'So much more work to do': Gillingham makes pitch for 2nd term as Winnipeg mayor

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham says he has much unfinished work from his first term in office, as he prepares to make his pitch to voters ahead of the 2026 election. 

In a year-end interview with CBC News, Gillingham argued his first three years as mayor have been defined by big decisions that have sometimes drawn criticism from residents, but which he says were necessary to set the city up for the future — and he wants more time to finish the job.

“I think there's a lot of really good progress that we have made in this term, but there's so much more work to do,” Gillingham said.

Since narrowly winning the mayor’s chair in October 2022, Gillingham and council have overseen the largest change to Winnipeg Transit in the city's history, faced overlapping crises of mental health and homelessness, and attempted to accelerate housing development.

Gillingham pointed to the rollout of Winnipeg Transit’s new network as evidence of a council willing to tackle long-delayed files.

“We've got a new transit network and yes, we're making adjustments,” he said.

The launch has been accompanied by heavy pushback from riders, especially around longer walks to stops, reliance on transfers, and crowding. Winnipeg Transit data shows “pass-ups”  — buses too full to stop — increased this fall compared with last year.

Gillingham defended the decision to overhaul the network, although he acknowledged the rollout hasn’t met his own expectations.

“I'm not totally happy with the way it rolled out. It was the right decision to make, but ultimately there's more adjustments that are necessary than I was hoping for,” he said.

Still, he argued the old network had serious problems, including reliability issues and declining ridership, and said the new “spine and feeder” design is better suited to a growing city.

Public safety, particularly on transit and in the downtown, has become a major political issue at city hall.

Gillingham says the city is responding with a multi-pronged approach. He highlighted the creation of community safety officers, along with more visible enforcement and police initiatives.

“I campaigned on establishing Winnipeg's first ever transit safety team. We have the community safety officers now that we established and we got them up and running, and they ride transit buses,” he said.

“The fare enforcement that we brought in as well this fall was in part not only to recoup some of the lost revenue … but primarily it was about keeping the bus safer,” he said.