Old Kildonan candidates say growing ward not getting share of city resources

Old Kildonan’s three candidates for councillor all agree on one thing: their ward’s communities are growing quickly, and they want to see city investments keep up.

Incumbent Coun. Devi Sharma has represented Old Kildonan since 2010, and has been city council’s speaker since 2013, the first woman in Winnipeg’s history to hold the role.

While she ran unopposed and was acclaimed in 2022, this time around, longtime school trustee Greg McFarlane and mechanical engineer Love Randhawa are also in the running.

Sharma said she’s seeking a fifth term because there are some long-term projects underway in Old Kildonan that she believes need an experienced councillor to see through.

She pointed to the construction of the Mike O’Shaughnessy Library in Garden City Shopping Centre, set to open in the new year, and the extension of the Northwest Hydro Corridor, a multi-use pathway west of McPhillips Street, as examples.

“Some of those conversations have started, they’re going to require more advocacy, and I’ll be (giving) my voice and my experience to that,” she said.

Old Kildonan is a growing ward, and with that comes new housing and other neighbourhood requirements. Balancing that growth with a large number of seniors and their needs is a priority, Sharma said.

“We’re going to go into the next four-year budget cycle, so all those conversations are very, very important, so actual resources can be tied to the need, and that’s where I think my experience is going to be very valuable,” she said.

But Sharma isn’t the only candidate with leadership experience. McFarlane has been a school board trustee with the Seven Oaks School Division since 2014, and was the first Black trustee to chair a school board in Manitoba.

He ran for the provincial NDP in 2019, but was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate Shannon Martin by fewer than 100 votes.

McFarlane said he was approached to run at a civic level by residents looking for change in their community.

“The No. 1 thing that I’m hearing is that the councillor is not accessible, not accountable, not returning telephone calls, and is not properly advocating for the community,” he said.

Road construction is not keeping up with the needs of the quickly growing ward, he said. He pointed to the planned expansion of the Chief Peguis Trail, a proposed $900-million project that has received mixed support from city council.

McFarlane said it’s a top priority from voters when he’s knocking on doors. The expansion would bring huge benefits, not just to Old Kildonan, but to the city overall, he said.

“The city just has to make it a priority, and it’s not just for the ward itself, it’s to move traffic around the city, it’s really to complete how we move around the city,” he said. “It’s something the city needs.”

Love Randhawa said he’s running because he believes the ward isn’t getting its fair share of resources.

“We have a lack of community centres over here. We have parks here, but they don’t have benches in the parks. We have trees, but the trees are not taken care of,” he said.

The Winnipeg Transit network overhaul was particularly hard on Old Kildonan residents, because the ward is outside of the city centre and has a large number of seniors dependent on buses, Randhawa said. Restoring service and adding new stops would be his priority.

He’s also campaigning in part to encourage his neighbours to take part in the democratic process.

“Youth are not (voting) because they think… all the politicians are the same,” he said.

“If we don’t come forward, we cannot make a change.”

Election day is Oct. 28. Advance voting is underway at different locations until Friday.

malak.abas@winnipegfreepress.com