Building an affordable and safe city we can be proud of

The Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board has a long history of engaging mayoral candidates campaigning to be the next mayor of the City of Winnipeg. Representing over 2,400 REALTOR® Members, the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board has a vested interest in connecting with candidates to learn more about their plans on matters that affect the health of the real estate market and homeownership for Winnipeggers.

This is the first of our special weekly feature leading up to election day on October 26  called “A Conversation with 2022 Mayoral Candidates” where candidates share their vision. Scan the QR code above to listen to Rick Shone’s podcast interview.

By Rick Shone

People desire to live in a city that has opportunity, a great quality of life, is affordable, enjoyable and safe. They want to live in a city they can feel proud of.

As mayor, I will work with council to create this reality for Winnipeg. To achieve this, we must focus on our reputation and take action to clean up our city. Winnipeg should be a spotless city and Winnipeggers must feel safe on the streets and in their homes.

Our vibrant music, museums, entertainment scene, beautiful seasons and multi-cultural restaurants and events are the great things we should be known for.

As housing affordability remains a top issue in many Canadian cities, it is our responsibility to ensure that Winnipeg remains an attractive place to live where the majority of your income is not spent on housing.

Housing costs are rapidly increasing and outpacing wages. Younger Winnipeggers are starting to feel priced out of the market. The fastest way to solving our chronic housing shortage is to review our current zoning code and make it easier to build mixed use, smaller houses, multi-family dwellings, SRO’s or even ADU’s much more quickly.

Implementing Winnipeg’s infill strategy targeting 50% development in recent or mature communities will allow us to build needed housing without placing additional burden on our stretched finances by needing to build new infrastructure to support it. New infrastructure investments must be considered from both short- and long-term perspectives in order to make decisions of priority.

Proper long-term planning is essential in developing budget estimates for city planning while also providing the construction industry and developers clear ideas on how to plan their long range horizons.

After reviewing the past 23 city budget documents, I have discovered it is surprisingly difficult to find consistency in how we measure the efficiency of the services the city provides. That is a problem because consistency is the key to establishing an accurate baseline from which to build from.

Winnipeggers tend to run on “gut feel” of how the city is functioning at any given time and were swift to react to Winnipeg’s inability to scale up to deal with snow clearing, overwhelming litter amounts and thousands of potholes. Recent data, pandemic aside, has revealed this gut feeling is justified and Winnipeg is becoming a less efficient provider of services.

Attracting new business investment to Winnipeg and growing existing business is essential for growth. We are home to a wide range of industries that are important to our success and create balance, strength and stability in our economy.

Today’s companies are looking for cities with efficient transportation systems, adequate housing, affordability, great quality of life and a highly educated work force that they can tap into. The best way to attract, foster and retain business investment in Winnipeg is to build a city that functions the way it should.

Winnipeg is a great city with abundant potential. Let’s unleash it together!

Visit rickshone.ca for more info.

Bio: Rick Shone is a small business owner, father, husband and proud Winnipegger. Active in the community, Rick is a strong advocate for building a more vibrant, active and inclusive city.

As a proven leader, Rick has the skills and vision to move our city forward. He is committed to working with all levels of government finding practical and caring solutions to the challenges we all face. 

The Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board is a non-partisan organization that works with all elected officials in support of our Members and a better Winnipeg for all its citizens. Nothing in the podcast or this publication should be seen as an endorsement of any candidate in Winnipeg’s civic election by the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board.

Prevous Candidate articles

Shaun Loney
Jenny Motkaluk

Listen to the Podcast version