By Jeremy Davis
On November 14, 2024, Scott Gillingham, Mayor of Winnipeg, and Councillor Jeff Browaty, Chair of Finance, presented the City of Winnipeg’s Proposed 2026 Budget Update to the 2024-2027 Multi-Year Budget. I was pleased to be invited by the Mayor’s Office to participate in the Proposed 2026 Budget Update Stakeholder Lock-Up which provided an embargoed look at the Budget and the ability to gain insights from the Mayor, Finance Chair and staff, before it was officially introduced at Executive Policy Committee.
This represents the third Budget Update of this multi-year budget cycle and the last before the next Civic Election which will take place on October 28, 2026.
First and foremost, this Budget Update returns to the 3.5% property tax increase set out in three of the four Budget Updates in this term of Council. As the above graphic shows, even with this property tax increase, the City of Winnipeg continues to have among the lowest typical municipal tax bills and proposed property tax increases among major cities in Canada.
The Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board advocates for increases to housing supply to maintain our affordability advantage and to ensure Manitobans continue to be able to realize the dream of homeownership. The Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board also advocates for City of Winnipeg issues such as advancing strategic enabling infrastructure, prioritizing infill development, and improving the efficiency of the permitting system.
Strategic enabling infrastructure can be defined as things like roads, pipes for water and wastewater removal, water and wastewater treatment facilities, and recreational infrastructure, to name a few. This type of infrastructure is extremely important if the overall goal is to increase housing supply because it is literally the foundation upon which housing can be delivered. In other words, there is no point in building homes if there is no infrastructure to support those homes and the Proposed 2026 Budget Update includes 6-year funding plans for many of the investments required to support communities. Examples of this type of infrastructure include:
• $547 million for the final phase of the North End Sewage Treatment Plant upgrade which represents the City’s 33% share, with the remainder required to come from the provincial and federal governments
• $304.3 million for water and sewer main renewals
• $219.5 million for combined sewer overflow
• Historic $1.1 billion in road repairs
• $13 million toward design work for Route 90 widening and improvements
• $5.2 million for land acquisition for the Route 90 and Chief Peguis Trail projects
• $41.9 million for the Louise Bridge rehabilitation project
• $36.8 million for the Lagimodière Twin Overpasses rehabilitation
• $112.8 million for active transportation, including $60+ million for pedestrian and cycling investments
• $35.3 million for recreation and community centres
• $17.1 million for additional spray pad investments
• $12 million for community centre renovations
• $16.1 million toward the transformational Portage Place redevelopment
The Proposed 2026 Budget Update also includes:
• An increase of 10 temporary to full-time staff for 2026 to improve the performance of the permitting department
• $239.1 million for new transit buses
• $5.8 million for the design of rapid transit downtown corridors
• $13.5 million for primary transit network infrastructure
• 18 new police officers
• 10 firefighter Resource Pool full-time staff to fill absences, reduce overtime, support training, and enhance capacity
• 11.5 full-time Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service staff funded by Shared Health for new community paramedic supports
• $1.7 million for Neighbourhood Action Teams with 17 additional full-time staff to be hired
• $600,000 annual operating grant for CentreVenture
The North End Sewage Treatment Plant is the City’s highest priority and deservedly so since there is a finite capacity which will be met in 2032 if the funding from the provincial and federal governments is not realized. This would be catastrophic for Winnipeg because it would result in the City having to say no to new economic and population growth. This means no new homes or development until the upgrade is complete.
The federal government’s recently announced housing enabling infrastructure stream of the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund will likely be a prime target for the City of Winnipeg since its aim is to “accelerate the construction and upgrading of housing- enabling drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste infrastructure, directly supporting the creation of new homes and increasing densification.”
Residents who are concerned about this should contact their local provincial and federal representatives to reinforce how important this is for Winnipeg since those levels of government will be required to commit funding to fulfill the remaining two thirds of the eventual infrastructure agreement to ensure phase three is completed before reaching the capacity limit.
As this year’s budget process unfolds, I encourage any residents who wish to provide feedback to take the budget survey or register to provide written or in- person feedback at one of the Council Committees by following the instructions on the Proposed 2026 Budget Update website by scanning the QR code below.
Jeremy Davis is the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board’s Director of External Relations & Market Intelligence.