The first edition of The WCA Newsletter in 2023 is now available here.

Catch up on the latest industry news and notes with the December 9 edition of The WCA Newsletter here

Catch up on the latest industry news with today’s edition of The WCA Newsletter here.

Catch up on the latest industry news and notes with the latest edition of The WCA Newsletter, available here.

Catch up on the latest industry news with The WCA Newsletter for October 28.

The following prizes were unclaimed at Builders’ Night – if you have the winning ticket please contact wca@winnipegconstruction.ca to claim your prize.

Halloween Lotto Pack – # 086693

Local Artisan Package – #105559

Catch up on the latest industry news with The WCA Newsletter’s October 14 edition here.

Catch up on the latest industry news and notes with a jam-packed edition of The WCA Newsletter, available here.

We had an absolute blast buzzing the tower at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada last night for our Maverick: Mix and Mingle event. Check out the photos from the evening here!

On October 26, Winnipeggers will head to the polls to elect a new mayor and city council. Throughout August, WCA has been asking mayoral candidates questions on topics that have a deep impact on the local construction industry. We’ve been posting videos of these questions over the last several weeks, and you can get a quick overview of the topics we’re asking about in the recap video below:

We’ve compiled answers from the leading candidates for mayor (as well as one city council candidate who requested to be involved) who got back to us in time. They’re listed alphabetically below – please take the time to review them and see where each candidate stands on our five topics of interest.

For reference, here are the questions candidates were responding to (links to answers at the bottom of the page):

1) Permit, Planning and Development Department Resources

The Permit, Planning and Development Department current collects between $4 million $8 million more annually in permit and inspection fees than what is spent on those services. This over-collection is then transferred into consolidated revenue to help pay for other operations of the City of Winnipeg. Despite this, we see permit processing times still exceeding the City’s suggested target timeframe.

Question One: What would you do to ensure the permit department is adequately resourced in the future?

Question Two: Would you support changes to the Permit Reserve Fund to increase the total fund and ensure it is replenished prior to any funds leaving the permit department for consolidated revenue?

2) Adoption of industry-approved construction documents

The Canadian Construction Document Committee (CCDC) is an organization representing contractors, architects and owners that has developed standardized construction contract documents.  The Winnipeg Construction Association has been trying to work with the City the past four years to bring balance to their unique construction contracts. While this work has delivered improvements, it still does not meet the level of balance offered by CCDC.

Question Three: Would you support the use of the widely-accepted standardized documents (CCDC) for City of Winnipeg construction tendering?

3) Funding Important Construction Projects

The City of Winnipeg has a significant capital investment budget which is between $450-$550M per year for the next six years. Winnipeg needs to be prepared for when Kenaston Boulevard can be widened, there is still over a billion dollars in investments needed into the North End Water Pollution Control Centre and the Combined Sewer Overflow Master Plan needs to be accelerated. Our Mayor will need to develop and implement a plan that considers the current financial situation of the City of Winnipeg and can also deliver on these important quality-of-life infrastructure projects.

Question Four: How do you plan to balance the responsible use of taxpayer dollars and funding important infrastructure projects?

4) Winnipeg Metro Region

Manitoba’s success relies on Winnipeg and Winnipeg’s success is directly linked to the rest of Manitoba – especially the metro region around Winnipeg. To create a successful metro region, Winnipeg and the surrounding municipalities will need to work together. Areas that will need close attention are planning, delivering of services and building of roads.

Question Five: What will you do to improve collaboration in the Winnipeg Metro Region to attract outside investment?

5) Execution of Winnipeg’s Construction Projects

Winnipeg is about to embark on a number of large-scale construction projects, such as NEWPCC, the Transit Master Plan and the widening of Kenaston Boulevard. It is important to the construction industry and all Winnipeg taxpayers that the city can execute construction projects in an efficient manner. 

Question Six: As the City embarks on more significant infrastructure projects, what will you do to ensure Winnipeg construction projects can be executed more smoothly and efficiently?

Answers:

Rana Bokhari

Scott Gillingham

Kevin Klein

Shaun Loney

Jenny Motkaluk

Glen Murray

Rick Shone

Brian Mayes (Running for City Council – St. Vital)