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Seniors and families deserve better

MICHAEL ABON

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/03/25/seniors-and-fa...

“WE’RE making these decisions not for the 60, 70-year-olds. No disrespect, because a lot of them do use these facilities, but we’re trying to make the decisions what infrastructure is needed for the 30-year-olds, the 25-year-olds, and that future generation.”

That was Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham at the executive policy committee on March 17, defending the decision to cancel the Wellington Crescent bike lane pilot project.

My parents downsized to a condo on Wellington Crescent. My wife, our three-year-old daughter, and I walk or bike along Wellington Crescent to visit them at least once a week… or we used to.

Since a driver going, at minimum, 159 km/h killed Rob Jenner on this street nearly two years ago, we take a longer route to avoid Wellington entirely. We shouldn’t have to be afraid just to visit my parents.

Our daughter is learning to cross streets. We teach her to look left and right. But she’s three.

She can’t judge the speed of a car. She’s too short to see around parked vehicles; she has to step into the lane just to know if anything is coming. She’s starting to ride her own bicycle, but I’m not going to let her ride to grandma and grandpa’s. Not on this street. When we do walk there, cyclists pass us on the sidewalk (technically illegal, but the only option that feels safe for them). I don’t begrudge them that. I wish they had a protected lane on Wellington.

Wednesday night, a collision at Wellington Crescent and Hugo Street North (an F-150 and a small sedan, airbags deployed, emergency vehicles on scene) reminded the neighbourhood what’s at stake. That dangerous slip lane would have been closed had the pilot gone ahead on schedule. Instead, it has been delayed for over a year, and council is cancelling it.

The mayor said he’s not building for seniors. But this stretch of Wellington between Academy Road and Stradbrook Avenue is condo after condo. The majority of residents are seniors. They struggle to cross streets engineered for speed, not for the people who live on them.

Rob Jenner was 62, exactly the kind of person the mayor dismissed. My parents heard his words. So did their neighbours.

And here is the irony: the mayor claims to be building for 25-year-olds, but Canadian adults under 30 are increasingly going without a vehicle, whether by choice or because they’ve been priced out. The infrastructure young people are actually asking for (safe cycling routes, walkable streets, connected transit) is exactly what council is cancelling. The mayor isn’t building for seniors. He isn’t building for families. And he isn’t building for the generation he claims to be championing.

So who is he building for?

Eighty-three per cent of respondents in the city’s own engagement supported safety improvements on this corridor. One hundred and fifteen community members have taken time away from work to speak at committee meetings about this stretch of road over the past 16 months. The public service recommended the pilot. The equipment sits in a warehouse. In November 2024, Coun. Janice Lukes said the pilot could be in the ground as soon as the snow melts. That was two winters ago. Council votes on whether to cancel it March 26.

The mayor said “no disrespect.” Rob Jenner should still be alive. My parents deserve to feel safe on their own street. And my daughter deserves a city that builds for her, not one that can’t decide who it’s building for at all.

Michael Abon is an Earl Grey resident and a board director of Bike Winnipeg.