Klein, Gillingham trade jabs over megaproject

Two of Winnipeg’s mayoral candidates wasted no time trading barbs over who bears responsibility for the skyrocketing cost of overhauling the North End sewage treatment plant, during a televised debate Wednesday.

Scott Gillingham and Kevin Klein pointed the finger at each other for the rising cost of the massive project, which had a cost estimate of $795 million in 2015 and had ballooned to $3.2 billion as of the latest estimate.

“We need to be able to understand how that amount tripled in that short a time,” Klein said at the event held at CBC’s downtown Winnipeg headquarters. He pointed out the first estimate was given when Gillingham was chairman of the city’s finance committee. He questioned what the incumbent did to garner funding for the project.

Gillingham shot back by noting Klein was Manitoba’s environment minister in 2023. He accused his opponent of failing to make a dent on the cost.

“If Mr. Klein had moved to get the provincial funding for the North End plant … that plant would have cost us less, and he didn’t get us the money, and so now it costs us more.”

The NDP government has promised funding for the plant, most recently committing $500 million in August. In 2022, while Brian Bowman was Winnipeg’s mayor, and before Klein was the environment minister, then-premier Heather Stefanson announced the province would contribute $167 million to the second phase of upgrades to the plant.

Klein told reporters after the debate that he found those comments “flippant and disrespectful,” and said Gillingham was invited to attend meetings about the treatment plant that he had called while he was minister. He said the City of Winnipeg, provincial staff and “national experts” were invited, but Gillingham sent Coun. Brian Mayes instead.

“I think if Mayor Gillingham had taken the time and left his office to come down and sit and listen to the experts and listen to (them say) maybe we’re going overboard on what we’re doing at the North End treatment plant, that we’re trying to build the Taj Mahal when we should be focusing on different things, I think we’d be in a different position with the money,” he said at a scrum after the debate.

Gillingham said Mayes was the chair of the water and waste committee at the time and Klein “could have given (him) a call.”

The only other candidate invited to participate in the debate, Mike Vogiatzakis, watched the two spar since he has no connection to the project. The three candidates also discussed homelessness, Winnipeg Transit and taxes.

Klein said his costed property tax plan will be released Friday while Gillingham said his will be released “before voters go to the polls on Oct. 28.” Vogiatzakis said he would not release a costed plan because he’s “not a politician” and wants to meet with stakeholders after being elected.

During the debate, Gillingham accused Klein of “burning bridges” through his columns with the Winnipeg Sun and a podcast, and said Klein had insulted Premier Wab Kinew and Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“Sorry, I don’t see you being able to partner with other levels of government, given your track record of being so divisive and writing scathing columns” he said.

Klein dismissed Gillingham’s claims as “deliberate misrepresentation.”

“I’m not like Scott. I think we have to be more demanding of our provincial and federal leaders so that we get what Winnipeg deserves,” Klein said.

Both Klein and Gillingham have promised to hire additional police officers.

Klein said the city needed a set timeline on when the mayor would bring in those new officers, and Gillingham said it would be within “several” years.

“In several years, is that five years, is that 10 years?” Klein asked.

Later, Gillingham told reporters he plans to begin hiring police officers in the next budget year, and then continue working towards adding 120 net new police officers through the four-year budget, but the hiring could take longer.

Vogiatzakis said he wants to launch an apprenticeship cadet program in which they are guaranteed work as licensed police officers in four years.

In a segment where candidates could only respond ‘Yes,’ or ‘No,’ Klein said he hasn’t taken the bus in the last six months, while the other two said they had.

Only Gillingham said he believes it is safe to take the bus and he acknowledged problems with the route changes.

“I’ve said consistently it has not rolled out smoothly. I wish it would have rolled out differently … we’ll keep making the adjustments until we get it right,” he said.

Only Vogiatzakis said the city should scrap its Transit network overhaul and go back to the old system.

“We’re talking about doing things for the future, but it’s the people now that are struggling,” he said.

Gillingham and Klein both said they would not reduce water and waste bills, while Vogiatzakis said he would. All three said they would raise property taxes. Vogiatzakis and Klein both said Winnipeggers are not getting their money’s worth from the taxes they pay.

Vogiatzakis pitched what he called a “tax-free zone” downtown, where some new businesses would be exempt from business taxes, PST and GST, but would still have to pay property taxes.

“We would work out a plan to help entrepreneurs for a year, two years, whatever the plan would be, with (Premier) Wab Kinew, and we would work out something to encourage businesses to come downtown with no taxes at all,” he said after the debate.

CBC Manitoba chose the three candidates based on who was polling above 10 per cent among decided voters, plus or minus margin of error, in a Sept. 18 poll from Abacus Data.

Several candidates who were left out of the debate took to social media. Don Woodstock announced he would livestream at the same time as the debate and answer the same questions posed to the candidates, while Noah Redden announced he would hold a virtual town hall on Instagram Wednesday.

malak.abas@winnipegfreepress.com