MOTION NO.

Reference:

THE CITY OF WINNIPEG
ouncil Meeting, January 27, 2016

Moved

Seconded by

-

‘V

Councillor Eadie

WHEREAS since Council adopted the motion of Building Canada Fund priorities

on March 25, 2015, major changes have occurred with regard to the issues of
Railway Relocation and with the election of a new government in Ottawa;
AND WHEREAS for the first time the Province of Manitoba has announced a new
Railway Relocation Task Force to be headed by a former Premier of Quebec and
a former leader of the Federal Progressive Conservative Party, the Rt. Hon.
Jean Charest;
AND WHEREAS as presently contemplated,

the cost for new infrastructure due
to railway crossings, shall cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars and may only fix one or two crossings at the most;

AND WHEREAS the benefit of relocating railways from inside the City of
Winnipeg to outside the City of Winnipeg, or by combining and sharing an
existing railway Right-Of-Way, by two or more railways, has huge cost
benefits to the people of Winnipeg, both in terms of lost time due to
traffic congestion and pedestrian and homeowner safety, but also in terms of
the long-term maintenance costs related to the new grade separations;
AND WHEREAS the City of Winnipeg is setting a dangerous precedent of
agreeing to repay a railway for their share of the rail crossing/grade
separation costs (RE: Canadian Transportation Agency regulations for the
apportionment of costs of grade separations) in the event the railway is
later relocated (Report of EPC, January 20, 2016, Item No. 10, City of
Winnipeg Council Meeting, January 27, 2016) therefore creating a major new
financial liability for the City of Winnipeg that never existed before;

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AND WHEREAS for the first time in a generation, the opportunity now exists
to make historic change with regard to railway relocation inside Winnipeg
and with this new sense of optimism, it is premature to build further grade
separations involving railways and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars
until the Charest Taskforce has an opportunity to conduct it’s work;
AND WHEREAS railway relocation also presents the City of Winnipeg with an
historic opportunity, that with the acquisition of former railway Right-OfWays, new and exciting initiatives for Rapid Transit, Active Transportation,
and Neighborhood Renewal and Revitalization, just to name a few, becomes a
real possibility;
AND WHEREAS the on the day of the announcement,

January 14, 2016, Jean
Charest stated, “This Project has the ability to change and will change the
City of Winnipeg”;

AND WHEREAS the Mayor of the City of Winnipeg,

Brian Bowman, on January 14,
2016, the day of the announcement, in the presence of the Premier of
Manitoba and Jean Charest, stated the following, “What we do need is we need
to have the full picture and I for one and I think all of us here agree that
there’s a lot more information analysis that can and should occur and once
that occurs we will be in a better position to make better decisions and so
the cost of proceeding with rail relocation, the cost not to, that’s the
type of thing we need to get these figures so we can have an informed
discussion and debate”.
th,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Council Meeting of March 25
2015
Decision of Minute No. 245, Report of the Executive Policy Committee
24, 2015, be amended by deleting clause 1 and replacing it with the
following:

-

March

1. That the priorities for the Building Canada Fund applications be set as
follows:
1)
2)
3)
4)

Chief Peguis Trail
Main Street to Route 90
Kenaston Boulevard Widening
Waverley Street Underpass
Marion Street Widening/Grade Separation and Improvements
Street to Lagimodiere Boulevard

Recorded
Vote

—

-

Archibald

YEA

Carried

NAY

Lost