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WFP: Family waits for details from latest deadly crash (Nov4'26)
by Beth McKechnie 04 Nov '26

04 Nov '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Mother says busy intersection needs safety corridor installed Family waits for details from latest deadly crash https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/11/03/woman-65-hit-by-t… THE family of a 19-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a vehicle last weekend is waiting anxiously for details about her death. Brooklynn Zygarliski was walking home alone from a nearby bar at about 3 a.m. Saturday morning when she was hit by an SUV on Lagimodiere Boulevard near Dugald Road. Her mother, Megan Zygarliski, said she has yet to get information from police on the circumstances of the crash. “Against our wishes, sometimes she walked home,” Zygarliski said Tuesday. “Her brother was home and would have picked her up, or her dad. We really can’t say what happened yet.” Police previously said the driver remained at the scene and was co-operative, but did not have any other information about the incident. There was no update provided Tuesday. Brooklynn had recently undergone surgery on her jaw to remove a non-cancerous tumour and had begun working full time. She often spent time with her friends and was with a group the night of the accident. “She was just very outgoing, and she did face some challenges with her health in the last couple years, that was tough on her, but she was coming out the other end of it,” her mother said. The busy intersection is familiar to the mother, who got into a fender-bender there a few months ago. Zygarliski said the city should consider installing a safety corridor at the intersection to prevent more tragedy. The death is the second pedestrian fatality in two weeks, and one of six this year. On Oct. 23 a man in his 60s was killed when he was struck by a pickup truck while crossing Main Street at Jarvis Avenue. A 65-year-old woman who was hit by a truck on Portage Avenue Monday afternoon is in critical condition. The woman was hit between Westwood Drive and Parkdale Street, at about 1:30 p.m. Police say she was struck while crossing eastbound traffic. A video of the incident obtained by the Free Press shows a woman crossing the street between intersections. The video shows the woman criss-crossing through a string of vehicles when she is hit by a truck driving in the curb lane. She was rushed to hospital. The driver remained on scene and met with police. The Winnipeg Police Service traffic division is investigating. Anyone with information, video surveillance or dashcam video of Monday’s collision is asked to call 204-986-7085<tel:204-986-7085>. Police data shows six pedestrians have been killed in 13 collisions since January. Nine vehicle occupants died, as well. In 2025, eight pedestrians were killed in fatal collisions. The statistics show six fatal collisions occurred between September and the end of October alone, resulting in eight deaths. After a rash of car accidents involving pedestrians, police called a news conference Oct. 19 to warn both drivers and pedestrians that having the right-of-way doesn’t ensure safety. Insp. Helen Peters of the WPS traffic division said at the time extra caution must also be taken as winter driving conditions loom on the horizon. A researcher said the city isn’t doing enough to educate drivers and pedestrians on road safety. “Most of my research indicates exactly that most pedestrian traffic accidents happen to be very close to or at intersections that are signalized mainly for vehicles, not necessarily for pedestrians,” said Jairo Viafara, a planning consultant who has written several reports on road safety and intersection collisions. Viafara’s studies also show many pedestrians are hit while crossing the street mid-block, which seems to suggest there are not enough pedestrian corridors on busy streets. He questioned the city’s progress on the road safety improvement plan, released in 2022. According to his research, there has yet to be a clear reduction of traffic accidents involving pedestrians. An update on the plan is expected to be presented to the committee before the end of the year, city spokeswoman Julie Dooley said Tuesday. nicole.buffie(a)winnipegfreepress.com<mailto:nicole.buffie@winnipegfreepress.com>

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WFP OpEd: NDP should heed own advice, bring back 50-50 funding (Nov3'26)
by Beth McKechnie 03 Nov '26

03 Nov '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. NDP should heed own advice, bring back 50-50 funding MARK HUDSON https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/11/03/ndp-should-he… TRANSIT riders have a love-hate relationship with our “people’s limousine.” For many, it’s their only means of mobility. Others ride because they believe urban life is better when people use public transit rather than choking the roads with single-occupancy cars. At the same time, one of life’s mid-sized stressors is peering into the distance on a cold, snowy Winnipeg morning to see whether your late bus is yet on the horizon and, when it appears, whether it’s full to capacity and going to roll past. It’s the kind of thing that pushes you back into the car, if you have access to one. We could make a big dent in this daily anxiety, help pay transit workers fairly and do our part to stave off climate disaster by restoring a tried-and-true funding scheme: the 50-50 model. This shared-cost model, in which the provincial government pays half of transit operating costs over and above service revenues, was brought in when I was a kid waiting to board the bus with my parents in the 1970s. The Progressive Conservative government of Gary Filmon initially ditched it in 1993. New Democrats reinstalled it in 2007, with then-Lt.-Gov. John Harvard announcing in the 2006 throne speech: “Manitoba is committed to increased provincial funding for transit operating costs in Thompson, Flin Flon, Brandon and Winnipeg, restoring the 50-50 funding partnership that was in place prior to the cutbacks of the 1990s.” This program was not just for Winnipeg and it can work for every municipality, First Nation, tribal council and rural municipality that wants a transit system. When the PCs cut it again in 2016, opposition NDP MLAs rightly railed about it. Here’s Wab Kinew in question period in 2018, tallying the consequences of the cut: “Hundred-dollar bus passes, less bus routes, 25-cent higher fares: when will this government get its act together, listen to the city leaders and restore the 50-50 transit funding arrangement?” The Kinew government’s initiative to provide free transit for 11- to 17-year-olds across a handful of municipalities is a good move. It will help families make ends meet and make public transit a more attractive option for young Manitobans. However, without more buses on routes, drivers behind wheels and mechanics maintaining the fleet, we are likely to see those young Manitobans become increasingly frustrated with transit. Transit’s success depends on satisfied riders now, who will go on to increase system ridership in the future. Moving around isn’t a frill. It is a fundamental requirement for accessing education, jobs, groceries, political participation, medical care and social interaction. Public transit in the province is a troubled lifeline for many, getting them — with some uncertainty — to work, school, university or the doctor’s office. We need a reliable option to get around apart from our cars. As of 2024, of the 10 largest Canadian municipalities, only two have higher rates of automobile commuting than Winnipeg. Transportation makes up more than a third of our total greenhouse-gas emissions in the province and Manitoba is in a small club, along with Alberta, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories, whose emissions have failed to drop since 2005. If we are serious about climate, we have to get serious about transit. The return of 50-50 funding, starting with existing municipal spending levels, won’t put Manitoba transit riders in the league of luxury. On a per capita basis, Winnipeg spends about two-thirds of what Edmonton does on transit operating and about one-third of what Ottawa spends. Rebuilding our transit system is doable — calculations from Climate Action Team Manitoba show that a 50 per cent increase to operating expenses, along with a 25 per cent increase in fares from increased ridership, would cost about one-quarter of what the NDP spent by cutting the gas tax in 2024. As anyone who’s spent time in a city that has really invested in transit can tell you, riding can be a joy. Who wouldn’t rather sit comfortably while a skilled pro does the driving, reading your book or being immersed in a podcast, arriving when you were supposed to arrive rested and relaxed? This isn’t generally the transit experience in Winnipeg, but it could be. Restoring the 50-50 model isn’t a cure-all for Manitoba’s transit systems. But it can be used to make meaningful improvements that are good for climate, good for transit workers, good for riders and smart for cities. When they were in opposition, the premier, the finance minister and many sitting MLAs repeatedly called for the restoration of 50-50. They were right then and they need to act on their own advice now. Mark Hudson is a professor in the department of sociology and criminology at the University of Manitoba.

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WFP: Pedestrian hit on Portage (Oct3'26)
by Beth McKechnie 03 Nov '26

03 Nov '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. PEDESTRIAN HIT ON PORTAGE TRAFFIC on a stretch of Portage Avenue in the Crestview area was closed after police say a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle. Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Pat Saydak told the Free Press officers responded to the “serious” incident on Portage Avenue at Parkdale Street around 1:30 p.m. The eastbound lanes of Portage Avenue from Westwood Drive to Parkdale Street were closed while police investigated Monday. In video of the collision, obtained by the Free Press, the victim can be seen attempting to cross Portage Avenue at an uncontrolled crossing when they are hit by a white pick-up truck travelling on eastbound Portage. Fire crews, police and ambulance arrived on scene a short while later. Saydak did not have information on the condition of the victim or the circumstances of the accident and police did not respond to further requests for information.

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CBC: Pedestrian, 19, dead after early morning collision at Winnipeg intersection (Oct31'26)
by Beth McKechnie 31 Oct '26

31 Oct '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Police say victim was struck at Lagimodiere Boulevard and Dugald Road early Saturday https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-intersection-incident-9.74… A 19-year-old pedestrian has died after she was struck by an SUV in an industrial zone in Winnipeg's St. Boniface area on Saturday morning. Police responded to a serious motor vehicle collision involving a pedestrian at the intersection of Lagimodiere Boulevard and Dugald Road just before 3 a.m. on Saturday, police said in a news release. When officers arrived, they found a 19-year-old pedestrian who had been hit by an SUV. She was taken to hospital in critical condition and later died of her injuries, the release said. Police said the driver stayed at the scene and the traffic division is investigating the incident. Anyone with information or video footage related to the collision is asked to call traffic investigators at 204-986-7085.

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WFP: Incoming councillor calls for safety improvements on Main (Oct31'26)
by Beth McKechnie 31 Oct '26

31 Oct '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Incoming councillor calls for safety improvements on Main https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/10/30/incoming-councill… A NEWLY elected city councillor has called for improvements to Main Street after a man in his 60s was hit and killed in a crosswalk at Main and Jarvis Avenue. Natalie Smith, who was elected Wednesday to represent the Mynarski ward, attended a small vigil at the site Friday afternoon. “I walk through here, I bike through here and I have to drive through here. I know at this intersection, I have seen so many close calls,” she said, calling the area, which is north of an underpass, “poorly designed.” She promised to ask city administration to look into ways to slow down traffic flow on Main Street. “We will see more injuries and more deaths here if we don’t do something,” Smith said. “We have to make our roads safer … one death is one death too many.” Even as vigil attendees gathered on either side of the crosswalk, there were close calls between pedestrians and traffic at the intersection. Lucky Adams, a volunteer for Streets for People Winnipeg, which organized the vigil, said alongside narrowing parts of Main Street, the group would like the speed limit reduced to 30 km/h, calling the recent death “devastating.” Adams said drivers are the priority on Main Street and not the people who live there. “I could tell (motorists) to drive carefully and tell them to slow down, but what we really want is a change to the infrastructure itself,” Adams said about Main Street. “It’s a place where people live, and even though it’s built like a highway, the area surrounding it, it’s not in the middle of nowhere.” In a video of the crash obtained by the Free Press, the man, who hasn’t been identified, walks at the crosswalk at Main Street and Jarvis Avenue at around 7:45 p.m. and is hit in the northbound lanes. He died in hospital. Earlier this week, advocates suggested speed traps or more police patrols to increase safety. Officials with city police said they’re working to address the issue. In a statement Winnipeg Police Service Const. Claude Chancy said, “enforcement efforts focus on high-risk driving behaviours, including speeding, using a cellphone while driving, disobeying traffic control devices, and driving while impaired.” “Enforcement is conducted throughout the city, with the goal of reducing collisions, protecting vulnerable road users, and improving safety for everyone who uses our roads.” Chancy said the service works closely with road safety partners to “analyze collision data and identify opportunities to improve road safety across the city.” This information, the statement said, helps guide targeted enforcement in high-risk areas, while also informing decisions related to road infrastructure, traffic signals, signage, public education, licensing and regulatory standards. “Recent pedestrian collisions have occurred at marked pedestrian crossings at multiple locations throughout Winnipeg,” said the statement. “Although pedestrians have the right of way at these crossings, they remain vulnerable to driver behaviours such as speeding, distracted driving and impaired driving.” morgan.modjeski(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:morgan.modjeski@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Advocate calls for speed traps at site of crosswalk fatality (Oct28'26)
by Beth McKechnie 28 Oct '26

28 Oct '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Says police need to make cost of breaking law clear Advocate calls for speed traps at site of crosswalk fatality https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/10/27/advocate-calls-fo… A LONGTIME community advocate says safety must be improved on the section of Main Street where a man in his 60s was hit by a truck Friday and later died. In a video of the crash obtained by the Free Press, the man, who hasn’t been identified, crosses at a crosswalk at Main Street and Jarvis Avenue at around 7:45 p.m. He was walking across the southbound lanes toward Austin Street North, as signals flashed overhead. When he reaches the northbound lanes of Main Street, he’s hit by a pickup truck and slides down the rain-slicked street for several metres. He died in hospital. “It’s a death that shouldn’t have happened,” said Sel Burrows, a longtime community leader and founder of a crime hotline in the area. Burrows said the location has been a problem “for many, many years.” He said that generally speaking, some northbound drivers accelerate after emerging from the rail underpass on Main Street as they head toward Jarvis Avenue. In the video, the crosswalk lights on the southbound side are flashing after the man is hit. Traffic continues and the pickup driver pulls over. Police said the driver remained on the scene. Burrows said it’s frustrating the collision occurred while a pedestrian was in the crosswalk. “Somebody’s life has been taken,” he said. “One of the things I’ve learned about doing crime prevention in the inner city is (police) need to make sure consequences for breaking the law are clearly defined and people hear about them, so it does have a deterrent effect.” Burrows said more police patrols or a speed trap at the intersection would be welcome. He said in 2017, patrols were increased in the area following the death of 23-year-old Cody Severight at Main Street and Sutherland Avenue, which is one block south. “Every month, they should have a couple of hours with a speed camera under there, issue tickets and publicize it,” Burrows said. “So people know if you speed coming out of that underpass, you’re going to get a ticket.” Winnipeg Police Service Const. Dani McKinnon said Tuesday no charges had been laid and the investigation continues. The police service recently urged pedestrians and drivers to take care after a high number of collisions involving pedestrians. It’s unclear if the northbound signals at the crosswalk were functioning normally at the time of the collision, but on Tuesday, they were working. A City of Winnipeg spokesperson said it couldn’t comment on whether the lights were working at the time of the crash, or whether the lights had required service in the last 30 days, due to the ongoing police investigation. Several people in the area who use the crosswalk said drivers regularly drive through the crosswalk when the lights are activated, something Burrows said may be rooted in what he called “people’s disdain for the inner city.” “They don’t stop for you,” Jacqueline Courchene said about her experience at the crosswalk. “Even if it’s broad daylight and the lights are going … they won’t stop.” She said she was almost hit at the crosswalk last winter when someone failed to stop, but her friend saved her. “Three of the lanes stopped, but the last didn’t,” she said. “(Drivers) see the people out here, myself included, as second-class citizens. It’s disgusting.” Keith Horn, owner of the nearby Northern Hotel said it’s difficult to watch the video of the collision captured by his surveillance cameras. “You just see a black figure slide along the ground, so you know someone was hit hard,” he said. He agreed that people drive down the strip faster than they should. “They come under the underpass, and it’s supposed to be 50 kilometres per hour, but probably most people are going a lot faster,” Horn said. “Then all of a sudden, you’re at a crosswalk.” He said education, a speed trap or even more signage — such as those in school zones advising drivers to slow down — would be welcome in the area. “You have to get people to slow down,” he said. morgan.modjeski(a)winnipegfreepress.com<mailto:morgan.modjeski@winnipegfreepress.com>

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CBC Manitoba: Cycling advocate hopes Winnipeg's next mayor doesn't backpedal on commitments (Oct27'26)
by Beth McKechnie 27 Oct '26

27 Oct '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Existing infrastructure is good but could be better, Ian McCausland says https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/cycling-advocates-winnipeg-election… A bike advocate is hoping whoever is elected as Winnipeg's mayor builds off existing momentum on the future of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. "We already have an amazing commitment from the previous council and the current mayor, so we're really positive about that," said Ian McCausland, a board member of Bike Winnipeg. The 2026 budget says the city plans to spend $112.8 million on active transportation over the next six years, with $60 million specifically going toward cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. "We're looking forward to working with whoever makes up the next council and taking those commitments forward, and seeing more investment in active transportation as a solution to the transportation problems everyone seems to have identified," McCausland said. A CBC-commissioned survey done in August suggested cycling and pedestrian infrastructure is one of the areas where Winnipeg has improved the most, with 42 per cent of respondents saying it's better than it was four years ago. A margin of error for the Abacus Data survey could not be calculated because the majority of responses came from online panels, but a random poll with that sample size would have a margin of error of 3.74 per cent, 19 times out of 20. McCausland said the results don't surprise him. "When we talked to cyclists who've been cycling for a long time, they'll say the same thing. The infrastructure has gotten better, we're always just missing those crucial connections that just tip it over into … an amazing network," he said. McCausland said the No. 1 complaint he hears from cyclists in Winnipeg is that the bike path network isn't connected enough, especially in the north and northwestern part of the city. It's something he'd like to see addressed by the next council. "You'll have a great piece, and then it'll end up throwing you into traffic," he said. "So, we'd really like to see all those little connections being made so that we can have a complete network that would help people embrace the network." With election day right around the corner, McCausland is a little worried about what he's been hearing from some mayoral candidates. "We've heard a little bit about bike lanes and active transportation during this campaign — not all of it has been positive," he said. Mayoral candidate Mike Vogiatzakis said he would "100 per cent" reduce the amount of spending on bike lanes — namely the $60-million figure touted in the latest city budget. "I would most definitely not spend that kind of money on bike lanes," he said. "You could build bike lanes in a much safer way and have them away from traffic — that would cost you a lot less." Vogiatzakis said he'd prioritize making existing bike paths safer — mainly by moving them further away from major roads and highways — rather than focusing on developing more cycling infrastructure for a city with long winters. He's also not on board with the city's long-term target of 50 per cent <https://legacy.winnipeg.ca/publicworks/transportation/transportationmasterp…> of trips in the city being walking, cycling, transit or ride-sharing by the year 2050. "They want us to walk, they want us to cycle and find different ways to get to work, and I think it's unrealistic in a city like Winnipeg to have a plan that's good for other places in the world but not really good for our city," Vogiatzakis said. If elected mayor, Kevin Klein has promised to redirect a portion of the funding currently allocated to bike-lane program funding toward homelessness initiatives, and arena and community-centre infrastructure. "I want to be clear, I am not saying there will be no money for transportation needs such as bike lanes, but that we have to redirect some of the funds currently allocated for them to the most pressing needs of our communities," he said in a statement to CBC News. Mayoral candidate Noah Redden said in a statement to CBC News that he supports increased bike lanes and active transportation infrastructure in the city. As mayor, he would "work to increase the amount of safe active transportation options in the city," he said. Incumbent mayoral candidate Scott Gillingham said at a campaign announcement Monday that if re-elected, he wouldn't be diverting from the current funding plan for active transportation. McCausland said that regardless of who is elected mayor of Winnipeg on Wednesday, he hopes that person "sees the value" in investing in cycling infrastructure. Mazher Alam, Johnny Calderon, Chris Clacio, Tracey Drexler, Brad Gross, Umar Hayat, Josh Pagdato, and Don Woodstock are also running for mayor.

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WFP: Opening of Portage and Main shows even seemingly insurmountable impasses can be overcome (Oct24'26)
by Beth McKechnie 25 Oct '26

25 Oct '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. INTERSECTION INFLECTION Opening of Portage and Main shows even seemingly insurmountable impasses can be overcome JASON SYVIXAY https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/2026/10/24/intersection-inflection THERE are places in a city that become more than places. Portage and Main is one of them. For generations of Winnipeggers, the intersection has represented downtown, traffic, development and civic identity. Its reopening to pedestrians in 2025, after 46 years of closure, was about more than crossing a street. It was a reminder that decisions made by one generation can shape the choices available to another — and that even seemingly permanent decisions can be reconsidered. I have spent much of my professional life thinking about Winnipeg as a planner, working in public, private and non-profit settings. My PhD research gave me an opportunity to examine Portage and Main differently: not simply as a debate about cars and pedestrians, but as a window into how power operates in a city. I reviewed 569 archival documents spanning the 1960s to the present, interviewed 48 planners with experience in Winnipeg, and mapped the relationships between planners, politicians, developers, engineers, residents, businesses and advocacy groups. What emerged was a story about how planning decisions become embedded in a city’s institutions, agreements, infrastructure, professional practices and political expectations — shaping not only what gets built, but who gets to influence what gets built. The closure of Portage and Main in 1979 did not remain a decision confined to a particular political moment. Over time, it was reinforced by development agreements, physical infrastructure, property relationships, traffic-engineering practices, administrative routines, and public narratives about mobility and downtown revitalization. The people who made many of those original decisions eventually left office. The arrangements they created remained. Later planners inherited them. This is what I call “embedded planning power.” Power is not exercised only when a politician casts a vote, a developer advances a proposal or a planner recommends an option. It accumulates. An agreement can outlast the government that signed it. Infrastructure can make one future easier and another more expensive. Professional hierarchies can determine whose expertise matters most, while familiar narratives can make established approaches seem inevitable. The past does not simply constrain us because it happened. It constrains us because we build the future around it. WHO SHAPES THE CITY? MY research also led me to reconsider the role of planners themselves. Planning scholarship often asks what planners should do: advocate, facilitate, advise, mediate or provide technical expertise. But there is another question worth asking: What forms of influence does the planning system actually allow them to exercise? The planners I interviewed described four broad patterns of behaviour. Some acted as commanders, shaping narratives, advising elected officials and championing a vision. Others were compromisers, building relationships, facilitating dialogue and finding common ground among competing interests. Some became subordinates, taking direction from elected officials and demonstrating accountability with follow through. Others operated as solitarians, gathering information, conducting analysis and providing technical clarity. These are not personality types or a hierarchy of better and worse planners. They are different configurations of professional agency. A planner may lead in one circumstance and defer in another, depending on their relationships, authority, expertise and institutional environment. The distinction matters because we often tell planners to be more courageous, collaborative or strategic without asking whether their organizations enable them to act that way. A planner can understand precisely what a city needs and still lack the authority, resources, relationships or political support to make it happen. Portage and Main illustrates this challenge. For much of its history, planning occupied a relatively peripheral position in a network where engineering, development interests and political decision-making often carried greater influence. That position was not inevitable. It was shaped by institutional decisions, the prioritization of traffic and engineering rationalities, changes in planning resources and organizational status, and development arrangements that gave other actors considerable influence. Position is itself a product of power. This finding has implications beyond Winnipeg. If planners occupy the margins of a decision, we should ask why. If engineers dominate a conversation, what has made their expertise central? If developers have privileged access to decision-makers, what arrangements sustain that influence? The question being asked also determines who becomes powerful in answering it. Frame Portage and Main as a traffic problem, and engineering expertise moves to the centre. Frame it as a development opportunity, and property and economic interests become more prominent. Frame it around accessibility, urban design or civic identity, and planning knowledge becomes more consequential. The framing of a problem is itself a form of power. RECOGNIZING CONSTRAINTS WE REPRODUCE INSTITUTIONS do more than constrain planners. Planners can also reproduce the very arrangements that limit their influence. When a particular way of working becomes routine, professionals may stop questioning its origins. A planner who learns that an issue is “not really planning” may withdraw from the conversation. Someone who sees certain stakeholders consistently influencing decisions may focus on incremental improvements rather than challenging the underlying relationships. An organization may continue a practice long after the circumstances that created it have changed. Power does not always need to tell people what they cannot do. Over time, it can teach them what they should not attempt. This is not a criticism of individual planners. Often, these behaviours are rational responses to professional realities. Public-sector planners may face political expectations or restrictions on speaking publicly. Private-sector planners may worry about losing clients or damaging relationships with government. Telling someone simply to “speak truth to power” overlooks the institutional conditions that determine the consequences of doing so. But if institutions can reproduce power, they can also interrupt it. The reopening of Portage and Main demonstrates that embedded power is not permanent power. The agreements, infrastructure, political narratives and professional assumptions that sustained the closure for decades did not disappear overnight. They were challenged, renegotiated and eventually changed. The chains were real. But they were not unbreakable. That is an important lesson for Winnipeg as it considers its future. The question is not whether power will exist in planning. It always will. The question is how that power is organized, whose interests it serves and whether the institutions of the city can adapt when circumstances change. BUILDING A PLANNING POWERHOUSE IF Winnipeg wants to become a planning powerhouse, the opportunity lies in strengthening both the capacity of planners and the institutions in which they work. We need planning expertise close enough to political decision-making to influence it, while retaining sufficient professional independence to provide honest advice. We need planners who understand transportation, land use and infrastructure, but who can also explain how decisions shape everyday life. We need professionals who can build relationships with developers and businesses without becoming captive to their interests, engage communities without simply collecting preferences, and understand politics without becoming partisan. Most importantly, we need planners who can move between different forms of agency. Winnipeg needs the solitarian who conducts rigorous analysis, the compromiser who brings competing interests together and the subordinate who respects democratic accountability. But it also needs the commander: the planner who can articulate a vision, shape a civic narrative and explain with professional confidence where the city should go and why. We need institutions that allow planners to shift among these roles. A healthy planning system is not one in which every planner holds power. It is one that gives planners meaningful opportunities to exercise different forms of influence when circumstances demand it. That means moving beyond a reactive approach to city-building. Too often, planning responds to development applications, infrastructure projects and political priorities after fundamental questions have already been settled. A stronger planning culture would ask those questions earlier: What kind of downtown do we want? How should transportation support that vision? Where should growth occur? What public spaces do we need? How do we build a city that serves today’s residents while creating opportunities for generations to come? Answering these questions requires political leadership, institutional memory and professional capacity. It requires departments and agencies to work across organizational boundaries, long-term plans to guide actual investment, and relationships among planners, elected officials, engineers, developers, businesses and communities that are established before the next controversy begins. It also requires acknowledging that planning is not neutral. Every plan reflects choices about whose needs matter, what knowledge counts, which priorities receive investment and which futures are considered realistic. The goal cannot be to eliminate politics from planning. It must be to make the politics of city-building more transparent, informed and responsive to long-term public interests. NEXT SET OF CHAINS PORTAGE and Main offers Winnipeg a powerful lesson. When decisions become embedded in institutions, changing them can take decades. But embedded does not mean permanent. The intersection reopened after 46 years. That alone should make us reconsider the language we use when confronting difficult urban challenges. “It can’t be done” may simply mean institutional arrangements surrounding a problem currently make change difficult. Those arrangements can shift. Stakeholder relationships, political priorities, professional cultures, infrastructure and public expectations can change. Planners can move from the margins toward the centre of the conversation. But there is a harder lesson, too. If today’s decisions become tomorrow’s institutional realities, planning is not simply about solving the problems immediately before us. It is about deciding what conditions we are creating for the people who come next. We inherit the decisions of the past, along with their consequences. Our responsibility is not only to navigate the constraints we inherit, but also to recognize the constraints we are reproducing ourselves. That is where I find hope in this research. The same institutions that reinforce power can end up being where it is ultimately interrupted. The same professional practices that sustain the status quo can become vehicles for change. And the same planners who learn to work within existing boundaries can, under different conditions, help redraw them. A planning powerhouse is not a city that gets every decision right. It is a city with the capacity to think ahead, question its assumptions, bring different forms of knowledge together and change course when evidence and the public interest demand it. Portage and Main taught Winnipeg that even deeply embedded decisions can change. The next challenge is to build a city where we do not need 46 years to break the next set of chains. Jason Syvixay is a registered professional planner and vice-president of BILD Edmonton Metro. Passionate about cities, planning and the communities that shape them, he maintains a deep connection to his hometown of Winnipeg.

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CBC: Pedestrian dies after being struck by vehicle at crosswalk (Oct24'26)
by Beth McKechnie 24 Oct '26

24 Oct '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. The man in his 60s was taken to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/pedestrian-dies-hit-at-crosswalk-9.… A pedestrian has died after being struck by a pickup truck at a Winnipeg crosswalk Friday evening. Police were called to Main Street and Jarvis Avenue where they learned a man in his 60s had been crossing Main at a crosswalk when he was hit by an oncoming pickup truck. The man was taken to hospital in unstable condition and later died from his injuries. The driver stayed at the scene and the investigation is continuing. Anyone with information, including video surveillance or dashcam video, is asked to contact the traffic unit at 204-986-7085.

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WFP: Researchers: lights at crossing ‘long overdue’ (Oct22'26)
by Beth McKechnie 22 Oct '26

22 Oct '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Raise crosswalk consistency, police transparency concerns after man fatally hit in spring Researchers: lights at crossing ‘long overdue’ https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/10/22/researchers-light… SIX months after a fatal collision at a crosswalk on Henderson Highway, two traffic safety researchers question why the intersection remains an outlier that is missing key flashing lights. The City of Winnipeg is being urged to install “backflashers” to better protect road users moving in all directions at the intersection where a 32-year-old father died in the spring. “It’s these little, mundane, non-sexy engineering problems that can cause everything right up to fatality,” said Curt Pankratz, an associate professor at the University of Winnipeg who studies traffic engineering and policymaking. On April 19, shortly before sunrise, Gabe Beardy was struck when he was crossing the six-lane thoroughfare at Neil Avenue. City police said a motorist travelling northbound towards the intersection around 5:20 a.m. hit a victim, who was identified by family as a kindhearted and adventurous father of four from Lake St. Martin First Nation in the Interlake. The Winnipeg Police Service has released few details — to his family and others — about the collision in East Kildonan. “We need answers. We want to know what happened and to prevent this from happening to somebody else,” said Brad Beardy, chief of Lake St. Martin, which he said hasn’t been the same since he lost his nephew. The chief said he wants to know whether the 32-year-old had pushed any buttons to trigger flashing lights and what improvements can be made in his memory. He expressed gratitude that researchers have taken it upon themselves to investigate because his family is still in the dark. Const. Claude Chancy said WPS is not releasing findings of an investigation because the incident was deemed to have been non-criminal in nature and no charges were laid. Pankratz recently paid a visit to the scene with independent researcher Chris Sweryda, who frequently collaborates with him and is running for city council. Both researchers told the Free Press they’ve witnessed and recorded more near-misses and screeching tires at the intersection compared to others nearby. The duo cited one glaring safety gap — the absence of back-facing amber flashing lights that turn on when one side of the Neil Avenue crosswalk is in use. When a pedestrian pushes a button to activate lights to stop oncoming southbound traffic at the crosswalk, northbound motorists on Henderson Highway do not get a similar warning that someone is approaching the divider and about to enter their path. The same goes for the opposite direction, as there are no backflashers on either side of this intersection on the thoroughfare. The purpose of backflashers is to “shrink the dilemma zone,” by giving motorists more of a heads-up about pedestrian activity, Pankratz said, noting they’ve been installed in all corners of the city over the last 30 years. “We call it ‘the dilemma zone,’ when the light flashes, it starts flashing, and you have to decide to stop or go.” The sociologist and Sweryda, a master’s of law student who is, in his words, obsessed with road safety gaps, have been collaborating to track and flag traffic engineering-related problems for nearly 15 years. In 2012, Sweryda first identified Henderson Highway and Neil Avenue as an outlier, and began raising concerns at city hall about the installation and upkeep of backflashers. His database, compiled with data provided by the city, show there are 185 crosswalks with flashing lights in Winnipeg. The April 19 collision happened at one of two that do not have back-facing lights to warn the opposite side of the road about approaching pedestrians, Sweryda said. “Long overdue is an understatement,” Pankratz said about the need for a thorough review of the crosswalk that he indicated is particularly problematic at night. In response to a request for comment about the status quo, the public works department indicated “rear-facing flashing beacons” are anticipated to be installed at the intersection before the end of the year. City communications manager David Driedger said in a statement that the beacons are usually installed when there’s a “major road reconstruction project.” Driedger said the city is “prioritizing” their installation at the crosswalk in question and reviewing crossings elsewhere to identify anywhere else they could be installed to improve safety. Sweryda’s records show there have been upgrades at the intersection on two occasions since 2019. For the researcher, this situation represents larger concerns about inconsistent crosswalk installation, shoddy reviews and police secrecy related to fatal traffic incidents. There’s inconsistent button placement on median poles at crosswalks covering divided streets, irregular flashing beacons and sporadic distribution of eye-level flashing lights, he said. Following a series of recent vehicle-pedestrian collisions, city police held a news conference on Monday to remind road users to take extra precautions at intersections. There have been at least eight incidents involving 12 pedestrians in Winnipeg over the last three weeks. One senior died last week. Multiple other individuals, including a child who was run over in a parking lot, have suffered serious injuries. “This isn’t just about who’s at fault,” Insp. Helen Peters told reporters Monday. “This is about keeping each other safe and doing everything we can as drivers, motor vehicles or pedestrians to help each other out and navigate our roads.” The Manitoba Public Insurance collision dashboard shows 45 pedestrians have been victims of incidents inside the Perimeter Highway between Jan. 1 and Sept. 22, when it was last updated. maggie.macintosh(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca>

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