What to know in Point Douglas ward before Winnipeg's election
Caitlyn Gowriluk | CBC News | Posted: September 26, 2022 3:10 PM | Last Updated: September 29, 2022
Incumbent faces business owner, barred real estate agent in her bid for 2nd term
About Point Douglas
A first-term city councillor is facing two challengers in her campaign to keep representing the north Winnipeg ward of Point Douglas at city hall.
Incumbent Coun. Vivian Santos is going up against Moe ElTassi, a former member of the Winnipeg Police Board, and Joe Pereira, a former real estate broker who was banned last year from practising in Manitoba.
The northwest Winnipeg ward includes the neighbourhoods of South Point Douglas, the Exchange District, Inkster Gardens and Tyndall Park.
People in Winnipeg will head to the polls on Oct. 26 to vote for a new mayor, school trustees and councillors in 13 of the city's 15 wards. Councillors in the other two wards have already been acclaimed — meaning they automatically hold on to their seats — after no one ran against them.
In the 2018 election, the Point Douglas ward had one of Winnipeg's lowest turnout rates for council voting. Just over 30 per cent of those eligible cast a ballot for the ward's council seat, data from the city clerk's office shows.
Here's what you need to know before election day in Point Douglas.
Who's running?
Moe ElTassi is a former Winnipeg Police Board member and the owner of clothing store Sargent Blue Jeans in the West End.
He has ties to the Point Douglas area through his father's business, Peerless Garments, where he works as a manager. Earlier this year, he was named a member of the Order of Manitoba.
Joe Pereira is a former real estate broker who was banned from practising in Manitoba by the Manitoba Security Commission after he was accused of spending money from potential clients on himself and using blackmail to discourage them from pursuing refunds as he moved to Portugal.
He blames those actions on addictions to alcohol and cocaine and says he's now sober.
Vivian Santos is the current councillor for the ward. She was elected in 2018 after her former boss — Mike Pagtakhan, for whom Santos worked as executive assistant — didn't run for re-election.
Since joining city council, she has served on its property and development committee and as chairperson for the mayor's advisory committee on heritage, culture and art.
Santos also ran into controversy over not disclosing her COVID-19 vaccination status — which led to her removal as the city's acting deputy mayor — and failing a security check for her role on the Winnipeg Police Board, which forced her to resign from that position.
What are they promising?
ElTassi says he'd focus on addressing poverty and crime and supporting education and economic development if elected.
Pereira says he wants to use his personal experience to address addictions in Winnipeg. He'd also focus on homelessness, housing, crime, street improvements and recreation.
Santos says she wants to continue pushing for better services in Point Douglas, like building a new Tyndall Park Community Centre gymnasium. She has also advocated for lower transit fares.
More CBC Manitoba ward profiles
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- Daniel McIntyre
- Elmwood-East Kildonan
- Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry
- Mynarski
- North Kildonan
- Old Kildonan
- River Heights-Fort Garry
- St. Boniface
- St. James
- St. Norbert-Seine River
- St. Vital
- Transcona
- Waverley West
Corrections:
- A previous version of this story incorrectly indicated Vivan Santos wants to improve the gym at Tyndall Park Community Centre, rather than building a new one. September 28, 2022 12:01 AM