Four incumbent Winnipeg councillors face no competition, for now
One month to go before ballot is set; no councillor has been acclaimed since 2002
Just over a month before Winnipeg's election ballot is set, four incumbent councillors face no competition.
As of Friday afternoon, Couns. Matt Allard (St. Boniface), Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan) and Brian Mayes (St. Vital) were running for re-election unopposed in their respective wards. Coun. Janice Lukes, the outgoing St. Norbert councillor, was also running unopposed in the new Waverley West ward.
If no one registers to run against these councillors and submits valid nomination papers by Sept. 18, they will be acclaimed as elected officials.
No members of council have been acclaimed in Winnipeg since 2002, when former councillors Garth Steek (River Heights-Fort Garry), Gord Steeves (St. Vital) and Dan Vandal (St. Boniface) ran unopposed in their respective wards.
Allard said Winnipeg voters should not expect another round of acclamations this year.
"I wouldn't count on it," Allard said Friday in an interview, adding he expects someone will register a campaign to compete against him before nominations close next month.
Allard said when he first ran for office in 2014, he was headed for acclamation until opponents materialized shortly before the deadline.
He said it's possible there's less interest in challenging him, Lukes, Mayes and Browaty because a lot of turnover is already guaranteed for council this year.
No fewer than four sitting members of council will not return this fall.
- Jenny Gerbasi — Winnipeg's longest-serving councillor — won't seek 6th term
- Coun. Pagtakhan will not seek re-election
- Morantz to leave city hall, no matter what happens with Charleswood Tory nomination
Rookie Charleswood-Tuxedo Coun. Marty Morantz, four-term Point Douglas Mike Pagtakhan and five-term Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Coun. Jenny Gerbasi are not seeking re-election, while St. James-Brooklands Coun. Scott Gillingham and St. Charles Coun. Shawn Dobson are going head-to-head in a newly expanded St. James ward.
As well, the political future is uncertain for Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, who was charged with sexual assault in July.
Wyatt has yet to register a re-election campaign in his ward, where six candidates hoping to replace him have signed up so far.
The most crowded council race so far is Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry, where seven candidates have registered to succeed Gerbasi. The latest, city planner Jeff Palmer, signed up to run on Friday.
The incumbents running unopposed, at least so far, say they are working just as hard as if they had competition.
"I'm grinding away," Mayes said in an interview. "Obviously, my odds are better if I don't have an opponent, but it hasn't changed my approach."
"I'm not taking anything for granted," said Browaty, adding he is spending time in Riverbend and Rivergrove to ensure people living in these neighbourhoods west of the Red River know they've been moved into North Kildonan as a resultt of ward boundary changes.
Lukes said even without competition, she has her work cut out for her to engage with people living in the new Waverley West ward.
"Four years ago, when I ran last time, there was like nothing in some of these developments and now they're full of people," she said.
Winnipeggers go to the polls on Oct. 24.
