted from August 27 to 31, 32% of respondents ranked reducing crime as the issue that mattered most and 25% named repairing roads and bridges; in 2014, a majority had named road repair. In September, the Winnipeg Police Association produced a television advertisement suggesting that Bowman was to blame for a shortage of 911 operators. The Winnipeg Police Service said 911 calls were being answered "within expectations" and that its call centre had three vacancies; Bowman called the advertisement fearmongering. Association officials had attended Motkaluk's events, but both she and the association's president said there was no endorsement.

Property taxes divided the candidates. Bowman proposed annual increases of 2.33%, Motkaluk 1.16% with rebates for owner-occupied homes, and Diack 1.2% in 2019, a freeze in 2020 and a cut in 2021. Woodstock proposed a four-year freeze and Machiraju a 5% cut.

The August Probe poll, an online survey of 600 adults, found 22% support for Bowman, 11% for Motkaluk and 57% undecided. A Probe poll for CTV Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Free Press, conducted from September 19 to 28 among 653 adults, found 61% of decided voters supporting Bowman and 28% Motkaluk.

The Portage and Main Question

Portage and Main had been closed to above-ground pedestrian traffic since 1979. Bowman had promised in his 2014 campaign to remove the barricades. In June 2018, North Kildonan councillor Jeff Browaty moved to put the question to voters, seconded by Lukes, and on July 19 council approved the plebiscite 14–1, with Gerbasi opposed; it was the city's first referendum in 35 years. Voters were asked: "Do you support the opening of Portage and Main to pedestrian crossings?" The result was not binding, but Bowman promised to honour it. A Vote Open campaign formed to support opening the intersection, and a CBC-commissioned Probe Research poll in August found 67% of respondents opposed.

"No" received 134,203 votes (65.0%) and "Yes" 72,300 (35.0%). Computed from the City's results by voting subdivision, "Yes" won a majority only in Fort Rouge - East Fort Garry (57.2%) and Daniel McIntyre (56.9%); its lowest shares were in Transcona (20.5%) and Elmwood - East Kildonan (23.3%). CBC News described the "Yes" vote as concentrated in the city's core neighbourhoods, a "doughnut-shaped divide". Bowman said: "I'm not going to apologize for listening to Winnipeggers and they spoke today pretty clear." The City planned to proceed with $2 million in repairs to the intersection regardless of the result.

Council

Every incumbent who ran kept a seat except Dobson, and the five new councillors were all elected in wards where no incumbent ran. Fifty-one candidates contested 14 seats.

• Old Kildonan: Devi Sharma, first elected in 2010 and Speaker of council, won a third term with 6,923 votes (57.1%). Kaur Sidhu, a pharmacist who had run for the Progressive Conservatives in The Maples in 2016, received 2,862 (23.6%).
• Mynarski: Ross Eadie, councillor since 2010 and a former Seven Oaks School Division trustee, won a third term with 6,854 votes (65.9%) in a ward enlarged to include the Mynarski and Robertson neighbourhoods. Micheal Wiens received 1,792.
• Point Douglas: Vivian Santos, executive assistant to Pagtakhan, who had represented the ward since 2002, won with 5,327 votes (57.4%). Kate Sjoberg, former executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association, received 2,936 (31.6%).
• Daniel McIntyre: Cindy Gilroy, who had defeated longtime councillor Harvey Smith in 2014, won a second term with 6,396 votes (57.0%) to 4,592 (40.9%) for Josh Brandon, a community organizer and former chair of Make Poverty History Manitoba.
• St. James: In a contest between two councillors first elected in 2014, Scott Gillingham, former pastor of Grace Community Church, defeated Shawn Dobson by 9,130 votes (55.4%) to 5,740 (34.8%). Kurt Morton received 1,601.
• Waverley West: Janice Lukes was acclaimed on September 18 when no one else filed nomination papers, the first council acclamation in Winnipeg since 2002. The new ward, which includes Whyte Ridge, Linden Ridge and the Bridgwater neighbourhoods, had 44,006 residents in 2016.
• Charleswood - Tuxedo: Morantz left to run for the federal Conservatives. Kevin Klein, former publisher and CEO of the Winnipeg Sun, won with 7,403 votes (41.9%) to 5,922 (33.5%) for Grant Nordman, St. Charles councillor from 2006 to 2014. CBC News reported that Klein was the only candidate in any 2018 race endorsed by both the firefighters' and police unions.
• River Heights - Fort Garry: John Orlikow, councillor since a 2009 by-election, was re-elected with 12,717 votes (69.1%) to 4,684 for Garth Steek, who had represented the ward from 1995 to 2004.
• Fort Rouge - East Fort Garry: Gerbasi, the city's longest-serving councillor, had held the seat since 1998. Sherri Rollins, a Winnipeg School Division trustee and the division's chair, won a seven-candidate race with 5,349 votes (36.9%) to 4,783 (33.0%) for city planner Jeff Palmer, a margin of 566.
• St. Norbert - Seine River: The closest race in the city. Markus Chambers, manager of employer engagement for Manitoba Education and Training, won with 5,391 votes (34.5%), 564 more than Nancy Cooke (4,827, 30.9%), an assistant to the provincial infrastructure minister. Transportation engineer Glenn Churchill received 3,835 (24.5%).
• St. Vital: Brian Mayes, councillor since a 2011 by-election, won 14,338 votes (89.4%) to 1,706 for Baljeet Sharma, the most votes and the highest share of any council candidate.
• St. Boniface: Matt Allard, former CEO of the Francophone Chamber of Commerce of St. Boniface, won a second term with 13,649 votes (82.8%) to 2,838 for realtor Marcel Boille, who proposed halting rapid transit expansion.
• Transcona: Wyatt, councillor since 2002, did not run, and eight candidates sought the seat, the most of any ward. Shawn Nason, a former constituency manager for Conservative MP Lawrence Toet, won with 5,247 votes (37.0%). Wally Welechenko received 2,345 and retired police officer Alex Allard 2,183.
• Elmwood - East Kildonan: Jason Schreyer, first elected in 2014, was re-elected with 6,171 votes (54.8%) to 5,095 (45.2%) for Robb Massey, a basketball coach at Elmwood High School and former pastor.
• North Kildonan: Jeff Browaty, first elected in 2006 and the author of the Portage and Main plebiscite motion, won a fourth term with 12,796 votes (77.2%) to 3,786 for Andrew Podolecki, becoming council's senior member. The ward gained Riverbend and Rivergrove, west of the Red River.

Voting and Turnout

The City used a single composite ballot for all races and the Portage and Main question, counted by automated voting machines. Advance voting ran at City Hall from October 1 to 19 and at community locations, shopping centres, universities and 192 seniors' residences, personal care homes and hospitals. The 39,840 advance voters were the most ever, 30% more than in 2014, when 30,619 voted in advance. On election day, 193 voting places were open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; all results were reported by 9:30 p.m. The City's results by voting subdivision add up to the official totals, so the map places every vote, advance votes included.

Turnout fell from 50.23% in 2014, when 235,455 people voted, to 42.33% (216,003 voters), the lowest since 2006 (38.2%). The 214,303 votes for mayor were 1,700 fewer than ballots cast, and the 206,503 answers to the Portage and Main question 9,500 fewer.