Winnipeg reaches tentative $100M road-renewal deal with Ottawa
Bartley Kives | CBC News | Posted: September 7, 2018 5:34 PM | Last Updated: September 7, 2018
Mayor Bowman's office announces pact before rival Motkaluk's infrastructure pledge
Ottawa has agreed to provide Winnipeg with $100 million more for road renewals over the next five years, says a city report published on Friday.
On Wednesday, city council's executive policy committee will consider a deal in principle that would have the federal government top up Winnipeg's road-renewal funding.
The city was hoping to get an additional $182 million under an earlier plan that would have required a larger provincial commitment.
The new report says the city made a separate request to Ottawa for $100 million this June.
Mayor Brian Bowman said Friday the agreement means a total of $300 million of additional money — $100 million from each level of government — will be added to existing road-renewal funds.
"This is significant and this is historic.… I'm very proud to move it so far, as far as we've gone so far," he said outside city hall.
Roads eligible for the additional money include Portage Avenue, Pembina Highway, Main Street, Roblin Boulevard, Selkirk Avenue, Salter Street, Broadway, Keewatin Street and Maryland Street, his office said in a statement.
Bowman said he was not aware the deal was announced by his office prior to a Friday mayoral-campaign announcement by rival candidate Jenny Motkaluk.
Chief Peguis extension a priority: Motkaluk
Standing in front of the bike-and-pedestrian bridge over Chief Peguis Trail at Gateway Road, Motkaluk pledged to prioritize the western extension of Chief Peguis to Route 90 the next time Winnipeg submits an infrastructure-funding wish list to Ottawa.
Motkaluk accused Bowman's administration of dithering on Chief Peguis Trail, which she pegs as a $400-million project.
She said she would delay building the bike trail, public art and park-and-ride lot components of the project to help make it more affordable.
"We are going to take a hard look at what we need to have in Winnipeg versus what's nice to have," she said.
"If deferring — not eliminating, but deferring — the completion of the active transportation corridor is what it takes to build it, that's what we'll do."
She also pledged to provide water and sewer service to the city's portion of CentrePort, the industrial park that straddles the Winnipeg-RM of Rosser border.