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The Purple Book: Policies for Everyone

Robert-Falcon Ouellette for Mayor of Winnipeg

Please note: This is a summary of all my policies - full news releases and policy backgrounders
are available at my website: http://falcon2014.com

Foreword 3
1. Make Winnipeg a Child Friendly City 4
2. Photo Radar: Road Safety First 6
3. Fiscal Balance 1: Working Smarter 8
4. Fiscal Balance 2: Creating a Greater Downtown Core for all Citizens 10
5. Cleaning House at City Hall 12
6. Transportation Transformation: a Long-term Plan 14
The Case for Rail Relocation and LRT 15
7. Fixing Your Infrastructure: A Fully-Funded $250-million Plan 16
8. Water Treatment, a Greener City, and Saving Lake Winnipeg 18
9. Housing in Winnipeg: Building a Sense of Community & Pride of Ownership 20
10. Community Innovation & A City of Ideas 22
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Foreword

If there are two themes to my campaign, they have been the importance of unity, and the
importance of ideas.

As people, we adapt to the environment we live in - in this case the city of Winnipeg.

With the right plan, and the right design, we can change the city around us, and so change
ourselves. That is my vision as Mayor of Winnipeg.

At the outset of my campaign, I said to the people of Winnipeg: you give me hope.

In the face of corruption, you continue to believe in honesty.

In the face of exclusion, you continue to believe in the ideal of one city.

We continue to believe that we can be one city, united in common cause.

We are walking together into Winnipegs future. I call on people from all walks of life to join with
me in delivering real change to City Hall.







Robert-Falcon Ouellette


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1. Make Winnipeg a Child Friendly City

Children are among our most vulnerable citizens, and their hardships or well-being are the best
indicators of what our city is like as a home for all of us.

Robert-Falcon Ouellette

Policies:

Evaluate every policy through its impact on children
Lower the voting age to 16
Make Community Gardens on Public land easier to set up
Include safe family cycling in plans for Active Transport
Make transit free for children 12 and under travelling with an adult
Festivals and programs that receive City funding need to consider child friendly programming
and low-cost access for families with children
Develop 4 new aquatic centres in the city, to be connected to local schools


My rst announcement of the campaign was that we need to create a child friendly city in
Winnipeg- the idea that the citys policies and by-laws should be considered through the eyes of
a child.

That is because every policy in this campaign will ultimately affect children and families.

Issues of housing, poverty, policing, public safety, transit, recreation, libraries and the
environment - they all involve and affect families and children.

There is a world-wide movement toward developing Child Friendly Cities, supported by UNICEF
and already adopted by other cities in Canada.

Children who grow up feeling truly at home here, as safe, active, engaged citizens, will be adults
who contribute to making Winnipeg a great city for generations to come.

The City of Winnipeg can build on the commitment made by the City of Surrey, BC.
Our Vision Of A Child And Youth Friendly City

A community where children and youth are valued community members and actively
contribute their time, ideas and perspectives to civic life.
A community that promotes social connectedness, where children and youth feel safe, have
freedom of movement, green space and opportunities for play and imagination.
A community where all children and youth are able to access enriching and engaging
programs and services that promote their healthy development regardless of their familys
income or background.

The Strategy focuses on 3 policy and program areas:
Engagement Providing opportunities for children and youth to participate in and contribute to
civic life.
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Physical Environment A natural and built environment that supports the healthy development
of children and youth.
Civic Services Recreation, library and cultural services that are framed around the
developmental needs of children and youth.

See more at:
http://www.surrey.ca/community/3191.aspx#sthash.Uqgp8ST9.dpuf




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2. Photo Radar: Road Safety First

Whether it is enforcing criminal laws or rules of the road, the core role of the Police department
is protecting public safety.
Robert-Falcon Ouellette

POLICIES

Plan and engineer roads for safety, not revenue generation
Ensure the City meets or exceeds the standards for road signage set out by the Manual of
Uniform Trafc Control Devices for Canada
Ensure the city applies the same standards for signage across the city
Study whether extending yellow lights would improve trafc safety.
Require public disclosure of data concerning the number of tickets issued by photo radar,
improved safety, and accident rates

As a matter of planning and design, some of Winnipegs streets and trafc regulations are
designed not for safety, but for revenue generation.

We have speed nes that are 250% higher than the average of all other provinces and double
the number of tickets issued.

The goal of signage, speed zones, and stop lights should be keeping the public safe, not lling
public coffers.

The City of Winnipeg program data has not been able to prove that road safety has been
improved with photo radar because they have not been collecting data according to scientic
standards.

The city has consistently refused to make publicly available the data concerning the number of
tickets issued by photo radar, improved safety, and accident rates looking at the global issues
throughcomprehensive study.

Winnipeg is also one of the only cities in Canada that does not fully apply transportation
engineering standards for proper speed limits signage and speed-reduction signing on
roadways. We also have the lowest amber light times at higher-speed intersections.

Civic administration is content to defend engineering standards that force citizens to
inadvertently break the law. The situation is even more difcult when the roads have not been
cleared in a timely manner and drivers are forced to choose between being ned for burning a
short red light or being rear ended.

This reduces the level of public trust in our government, police and civic administration. Science
must take precedence over ignorance and as Mayor I will make certain that proper research will
be conducted that demonstrates the pros and cons of photo radar.

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The city must work with MPI to nd the best means to collect data that respond to the concerns
of insurers, critics and citizens. Road safety should not be subject to market forces, but
common, ethical and clear standards.
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3. Fiscal Balance 1: Working Smarter

I want to offer a different kind of leadership at City Hall: leadership that lets civic employees do
their job with the energy and passion they have for this city. A type of City Hall leadership that
lets people know that they are getting what they pay for.
- Robert-Falcon Ouellette

POLICIES

Ensure Winnipeggers get their fair share of provincial revenues
Launch a performance review to see what is working and what can be improved.
Police work vs paperwork: explore whether allowing civilians instead of uniformed ofcers do
paperwork for the Winnipeg Police Service would make the service more efcient and freeup
ofcers to do the job they were trained for
Use transparency to cut waste by posting spending, contracts, tenders over $1000 and
property data online
Audit for duplicate payments, which can result in suppliers being paid twice for the same
product or service
Improve procurement
5% rollback for non-unionized upper and middle management, including Mayor and political
staff making over $80,000
Stop outsourcing and use in-house expertise
Make better use of Police Cadets to help in reducing overtime. Overtime should be used in
extraordinary circumstances, and never in trafc court.

Three audits and an ongoing RCMP investigation into dealings at City Hall have left citizens
angry about how public money is being spent. The audits detailed cost overruns that totalled
$100-million.

Politicians often like to promise they will nd substantial savings by cutting waste that is
supposed to be a part of municipal government.

Finding savings is not done simply by cutting red tape with unknown consequences, but by
doing things differently, by being creative and innovative in seeking new ways to provide civic
services and by examining new ways to raise revenues for our civic coffers.

I want to offer a different kind of leadership at City Hall: leadership that lets civic employees do
their job with the energy and passion they have for this city. A type of City Hall leadership that
lets people know that they are getting what they pay for.

If you compare Winnipegs revenues from the provincial government on a per capita basis, we
lag far behind other Manitoba municipalities. Winnipeg is the only municipality that has to
maintain and service regional roads - provincial highways that run through the city. For this
reason, Winnipeg should get a dedicated portion of the increase in the PST to apply to
infrastructure.

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I will launch a Mayoral Taskforce and performance review of civic government, not through line
items, but by looking at ongoing expenses across departments, like utility expenses. Most
budgets don't identify, track, and measure wasteful practices. That's why the waste occurs.

This review will include:
Checking for duplicate payments to suppliers.
Improving the tendering and procurement process
Reviewing and reducing absenteeism by engaging with staff and addressing the workplace
issues that cause problems.

I will also
Use transparency to cut waste by posting spending, contracts and tenders over $1000 online;
Stop outsourcing work to outside consultants or headhunters that can and should be done by
City staff instead


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4. Fiscal Balance 2: Creating a Greater Downtown
Core for all Citizens

What makes exceptional cities remarkable are their great downtowns: cities where there is
something new and remarkable in every storefront window, around every corner. Beautiful
buildings, bright lights, and streets that are busy and bustling with people.

- Robert-Falcon Ouellette

POLICIES

Create a Land Value Tax on surface parking lots downtown. It would treat empty lots as if they
had four-storey buildings on them.

It would raise $26-million and combined with $40-million in existing incentives will drive
residential development downtown$

Work with the Province to create a Capital Region Master Plan to ensure everyone pays
their fair share for civic infrastructure

There have been major improvements and successes in downtown Winnipeg, including the
MTS Centre, the Exchange District, and the Forks.

And yet, the picture people have in their minds of downtown Winnipeg is, as The Weakerthans
put it, of Buildings gone missing like teeth.

Downtowns matter to a citys image as well as to its economy, and great downtowns set cities
apart. They impress visitors, and make citizens proud. Vacant lots are an eyesore, they make
downtown seem empty and dangerous, and they are a waste of valuable land that could be
better used.

It is also more efcient for the City administration to provide services and infrastructure when
people are concentrated in a central core.

The city needs to use a carrot and stick approach to downtown development. The carrot
already exists in the form of a $40-million fund the City has already created, but the Land Value
Tax would provide the stick.

The benet of the tax is that instead of relying on one or two publicly-funded megaprojects, the
tax encourages private-sector developers to invest in many smaller, high-quality developments
at once. The measure would also bring in an estimated $26-million in new revenue for the city,
and in the long term ll in downtown. It has already been successfully implemented in
jurisdictions as varied as Denmark, Estonia, Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia,
Mexico, and the United States.
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The other elements of the plan include:

Working with the Province to create a Capital Region Master Plan and ensure that bedroom
communities contribute their fair share for the City of Winnipeg services and infrastructure
they enjoy.

Explore raising the Hotel Accommodation Tax from 5% to 7%, but only after consultation
with the Tourism Industry.

Explore using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to help nance infrastructure projects. The city
could borrow to nance projects like transit, which raise the value of the surrounding
properties, and pay off the loan with increased tax revenues generated as a result.

Have School Boards and the City have separate tax bills, so that citizens can clearly see
who is responsible for their property tax bill, and how much they are paying to the City vs.
education.

Only raise property or businesses taxes as a last resort, when all other measures have been
exhausted, and limit any tax increases to the yearly rate of ination.


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5. Cleaning House at City Hall

It is time to clean up civic politics, and the time to start is during the campaign, not just after the
election.
- Robert-Falcon Ouellette

POLICIES

Make mandatory, real-time disclosure of donors a requirement for civic campaigns
Compile and release an annual list of contracts awarded to campaign donors
Mandatory registry of the nancial interests of the Mayor, Councillors, and their immediate
family members
Modernize Conict of Interest Rules
Establish Integrity Certication for Contractors

On Friday, August 15, it was reported that Manitoba Justice had referred an audit into a
number of City of Winnipeg land deals to the RCMP to see whether charges were
warranted. This is just the latest and most serious of events in a saga that has seen not
one, but three damning audits into the business dealings of the City of Winnipeg: the Fire
Hall Audit, the Police Headquarters Audit and a Real Estate audit.

Some have referred to these developments as sad. What is truly sad is that the transfer
of the audit to the RCMP is the rst sign that anyone will face any genuine consequences
or accountability for what everyone agrees has been terrible mismanagement of tens of
millions of dollars of public funds.

The ndings are familiar to many, but bear repeating: sole-source contracts were
awarded without competition, showing favoritism to particular developers; City Council
was routinely kept in the dark about millions in cost overruns and valuations of public
land.

No appraisal was done on the value of the Canada Post building before it was purchased to
be turned into the new Police headquarters. The project was approved when only 30% of the
plans were done.
The original estimate for the Police HQ was $135-million, and the nal price tag was $210-
million. This is ten times the estimated price of $21-million to reclad the old Public Safety
Building several years ago. It still needs recladding, but the estimate is now $40-million.
The commission for the sale of the Canada Post building was $804,375 68% higher than it
was supposed to be.
We have the case of the Parker Land Deal and Fire Station land swaps. While information
was withheld from Council, it was provided to some developers.
The value of public land has been withheld from Council. Councillors were told that Parcel 4
at the Forks was worth only $5.9-million, when it was worth closer to $10-million.
When it came to the sale of the Citys Winnipeg Square Parkade, it was listed for sale by a
developer at a price of $24-million. Not only did the real estate audit state that After acting in
an advisory role to the City, the real estate broker represented the buyers interests in this
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transaction, but Council was not notied that the Parkade had been valued at $20-million
more.
The City bought and sold a functioning car wash at a loss of $1.8-million.


There must be changes to the way election contributions are handled:

1. Campaign Contribution Limits from individuals to a maximum of a $1,500 limit for both
council and mayoral elections
2. Level the Playing Field for New Candidates with lower Campaign Spending Limits: to
reduce by half the spending limit for mayoral and by one third councillor elections. (Currently
about $200,000 & $37,500)
3. Realtime Public Disclosure of Contributions: Within ve business days, contributions in
any amount must be posted on the candidates website. Again the information posted must
include the name of the contributor.
4. Donor Disclosure: Donor information must include: the amount of the donation, their name,
and their occupation. They will also be asked to disclose if they work for a company or
organization that benets from city contracts.
5. Limits on Last-Minute Donations: No contributions will be allowed during the nal two
days of the election campaign. (They can resume again afterwards to retire debt)
6. Clarity of Business Dealings: the city will publish an annual list of any nancial dealing
occurring between a donor to any campaign and the city as a contractor.


Conict of interest rules must be improved.
7. Financial Disclosure Policy for Elected Ofcials: A mandatory registry will be established
of all nancial interests (assets and liabilities) including real estate holdings, of candidates
for municipal ofce and the Mayor, councillors, and immediate family members.

8. Modernized Conict of Interest Rules: Financial relationships and holdings are not limited
within Manitobas borders. City of Winnipeg conict of interest rules should apply
everywhere. Currently, the conict of interest laws governing the Mayor and City Councillors
only cover transactions in Manitoba. As it stands, someone seeking to inuence a Councillor
or the Mayor could buy them a million-dollar cottage in Kenora in exchange for favourable
treatment and by the Citys own rules, it would not be considered a conict of interest. This
needs to change.

The City must hold contractors to ethical standards.

9. Integrity Certication for Contractors: The Government of Canada and many other
governments and organizations have established ethical guidelines for contractors, which, if
broken, can result in contractors being barred from bidding on City contracts for a period of
time. The City of Winnipeg should do the same.


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6. Transportation Transformation: a Long-term Plan

When it comes to spending money on infrastructure to get around rail trafc, the City of
Winnipeg is approaching a tipping point. We need to ask ourselves, When does it make more
sense to just move the trains instead? Its time for a long-term solution to a very long-term
problem.

Robert-Falcon Ouellette

POLICIES

Phase 1 Cancel the next phase of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and implement a lower cost Metro-
Bus System that would provide better service across the city.

Phase 2: Provide $1.5-million to complete a feasibility study on moving the CPR railyards and
other heavy rail trafc out of the city.
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Phase 3: Develop a plan to use the existing, vacated rail network in the city as the basis of a
Light Rail Transit network.

The City of Winnipeg has an opportunity to transform itself by investing in moving freight rail
trafc out of the city instead of pouring more money into Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), bridges and
underpasses to work around rail trafc.

Cancel BRT and implement Metrobus

At a cost of $450-million ($64-million/km) for just 7 km of transitway, the SW extension of Bus
Rapid Transit from Jubilee to the University of Manitoba is colossally expensive, and the city has
yet to raise revenue to build it.

The extensive construction required means that improved transit service is still years away
and will be disruptive to trafc and neighbourhoods in the interim.
The planned route through the undeveloped Parker wetlands is intrusive, and it doesnt
contribute to the much-needed redevelopment of Pembina Highway.
It concentrates resources on a line that only serves the South End of the City.
It will be disruptive to residents in Waverley Heights who are facing the rail line being moved in
order to accommodate BRT.

Implementing a Metrobus system would quickly and efciently establish a transit service that
would work better for the entire city, while using existing infrastructure.

The model would be Qubec City, whose Metro-Bus plan in 1996 used existing infrastructure,
and an analysis of transit use to expand bus service where and when it is needed, and provide it
more often - every 5-12 minutes. Ridership increased by 5% in the rst year, and had continued
to increase. As transit ridership increases, it can reduce the number of cars on the road.

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The Case for Rail Relocation and LRT

The City of Winnipeg faces huge infrastructure expenditures in order to build around existing rail
infrastructure. Due to safety reasons, the Arlington Street Bridge must be replaced by 2020, at a
cost of at least $75-million. The Kenaston underpass, which opened in 2006, cost $43-million,
and the cost of the long-promised underpass at Waverley and Taylor will likely be higher.

Safety concerns and the changing nature of freight trafc aregood reasons to move heavy rail
trafc out of the city, especially after the tragic rail disaster at Lac Mgantic, Qubec.

According to Transport Canada, between 2009 and 2013 the number of oil tanker cars shipped
by rail in Canada went from 144 to 128,000, and those numbers could triple over the next few
years.

Combining rail relocation and converting existing rail lines to commuter rail involves two of the
lowest-cost forms of development:
Laying new track rail in undeveloped areas, ($1.3-million to $2-million-km)
Repurposing existing rail in urban areas ($2.875-million/km in Calgary, $1.4-million/mile in
Nashville.)

Compared with new urban construction, laying new rail on undeveloped agricultural land is
relatively low cost. There are simply fewer obstacles to build around, like existing buildings,
roads, etc, and much less trafc.

Repurposing existing rail in the city for LRT (or, to be more accurate, commuter rail) is also
relatively low cost compared to the cost of new construction for BRT or LRT.
All of the major infrastructure is already in place. Even on single tracks, sidings at stations can
allow trains to pass.
Fewer or no disruptive expropriations or construction of overpasses, underpasses or bridges
is required in the city.
Via passenger rail could still run through the city and Union Station could be the hub.
Moving rails outside the city would place the onus on construction of overpasses on the
Province alone, not on the City of Winnipeg.

In Winnipegs case, there is no existing BRT infrastructure. Land has to be expropriated, rail
lines moved and additional infrastructure like tunnels, over- and underpasses have to be built.
What is more, all of the long-range BRT plans are to be built along existing rail lines in the city.

The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg has already done preliminary work on this issue. The
benets of moving the yards and heavy rail trafc include: major savings on infrastructure
spending because new or renewed underpasses and bridges around rail are no longer
necessary; freeing up land for improvement at the heart of the city; sharply reduced risk of rail
accidents near people, homes, and businesses.



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7. Fixing Your Infrastructure: A Fully-Funded $250-
million Plan

We need a realistic plan to pay for xing and building basic infrastructure that goes beyond
band-aid solutions. Making the big investment now, and getting it right, means
we can reduce our infrastructure costs in the long run.
- Robert-Falcon Ouellette

POLICIES

Much better snow clearing and removal from roads and sidewalks to reduce meltwater that
damages roads
Improve pothole detection and repair, including a Pothole Rapid Response Team
Create a fully-funded $250-million infrastructure fund for roads, bridges, water and waste
The fund would be nanced by $12-million a year from the Land Value Tax
The fund could leverage $250-million more each from the Federal and Provincial governments

Better Snow Removal

The rst step in preventing potholes will come as welcome news to many Winnipeggers:
much better snow clearing and removal from roads and sidewalks, because meltwater
from snowbanks plays a major role in feeding the freeze-thaw cycle that chews up the citys
roads throughout winter and spring.

The city needs to do a better job of snow clearing by investing in proper snow
removal equipment - industrial snowblowers - instead of heavy equipment that tears up
infrastructure.

Patching: The Pothole Hotline

The second step is to improve pothole detection and repair. Citizens can already
report potholes through 311 and the city's mobile 311 app. Now they will be encouraged to
send pictures and locations of new potholes to city staff through social media, like Facebook
and Twitter.

We will set up a dedicated Pothole Rapid Response Team that would be dispatched to repair
the pothole within 72 hours.

Paving and Long-term Planning

Create a $250-million infrastructure fund dedicated to addressing basic infrastructure needs:
maintaining and building roads, bridges and infrastructure with the greatest return on
investment.

What the money will be spent on: Urgent and high-value basic infrastructure projects: roads,
sewers, and, if needed, the equipment to expand the citys capacity for snow-clearing and/or
construction.
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Where the money comes from: with its current credit rating, the City can nance a 30-year
bond at about 2.7%, which means nancing the fund would cost about $12- million a year. The
Manitoba Heavy Construction Association says that every dollar invested in xing pavement
and pipes provides a 16% return on investment.

The $12-million in nancing would come from the $26-million in revenue generated by the Land
Value Tax on surface parking lots in downtown Winnipeg outlined in section 4, Fiscal Balance 2:
Creating a Greater Downtown Core for all Citizens.The plan does not rely on Provincial or
Federal contributions, but if the two senior levels of government could negotiate a new
infrastructure agreement with dollar-for-dollar matching funds, as has occurred in the past, it
could leverage an additional $500-million in infrastructure funding, to a total of $750-million.

Theres no guarantee theyll put the money in, but its easier to get federal and provincial
governments on board when the City has skin in the game.
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8. Water Treatment, a Greener City, and Saving Lake
Winnipeg

If Winnipeg is going to be a city of a million people by 2030, we need to learn to tread more
lightly on the earth. A sustainable city is about making the most of scarce resources.
- Robert-Falcon Ouellette

POLICIES
Create a dedicated fund for environmental projects, funded by charging 3 cents more on drink
containers (10 cent deposit, 5 cent return) to generate $7-million to $12-million a year in new
revenue.
First priority: complete North and South wastewater treatment plants
Issue Save Lake Winnipeg Bonds as a challenge to the community

Creating a Dedicated Environmental Project Fund

The fund would be nanced by an expanded environmental levy on disposable drink containers.
The levy, currently 2 cents, would be increased to 10 cents per container, but 5 cents of that
amount would a refundable deposit.The total increase: 3 cents.

Since Manitobans consumed 400 million drinks in containers in 2013, the levy could generate
$7-million to $12-million a year, while also encouraging Winnipegers to recycle more.

First Priority: Commit to Completing Upgrades to the North and South End Waste
Treatment Plants

The rst priority for the environmental fund should be to help pay for long-delayed upgrades to
the citys wastewater treatment plants, which dump hundreds of tons of phosphorous into the
Red River. Phosphorous is the main culprit in toxic blue-green algae blooms on Lake Winnipeg.
The City of Winnipegs North End Treatment Plant is the single largest point source of
phosphorous contributing to Lake Winnipeg and the 4th largest point source of phosphorous in
Canada.

Other, smaller contributors of phosphorous have balked at making changes when the City hasnt
been willing to clean up its own mess.

Making this commitment is the single most important thing we can do to save Lake Winnipeg,
because we can get everyone else on board with measures to reduce phosphorous owing into
Lake Winnipeg. If we lead by example, others will follow.

Issue Save Lake Winnipeg Bonds

Since the cost of the wastewater plant upgrades is expected to be high, in addition to the
Environmental Project Fund, the city would sell Save Lake Winnipeg bonds dedicated to
completing the North and South End waste water treatment plants.

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I am laying this down as a challenge to everyone in Winnipeg, in Manitoba and across Canada
who cares about Lake Winnipeg. This is our next great community project: a project that will
help bring the worlds most threatened lake back to life.

The city should also consider:

A 100-year plan
Setting up a Winnipeg water conservation district in order to better coordinate with the rest of
the province
Explore using phosphorous-recovery technology in the plants, which would allow the
phosphorous to be extracted from the water and turned into fertilizer for commercial sale.



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9. Housing in Winnipeg: Building a Sense of
Community & Pride of Ownership

Affordable housing is an important part of the social and economic infrastructure of a healthy
city.
Robert-Falcon Ouellette

POLICIES

Make affordable housing our citys business
Create 3,200 affordable housing units in four years
Address Winnipegs housing shortage
Create an investment fund to help Winnipegers escape the poverty trap

Affordable housing is a powerful tool to reduce poverty for families and seniors, but it is also an
economic necessity for businesses and for the economy.

Making Affordable Housing Our Citys Business

Winnipeg has the legislative authority to support affordable housing. The City of Winnipeg has
the ability to inuence the market place to create a greater balance between the needs of
housing developers to earn prot and the communitys desire to see greater long-term benets.

The City of Winnipeg needs to set strong targets by utilizing its ability to mandate, facilitate,
partner and leverage. As Mayor, I will work with city council to mandate that all new housing
construction include three forms of affordable ownership and social housing options and that all
new neighborhoods have a greater level of mixed housing.

Creating 3,200 Affordable Housing Units in Four Years

I propose that the City of Winnipeg must push for:

1. 300 new units of affordable homes for ownership per year;
2. 300 co-op units per year, and;
3. 200 new units of social housing per year mixed into existing and new neighbourhoods.

Some of these can be easily achieved through previous policies such as:
The land value tax on parking on surface parking lots combined with the incentive for
residential developments in downtown neighbourhoods helping to reduce vacancy rates.
A regulatory requirement for inclusionary zoning: meaning a portion (5% - 10%) of new
developments must be affordable.

Addressing Winnipegs Housing Shortage

I propose the following to address Winnipegs housing shortage:

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1. Land donations Land is a limited resource, which should be used wisely and in the
best interests of The City. Winnipeg should prioritize city-owned land for affordable
housing rst.
2. Tax increment nancing Grants equal to municipal taxes to developers have
increased downtown development. TIF grants will be effective if prioritized for affordable
housing development.
3. Cost offset grants Waivers of development fees and other charges cost the city very
little and help the economic viability of projects.
4. Moratorium on Condo Conversions The City has the authority to preserve its
existing rental housing stock when vacancy rates are low.
5. Planning and land use Identifying and pre-zoning land for mixed housing initiatives
speeds up the development process. City planning and zoning should respond to
affordable housing needs, but also needs for home ownership of young people and
newcomers, co-ops and mixed social housing.
6. Inclusionary Zoning The City can require developers to build, or pay for, a portion of
affordable housing whenever they build any housing. The City should assure affordable
housing exists in all Winnipeg neighbourhoods.

Creating an Investment Fund to Help Winnipeggers Escape the Poverty Trap

Winnipeg requires the need to mandate an investment fund to support families in social housing
to move towards rent-to-own situations where they have the ability to build equity in their
housing. This gives them the pride of ownership and a stake in their community. The City of
Winnipeg should show government support, coordination and resources for affordable housing
development through an agency dedicated to increasing affordable housing throughout the city.

Other elements of my plan for improving affordable housing include:

1. Reallocating most of the Citys Housing Rehabilitation Investment Reserve ($1-million a
year) to go to neighbourhoods in need of a fresh coat of paint.
2. Partnering with social-enterprises and organizations like Habitat for Humanity, BUILD and
Manitoba Retro-Fit to provide them with the funding to ensure that existing housing stock is
improved.
3. Seeing various under-served communities follow the lead of community based initiatives in
Peru and Haiti that improve their neighbourhoods through sweat equity and the support
from the city and paint recycling programs. We can change the perception of various
neighbourhoods by the use of art and colour to create a sense of awe and wonder.


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10. Community Innovation & A City of Ideas

I have said many times that the key to change is not megaprojects by a few, but a thousand
little changes made by many.

-
Robert-Falcon Ouellette

Over the course of this campaign, I have proposed many ideas for City Hall. Many of the ideas
are inspired by what has worked in other cities. I have said I would encourage and reward City
staff and employees who nd better, smarter easier ways of getting their jobs done.

Ive talked about the idea of green lanes as a civic pilot project. Instead of paving an entire
backlane, you only pave where the wheels are likely to go, and have grass grow in the centre
and plants at the sides.

While I want to embrace and encourage innovation at City Hall, we can also transform our city
together by letting community innovation ourish.

There is a growing worldwide movement of makers - tinkerers, hackers, inventors, creators
and artists who work at making their corner of the world a better place.

There are already great examples where this has happened - community groups, BIZ
organizations and individuals have taken the initiative to improve their neighbourhood and make
it more beautiful, more sustainable, more fun. Gardens on boulevards, murals on walls.

If youre trying something new, you wont know if it works until you try.

I want to encourage citizens to innovate as well, by allowing citizens the freedom to experiment
with making the city a better place on their own.

As Mayor, I want to make it easier for citizens to present innovative ideas to city hall and make
them happen, through pilot projects. It allows people to test ideas, tweak them and get them
right.

The city can help assist this in two ways: one, through minor zoning variances to individuals and
community groups a chance to test new ideas, on a small scale. If it works, others who are
interested can implement it as well.

We would also provide micro nance and micro grants to assist individuals and community
groups.

After many months of presenting ideas - not all of which are contained in the Purple Book, I
want to turn it over to citizens. To ask you not just what you want the Mayor or City Council to do
to make the city a better place: but what you want to do to make Winnipeg a better place.

Given the chance, what you would do to make the city better?

Is there a pilot project in your community you would like make happen?
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We want you send your ideas to our campaign, and well share them on our website. And a
week from now, well announce the best ideas as part of our ofcial policy.

1) Small-scale projects run by individuals or community groups
2) You should be able to get your neighbours on board with it
3) Free or low-cost: you provide the brainpower and work
4) It can be an idea for arts, sports, jobs, or a better environment
5) No perpetual motion machines

Submit your ideas at:

http://falcon2014.com/city-ideas
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