Dear Winnipeg

A Fun Blog About Infrastructure and Municipal Finance

This Is An Intervention

Dear Winnipeg,

Before I say anything, I want you to know that I love you and I care deeply for you. And that’s what makes this so necessary and yet all the more painful for me.

This is an intervention.

For too long, I’ve watched you inflict pain on yourself. Building more infrastructure than you could ever hope to maintain. Often committing to the wrong solutions to your problems.

I know you mean well.

But now that you will be starting the process this spring for your very first 4-year budget in 2020, I am worried for you. You can lock in a LOT of bad decisions into one process. Decisions that could be hard to recover from. Decisions that will cost your citizens for generations. You can end up hurting a LOT of people.

Obviously, I can’t just sit by and let that happen. And so here we are.

But that 4-year budget also gives you a great opportunity. An opportunity to stop doing the wrong things, and start investing in yourself in a sustainable manner. One that doesn’t leave you bankrupt and looking more tired than Rod Peeler.

Look, I’ve known you for a long time, and you can do better. A lot better. In fact, with everything you already have going for you, you could easily be the envy of your sisters Calgary and Edmonton (and gasp, even Vancouver and Toronto!) in just a few short years. All you have to do is want it.

I believe in you, and I will fight for you. So if you’re up for it, let’s do this together, because that budget process isn’t going to engage itself!

We’ve got a lot to talk about.

Lots of love,

Elmwood Guy