Transit advocates call for province to boost funding to municipalities

With an election less than a year away and the provincial NDP gathering in Winnipeg this weekend, transit proponents say it’s time the Kinew government restored 50-50 provincial-municipal funding.

“We want to see them stick to their word and to follow through on that and restore this funding agreement so that we can see the operating budgets that we need to have effective service,” said Laura Cameron with Climate Action Team Manitoba.

In 2017, then-opposition leader Wab Kinew called out former Progressive Conservative premier Brian Pallister for ending the 50-50 transit cost-sharing with Manitoba municipalities.

“He’s not listening to Manitobans who ride the bus, who are raising their voice all week and the week before saying they object to the impact that this government’s program of cuts is having on the service that they rely on here in the city,” Kinew said in the legislature at the time. “Will the premier reverse his plan for cuts? Will he reinstate the 50-50 transit formula?”

On Friday, Kinew said things have changed.

“We want to see transit improve,” he said.

“But I think, when you look at how transit service in Winnipeg has gone, we’re just going to write a blank cheque? No, I don’t think so. We’re going to make targeted investments.”

The province is providing free transit passes to to youths.

“I want transit ridership to increase,” Kinew said. “For me, the best way to do that, is with targeted investments working with the cities across the province.”

On Friday, a spokesperson for Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Glen Simard, who is responsible for municipal transit, said that in addition to providing the free youth passes, the province has increased operating funds to municipalities.

“We continue to increase support for municipalities year after year. Our 2026 budget included making transit free for kids, which is not only an investment in transit across Manitoba, but it also helps families with the cost of living while encouraging more people to use public transit,” Simard’s press secretary Caedmon Malowany said in a prepared statement.

However, that’s not improving transit service, advocates say.

“As we know, right now in Winnipeg and in other municipalities in Manitoba, transit systems are underfunded and struggling to keep up and provide the service that’s reliable,” Cameron said, adding free passes can be an opportunity to introduce a new generation to public transportation.

But if the system continues to be underfunded, it may result in a generation that avoids the bus, she said.

Further investment into transit operations is needed to improve the quality of service, Cameron said. Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes, she noted, has been a central figure in the province’s work on transit.

The coalition delivered postcards to his constituency office Friday asking him to act swiftly to improve service, she said.

In a prepared statement, a spokesperson for Moyes said that he met with public transit advocates as recently as Oct. 21.

“Our government understands that reliable, affordable public transit is important to Manitobans,” a statement from Moyes’ press secretary Naline Rampersad said.

The transit advocates were waiting to see if a resolution calling for the province to restore 50-50 transit cost sharing with municipalities makes it onto the floor of this weekend’s NDP convention. One resolution regarding transit made it into the 73-page resolution list. It calls for all public transit systems to convert buses from petroleum fuel to electricity.

carol.sanders@winnipegfreepress.com