Winnipeg’s roads, streets need serious investment. Our economy rides on it: MHCA
The absence of significant budget levels for city regional roads is a serious concern for our economy, and underscores the critical need for a new deal that flows greater revenues to municipalities, MHCA President and CEO Chris Lorenc says.
Lorenc is speaking at Council’s Public Works Committee on March 3, presenting the MHCA’s response to the City of Winnipeg’s proposed 2023 Operating and Capital Budget.
The 2023 Local and Regional Street Renewal budget of $155 million is about $10 million less than that of 2022, largely because this year marks the end of a five-year funding agreement with the federal and provincial governments to augment investment in regional roads.
(While the roads budget falls against 2022’s level, it is $18.9 million more than was forecasted ($136.9 million) for this year in 2022, due to an election-campaign promise by Mayor Scott Gillingham to dedicate more money to roads.)
Lorenc noted that beyond a successor agreement to the tri-partite deal for accelerated regional road investment, Winnipeg – as with all municipalities – need a new fiscal deal that not only distributes, more fairly, tax revenues but also opens up potential new revenue-generating sources for cities and towns.
“The recent announcement from the Government of Manitoba to increase grants to municipalities, including a substantial increase to the City of Winnipeg, was welcome news but only a first step of a necessary new fiscal deal discussion,” Lorenc notes, in the presentation.
Incremental increases to core infrastructure budgets are necessary to prepare for a growing population and, importantly to grow the economy.
“Investment in infrastructure – in particular, core and trade-enabling infrastructure – is an investment in community well-being because of its immediate and long-term return to GDP. Our infrastructure moves people to jobs and goods to market; it protects our communities from the increasingly frequent extreme weather events that come with climate change.”
Lorenc also discussed the budget’s provisions for design studies for extending the Chief Peguis Trail to the northwest corridors and expanding Kenaston Boulevard, both important links in Winnipeg’s trade transportation network.
Also commended is the investment to bring water & waste-water servicing to CentrePort Canada’s south footprint, to enable private investment and development, spinning off significant returns to GDP for years.
Further, he applauded Council’s decision to study the plans concerning Arlington Street Bridge, a 111-year-old overpass that cannot support heavy-vehicle use. It is better to reimagine what the bridge can become to the community – as a preserved but redesigned icon of the Winnipeg skyline, as a greenway and meeting hub that welcomes pedestrians, community gatherings, cyclists and all, regardless of mobility restrictions.
MHCA will be appearing before the Executive Policy Committee March 16 and then at Council, March 22 to speak to fiscal considerations and industry concerns.
