Building trust in City Hall

Scott Gillingham has lost the trust of Winnipeg with broken promises, closed-door meetings, higher taxes, new fees, and higher water bills. And has it made Winnipeg better, safer, cleaner? Winnipeggers are saying “NO” it is not.

That’s why I’m setting out three rules under a platform called Building Trust in City Hall.

City Hall works for you. Trust is not a slogan. It is a set of rules people can see.

The three rules:

1. Revive an independent ombudsman with power to review service complaints and publish findings. Winnipeg created Canada’s first municipal ombudsman in 1994 and closed it in 2002–03, when council under Mayor Glen Murray asked the Province to take the job. Complaints now go to the Manitoba Ombudsman or die in 311. I would restore a city office, independent of the mayor and administration, with whistleblower intake and public reports. Any project that overruns its approved cost would be investigated, with the findings published: the approved cost, the final cost, who signed the changes, and whether anyone is accountable.

2. Community meetings in every ward twice a year, not campaign-season drop-ins. Each meeting will be broadcasted on Facebook so residents who cannot attend can watch it and play it back.

3. Every new program over $5 million gets a public cost, a source of funds, and a kill-date if the result is not met. Miss the target and the program ends or returns to council for a recorded vote.

The ombudsman should be funded first by not refilling the chief construction officer, vacant since August 1, 2026, after Tom Sparrow left July 31 following 15 months in a post created as a 2022 campaign pledge. He said the office produced monthly briefings to council, not public reports, and that in February 2026 the mayor’s office was still proposing a process to make that advice public. At the police headquarters inquiry, Sparrow said the city shares too much project detail and called it “playing poker with an open deck.” The balance of the office budget should come from existing consultant and legal lines, not a new tax.

The Granite Curling Club parking dispute, more than 11,000 transit complaints after the network redesign, and the Parker Lands court fight, were files where residents had no local referee. An ombudsman cannot veto council or guarantee any one outcome. It makes hiding a bad file harder.

After the last four years, do you think our city is safer, cleaner and more transparent? Are you paying less for water, and is transit better?

Neither do I, which is why I am asking for your vote on October 28th. Vote Kevin Klein for Mayor.

An ombudsman, ward meetings people can watch, and overruns that get investigated and published. It's change that makes sense, and it’s how I will rebuild trust in City Hall.

Better days are ahead for Winnipeg.

Kevin