Mayoral candidate Loney promises to revive Winnipeg's rail relocation conversation
Candidate Rick Shone pledges to crack down on vacant residential properties
Winnipeg mayoral candidate Shaun Loney has promised to revive dormant plans to move the Canadian Pacific Railway's yards out of the city — a long-held dream of urbanist politicians such as rival candidate Robert-Falcon Ouellette and former Manitoba premier Greg Selinger.
Minutes before a Tuesday evening campaign launch at Old Market Square, Loney promised to resuscitate the railyard relocation conversation that's been relatively quiet since 2016, when the Progressive Conservative government cancelled a study initiated by its NDP predecessor.
Loney said if he's elected mayor in October, he would bring all three levels of government together with the railway companies to see the value of moving the yards out of the city and redeveloping the 80-hectare site.
"In Winnipeg right now, part of why we're struggling is we're spending so much money extending services into new neighbourhoods. The type of city we all want is going to be more dense," Loney said.
During his first run for mayor in 2014, Ouellette promised to move the railyards out of Winnipeg and claimed it would cost $75 million to accomplish the task.
Industry analysts pegged the actual cost at closer to several billion dollars, primarily because the move would require the construction of new rail bridges at a site just outside the city.
Ouellette's campaign did not immediately respond to requests Tuesday for comment about Loney's pledge.
In 2016, Selinger's NDP government hired former Quebec premier Jean Charest, now a federal Conservative Party leadership candidate, to study the idea. The NDP government spent $400,000 on Charest's rail relocation study before Pallister's PC government was elected and cancelled the plan.
Loney said Winnipeg has to get past the cost of the idea and consider the benefits.
"This is exactly the problem in Winnipeg: We're asking the wrong questions," he said. "Moving them has tremendous financial benefits to all three levels of government."
Loney also promised Tuesday to create a single-fare system for Winnipeg Transit, car-share and bike-share programs and ride-hailing services.
He said he would explain both promises in greater detail later in the campaign.
Shone pledges crackdown on vacant properties
Earlier Tuesday, mayoral candidate Rick Shone promised to reduce the number of vacant residential properties in Winnipeg by increasing the fine the city levies on their owners.
Shone pledged to double the city's empty-building fee — charged on properties that are vacant for five years — from one per cent of the property's assessed value to two per cent.
Other cities charge higher rates to discourage speculation, he said.
"We don't have as much of that in Winnipeg. However, I do think this is a good, proactive move in order to look down the road in the future," he said in an interview.
Let police choose chief: Woodstock
On Monday, mayoral candidate Don Woodstock pledged to allow members of the Winnipeg Police Service to choose their next chief.
In a statement, Woodstock erroneously claimed the mayor has the power to choose the chief.
The Winnipeg Police Board selects police chiefs.
Woodstock, Shone, Loney and Ouellette are among nine people who have now registered mayoral campaigns.
The others are biosystems engineer Idris Ademuyiwa Adelakun, former Manitoba Liberal leader Rana Bokhari, grocery worker Chris Clacio, St. James city councillor Scott Gillingham and business consultant Jenny Motkaluk.
The civic election is Oct. 26.
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