‘Lots of work for us to do’: Manitoba leaders ready to pitch Carney government

CTV’s Jeff Keele looks closer at the election results in Manitoba, and what the political landscape looks like now.

With votes still being counted across the country, Manitoba leaders are already putting in their pitches to the new Carney government.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham told reporters Tuesday he’s looking forward to working with the freshly formed government.

“There will be lots of work for us to do in a collaborative fashion in the coming months,” Gillingham said.

Top of mind for Winnipeg’s mayor – funding phase three of the North End Sewage Treatment Plant.

The city was recently able to secure an extra $16 million from the federal Liberals.

Terry Duguid, then-prairies economic minister, announced the additional cash in March. He was re-elected Monday night in Winnipeg South.

That money was on top of the $150 million Ottawa previously promised for phase two – which ran $482 million over budget.

The whole project comes with a price tag in the $3 billion range, making it the most expensive endeavour in the city’s history.

The third phase doesn’t have any funding secured.

Gillingham said finishing the project is vital to address the city’s capacity issues.

“Without that North End plant constructed and fully funded, we’re not able to grow our city. We’re not able to add homes and add jobs and grow our economy.”

Calls for incentives to remove interprovincial trade barriers

Gillingham also hopes to work with the feds on safety issues, namely making changes to the Criminal Code on bail reform and removing interprovincial trade barriers.

It’s an issue that took centre stage amid the U.S.’s ongoing tariff war with Canada, though Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Loren Remillard said the business community has been frustrated with those limitations well before Donald Trump took office.

He wants Ottawa to incentivize provinces to remove the remaining barriers, noting limits on trucking are particularly rigid.

“It really comes from that leadership perspective that they bring to the table, the ability to incent and, as well, penalize those that continue to create those artificial barriers that really hold back Canadian business and consumer well-being,” Remillard said.

He believes Prime Minister Mark Carney has signalled those trade barriers could be coming down and hopes an announcement is on the way.

Remillard also called for more federal cash to fund AI in a bid to drive up productivity. This is key to navigating the choppy waters of the ongoing trade dispute, he said.

Indigenous leaders push to implement UNDRIP, reform child welfare

Indigenous leaders say they also plan to push Carney to make good on his election promises.

Southern Chiefs’ Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels is looking to the Prime Minister to fulfill his pledge to reform First Nations Child and Family Services.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrisson Settee also called on Carney to fully implement the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) – a human rights instrument he told an election forum he was committed to enacting.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Kyra Wilson echoed those calls, adding treaty implementation is vitally important and should be prioritized.

“Treaties is the foundational piece to who we are as First Nations,” she said.

“We need to start speaking about it at the federal level once again because we haven’t been talking about it enough in the last however many years.”

- With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagacé and Michelle Gerwing