Gillingham suddenly “concerned” about crime, where's he been?

Mayor Scott Gillingham is suddenly concerned about crime. After more than a decade in public office, he now thinks making people pay for transit will reduce assaults and harassment on buses. The timing is not a coincidence. There is an election next year, and the mayor has finally decided that public safety might make good campaign material. And he expects us to believe him.

If you have lived here for any length of time, you know crime has been a top issue for years. You also know that this administration, as well as the one before it, let the problem worsen. People in our city are now writing me emails saying they feel like they might as well leave their doors unlocked. One reader told me, “Should I just leave my front door unlocked with a note saying: please help yourself, there are drinks in the fridge, some food, but nothing of real value… just sentimental stuff from a wonderful era gone by… and please don’t hurt me or anyone that happens to be visiting.” Welcome to Winnipeg, where what’s mine is literally yours for the taking. That is how helpless some Winnipeggers feel today. They see taxes climbing every year, and in return, they get more crime, more construction delays, and more excuses.

The mayor wants us to believe that fare evasion is the root cause of transit crime. He told CTV and others, “we’re hearing from the Amalgamated Transit Union—and from riders—that fare evasion is often tied to assaults on drivers and harassment of passengers. That’s a serious concern, and we’re stepping up enforcement to deal with it.” A serious concern? Now? A bus driver was murdered years ago. Riders and staff have been raising safety concerns for over a decade. Gillingham sat as finance chair when these incidents were happening and chose street supervisors over adding police officers. This is not a new discovery. It is an old problem being repackaged as a fresh concern because the polls are shifting.

Another reader put it bluntly: “I’m beside myself. It’s a serious concern! Now? After over a decade of pretending it wasn’t there, now all of a sudden he’s ‘concerned’?” They called it what it is—the words of a man who wants to be re-elected, not a man intent on fixing the problem. Every time the mayor speaks, you can feel the spin. These announcements are not about solutions, they are about survival.

Talk is cheap. We hear plenty of it during campaigns. Gillingham built a reputation for promises. How many were kept? Did Kenaston get widened? Did Chief Peguis get extended? He pledged tax increases would be held to 3.5 percent. Instead, year after year, we see hikes higher than that. The question is not what politicians promise during campaigns, it is what they did while in office. The record speaks louder than the press releases.

Life in Winnipeg has not improved under his watch. Crime is worse. Downtown is emptier and more dangerous. Property taxes keep rising. Residents are watching thefts in stores in broad daylight. One reader told me they had just written to thank me for a crime-related opinion piece when they went to Dollarama, paid for their items, and watched someone else walk out smugly with stolen goods. The manager stood helpless, the thief unfazed. That is Winnipeg today. No accountability, no enforcement, and no sense that City Hall has a plan.

When the mayor says “we’re working on that problem now,” people roll their eyes. They have heard that line for years. As one reader wrote, “please spare me the phrase, we’re working on that problem now and blah blah blah.” The people living with the reality of crime every day know the truth. Officers are retiring early because they are tired of catch and release. Families who once walked downtown at night avoid it entirely. Long-time homeowners feel like targets. This is not a sudden crisis. It is the direct result of years of inaction from people who now want four more years.

There is a pattern here. The closer we get to an election, the more announcements you will hear. They will say they found savings at City Hall. They will talk about housing starts. They will cut ribbons on roads. They will join the chorus on bail reform. It will sound like momentum. In reality, it is a marketing campaign for a padded pension.

This is not personal. It is not about liking or disliking one politician. It is about performance. If this were a business, the shareholders would be furious. They would ask: what exactly did you achieve with the money we gave you? Did you grow the business? Did you deliver better results for the customers? The answer is no. Costs went up, service went down, and the brand took a beating. In the private sector, no one would get a bonus for that track record. Yet in politics, they ask for another mandate and another raise.

Conservatives and business leaders understand accountability. You measure success by results, not intentions. You keep your word, or you are out. In Winnipeg, we have accepted the opposite for too long. We judge politicians by what they promise tomorrow, not what they failed to deliver yesterday. That is how we got here. That is why people are asking if they should leave their front doors open and put out a sign inviting criminals in. Because after years of promises, they see nothing changing.

Here are the real questions Winnipeggers should be asking when politicians come knocking with new promises or stronger reactions: how many businesses have closed since they took office? How many victims of crime have there been during their watch? How many more people are homeless today than when they first ran for office? These numbers tell the truth far better than campaign slogans. Don’t get me wrong, you will see them do things differently in an election year. But don’t make them the heroes. These are things they could have done or should have done when they were elected three years ago.

We cannot afford to let this cycle continue. Winnipeg is too important to be managed with spin. Public safety cannot be a seasonal talking point that rises during election years and disappears after votes are counted. Transit security will not be fixed by charging fares to people already prepared to break the rules. Downtown will not revive if families do not feel safe walking to events. Businesses will not thrive if theft is treated like a cost of doing business. And taxpayers will not keep paying more while getting less in return.

The mayor has had more than a decade to show leadership on these issues. He chose not to. Now, with another election in sight, he has rediscovered crime as a talking point. That is not leadership. That is opportunism. Winnipeggers deserve better than another round of empty promises and staged concern. We should not measure him, or any politician, by what they say they will do in the next term. We should measure them by what they failed to do in the last one. On that record, the judgment is clear.

Winnipeg is at a crossroads. Either we hold our leaders accountable for results, or we accept that the phrase “what ours is literally yours for the taking” becomes not just a frustrated line in an email, but the city’s new motto.