Winnipeg Fire Trucks Offline

It was the firefighters’ union that went to social media to tell residents what City Hall would not. They informed the public that in the last few days, St. Vital Station’s Engine 102 and Ladder 16 were out of service. At the start of that shift, the Winnipeg Fire Department was already short 34 positions. To keep seven trucks on the road, 26 firefighters worked overtime. Even then, six positions were left uncovered, forcing two frontline units offline. That is not a political talking point. That is math. And it tells us that the people running this city have failed at the one thing government is supposed to do: protect its residents.

For decades, Winnipeg has relied on a broken formula, chronic understaffing covered up by paying overtime. The overtime paid to those 34 firefighters on that single shift is equivalent to paying 60 firefighters at straight time for 11 hours. We are wasting resources to sustain a system that doesn’t work. Instead of informing residents that two essential units were offline, the City stayed silent. That is the same tired approach we have seen before: ignore the problem and maybe no one will notice. The union was blunt. Increasing the staffing ratio is not about spending more money. It is about spending the money we already collect more effectively and ending the wasteful cycle of premium overtime. They are right. Winnipeg doesn’t need more tax hikes to fix this. We need leadership willing to stop playing shell games with the budget.

Mayor Scott Gillingham had years to show Winnipeggers he understood basic financial management. As a city councillor and chair of Finance under Brian Bowman, he oversaw property tax hikes totalling more than 15 percent. Now, less than three years into his term as mayor, he has added almost another 13 percent. That is before we even talk about the steady increases in water and waste fees, garbage collection costs, and the growing list of user fees. Winnipeg families and businesses are paying more and getting less. Fire trucks are out of service, police resources are stretched thin, and roads crumble faster than they are fixed. The real issue is not revenue. It is discipline. Governments at every level believe that when there is a shortfall, the answer is to raise taxes. But in business and in any household budget, that is not how it works. You cut non-essentials. You allocate resources where they matter most. You put the core services first.

While firefighters struggle to fill shifts and keep essential rigs in service, some councillors are busy staging photo ops announcing hundreds of thousands of dollars for a new park, park upgrades. They found the money for parks in some areas of the city and basketball courts, yet they closed Happyland pool on residents who were prepared to raise funds themselves to repair and reopen it. What message does that send? Are they doing this on purpose, or do they really not understand the difference between essential protection and nice-to-have projects? It is hard to believe this is simply an oversight when the pattern is so clear. Councillors tend to focus on easy, feel-good projects for their re-election campaigns, at the expense of critical issues.

Take a look at Gillingham’s neighbourhood action teams, created to handle small repairs and projects around the city. Are we better off? Do you notice the improvements? While money and energy went into building that program, the mayor did not hire enough firefighters to keep rigs on the road. The same pattern shows up in policing. As the former chair of the Winnipeg Police Board, I know firsthand how resources are being misused. The City spends almost $80,000 per year for each transit safety officer, but it has not once hired the full number of police cadets it is authorized to employ. Why not? Cadets are paid less. Their presence on the streets creates the visibility and deterrence we desperately need. The experience prepares them for a career in policing. Imagine 300 to 400 cadets patrolling neighbourhoods, creating visibility, and deterring crime. Cost-effective. Practical. Achievable. Yet ignored. Instead, we are throwing money into a transit security program that duplicates services while leaving law enforcement capacity underdeveloped. That is not management. It is mismanagement.

Running a city is not about ribbon cuttings or launching pilot projects with clever names. It is about management, smart, strategic management. The kind that business owners and executives understand instinctively. When your payroll is bloated with overtime, you don’t add more overtime. You restructure. When you are falling behind on critical services, you don’t spend on fringe programs to make the optics look better. You focus on the essentials. The private sector knows this. Businesses that misallocate resources don’t survive. Families understand this, too. You don’t buy a new television when the roof is leaking. But in City Hall, common sense budgeting disappears. Winnipeg doesn’t need more slogans or visions. It needs leaders who know how to allocate resources effectively. Leaders who understand cost efficiency, workforce management, and accountability. People with business experience who treat tax dollars with the same care as their own money.

When a fire truck sits idle, the clock ticks longer on an emergency response. When police cadets aren’t deployed, a neighbourhood loses the visible presence of law enforcement. These aren’t abstract budget lines. They are risks to people’s lives and livelihoods. And yet, the mayor and council keep doubling down on a model that has already failed. Decades of chronic understaffing in fire services, escalating reliance on overtime, and tax hikes that pile up year after year with no measurable improvement. This isn’t sustainable. Winnipeg is falling into a vicious cycle where higher taxes fund wasteful spending, leaving essential services weaker and residents paying more for less.

The evidence is clear. Our current leadership does not prioritize the essentials. They do not manage money strategically. They do not communicate honestly with the public when frontline services fail. We need a shift in direction. Winnipeg must be run with the discipline of a business. Focus on essentials, eliminate unnecessary expenses, and allocate resources to protect and strengthen the community. The firefighting crisis at St. Vital isn’t an isolated incident. It’s a symptom. The same mismanagement runs through the police budget, through infrastructure spending, and through the endless cycle of tax hikes. The question every taxpayer should be asking is this: Are you better off than you were ten years ago? Are your services better, your roads smoother, your neighbourhoods safer? If the answer is no, and I believe it is, then we cannot accept more of the same from City Hall. Winnipeg deserves leaders who can manage like business leaders do, with strategy, discipline, and accountability. Until then, expect more fire trucks offline, more taxes on your bill, and more excuses from council chambers.