The Rail Bypass Around Winnipeg Project

Lloyd Axworthy knows something about rail re-location. He was there back in the 1980s when CN Rail was convinced to give up their downtown rivers location in favour of Symington Yards. It is still going on now four decades later. It is one of Canada's prime examples of rail land being re-located to create one of Canada's top tourist attractions. The waterfront in Toronto is another example although that includes port as well as rail. There are examples of military based in cities also being repurposed. In Winnipeg, that would apply to the Kapyong Barracks. In Calgary, it would be the Garrison base.

Safe to say that the land recovery and end of displacement from city rail crossings is of greater value and cost than a port or military base redevelopment. The movement of rail within a city can be dangerous and serves less purpose now since the cargo is being loaded and unloaded much of the time outside the confines of the city. People have died as a result of hazardous materials being transported within cities.

It is also true that rail has brought great wealth to Canada. While it isn't the sole reason for Winnipeg's success, it is a leading reason why. Had the rail crossed at Selkirk instead, it would be Selkirk that was the biggest city. Boosterism and corruption ensured Winnipeg got the first rail across Canada. The railways got the lands closest to the areas they wished and prospered. It was mutually beneficial and Winnipeg and Manitoba did well by it.

A by-pass could open up lands and create an internal active transportation system, bus and light rail routes, parks and new housing and commercial developments. There would be no need to build a new Arlington Bridge if a surface road could just head straight through. The Great Divide between the North End and the rest of Winnipeg would be eliminated if the Weston Yards moved to the new logistics area of CentrePort or somewhere else in the the greater area. This will not be instantaneous not without many lobbying for favourite projects. It is worth noting that some advocated The Forks be made into an urban forest. While compelling. it is hard to imagine it being as being such a place as it is now.

Lloyd Axworthy should present a route plan and the debate should be in earnest. In the fall of 2026, there could be billion in investment money from the meetings taking place in Toronto with the federal government. Manitoba should be at the table with shovel ready projects. We shouldn't be building anymore multimillion overpasses for rail crossings in the city when other solutions present themselves.

Donald Trump to Attend Opening of Teddy Roosevelt Library in Medora, North Dakota July 1, 2026

It will be a busy July 1st for President Trump. He will be visiting North Dakota to be there for the opening of the Teddy Roosevelt Library in Medora, North Dakota. It will be a quick trip because he is supposed to be back in Washington, D.C. for the trilateral meeting of Canada, Mexico and the United States for trade talks and possibly a deal or does Trump announce U.S. is pulling out? Carney will be meeting him that day. No word on that itinerary. 

The Teddy Roosevelt Library is a non-profit creation since the official libraries program for presidents only started in 1955. The 96,000 square foot building is on a 92,000 square foot campus carved into a butte in Medora, North Dakota beside the Teddy Roosevelt National Park in the far west part of the state by the Badlands.

Roosevelt is intimately identified with North Dakota from his journeys in the state from 1883 to 1887. His wife and mother died a short time after one another in the state where he was a cattle rancher. He was popular writer and historian and became a war hero. As a progressive Republican, he established a conservation program that is the basis of the national park system that exists today. He was first non-European to win a Nobel Prize. In many presidential rankings, he consistently is one of the highest in approval in U.S. history.

The name Teddy Bear is coined for the man and his connection to the death of a black bear. How it ended up being a cute kids stuffie is apart of American. It certainly is not the story of Winnie, the bear named after Winnipeg that became Winnie the Pooh. Roosevelt visited Winnipeg a number of times on his way to Delta Marsh where they hired Metis guides for hunting trips.

There is probably just too little space to go over the expansive life of Teddy Roosevelt. He makes the last several years of presidents look like croppers. It is of little wonder that Trump wants to visit the Teddy Roosevelt Library. Built be the same designer of the gorgeous central library in Calgary, the building and the campus is stunning.

The design allows the visitor to feel part of the incredible vista. The curation of the collection appears to be a worthy homage to the 26th President of the United States. Trump's visit should help garner some publicity to the area. Many people from Manitoba are very fond of North Dakota and not just the eastern cities of Grand Forks or Fargo. The $150 million facility is architecturally noteworthy.

Medora has honoured Teddy Roosevelt since 1965 with the Medora Musical. It is an old timey Old West musical review and it is as charming as it is fun. It is very nearby the new library. Perhaps in the near future people in Manitoba will want to visit their old friend. Some of that enthusiasm could be tempered by Trump's later appointment on that same day with Carney. Here's hoping the visit July 1 is positive in so many ways.

A New Core Area Initiative

 

Considering how important the Core Area Initiative was from 1981 to 1991, it is odd to think it has faded from many memory. The big thing is that for all public money from the city, the province and the federal government, it attracted a ton of private money as well. The territory it covered was expansive over downtown and into Osborne Village. The $196 million was spent on such a variety of things that had impacts in so many areas that helped Winnipeg for decades to come. Certainly without the program, we might not have see The Forks develop nor Portage Place.

And while Portage Place is derided as a failure, it got the parkade built that has been the funder for The Forks for decades. No lie. Money from that parkade kept The Forks afloat. It is also the most attractive feature for the Chipman/Thomson bid. The $3 million or so revenue from the parkade will help pay for their purchase and support the True North Arena.

The connectivity of all the different areas of development and renewal has to be understood to assess it's success. The example above with the Portage Place parkade. Quite simply without it, there would not be the money needed to keep The Forks going through the roach patches. Portage Place investment helped other private interests such as Air Canada, Investors Group and Relax/Holiday Inn from setting up shop on north Portage.

So was Portage Place a failure? The apartments, commercial building all around it say no. As a mall, it has faded. But on the bones of that development, residential and medical towers will go up. The problem with Winnipeg's downtown, as has been described many times before, is that it is fairly spread out which means there are large gaps where there is open space usually of parking lots. A city like Toronto, for example, has much closer distances between city and provincial government offices, central hospitals, universities and shopping. Winnipeg seems to be blocks away from everything.

The plan for the Core Area Initiative redux has various interest groups thinking it mostly will go to this or that. Bike interest groups believe it should go to bike lanes down every street. Business Improvement Zones believe it should go into street beautification programs. This ignores how widespread and how much leverage the old CAI had in getting millions upon millions from the private sector for work small and large. It wasn't supposed to go to one group to gorge themselves on. What is the point of bike paths on every street if there are houses on it?

The 1981 to 1991 CAI triggered so much downtown development but it also renovated tons of housing improvements from Osborne to Centennial. Unlike the 1960s urban developments the feds did across Canada that cleared land for major developments or concentrated a big low income housing project, money was allocated over a longer time to a larger variety of projects and social services and to a greater size area. There could have been a risk of diluting everything but the key always was to leverage other investments in the area in terms of people and money.

As mentioned before in this blog, 1980 was a horrible year for Winnipeg. The deep recession hit here early and hard. We lost the Tribune, Swift's and Canada Packers plant and thousands of jobs all within a few months. It was a deep recession and a long one. It hit all of North America but places like Winnipeg lost their place in Canada. Edmonton and Calgary with resources to pull themselves out of the slump, surpassed us in population and we saw head offices migrate there over the 1980s from the city.

The north part of Portage was always the poor sister of the south of Portage. The Eaton's and the Bay and stores on the south side were still a going concern. Movie theatres were still well attended downtown. However, the north side was often video and pinball halls and adult theatre. There were a few areas of strength like Kennedy Street which had Stagewest Dinner Theatre, Benjamins nightclub and a few other businesses but the northside was losing buildings to fire and there was a worry of steady decline extending to the south side.

This wasn't an idle concern. St. Vital Mall and Kildonan Place were very recent additions to suburban malls and population in the suburbs was booming. That is not to say there were no malls going up downtown. Winnipeg Square and Eaton Place went up just as the 1980s were starting. To a certain extent those malls achieved what they hoped for those areas of town. Winnipeg Square was a fine business mall with a very large parkade and Eaton Place gave Eaton's a new lease of life and additional parking while preserving the catalogue building.  However, neither mall was going to be able to forestall the difficulties elsewhere in the downtown.

Despite a very diverse economy, Winnipeg was in for a a much slower growth rate than our western neighbours. Population was leaving in steady numbers for the oil economy of Alberta. And for retirement, Winnipeg couldn't beat Vancouver's temperate climate. Still, as many will attest to Winnipeg was a good place to live in but in need of a plan.

At the time, Lloyd Aworthy made the jump from provincial politics to federal politics and became a powerful cabinet minister in the west. Some of that came as a result as being one of the only Liberals in the west. As an urban studies academic, he was well aware of what most cities were facing across Canada. Winnipeg became  a petri dish to see what would happen over a ten year period.

So what did happen? The Forks was probably the most successful outcome. Extensive consultations, funding for river paths, a national park and the clearing of rails but not the buildings for a long term plan. And The Forks continues to add piece by piece. Still, without Portage Place's parkade providing money every year, The Forks would have failed economically. It is where it is now because of that money. 

Portage Place is considered a failure. However, that can only be considered true if only the mall is looked at in isolation. The Prairie Theatre Exchange is a successful long term tenant. The mall had the first IMAX Theatre for the city. The three movie theatres were gorgeous. The parkade was the best. Axworthy had wanted an arena but local merchants were more keen on a mall. By the time Portage Place went up Winnipeg was over-malled. Polo Park went through a doubling up with a second floor which only added to the problems of downtown malls.

Portage Place was not the first mall to falter in Winnipeg. That honour went to Unicity Mall. Other malls like Garden City suffered as well. The end of Portage Place as a mall is likely in 2025 when the east side becomes the Pam Clinic tower and the west side becomes a residential tower. It is the in between part that will be interesting.

Lloyd Axworthy has identified in 2024 what might make the federal government interested. He has indicated it could be the relocation of the CP rail yards or the Little Forks National Park proposal. Both have transformative implications. One is where the Seine River meets the Red near Higgins while the other is an enormous tract running east-west that separates the downtown from the North End. The size of it should intimidate. The Forks was an enormous reach for Winnipeg but once the rails had moved it opened up huge opportunities.

A new Core Area Initiative could have a broad geographic area. The 1981 certainly did. Not all the money has to be dumped into one area. Nor does a project have to be completed within the timeframe outlined. The Forks started very late into CAI. And it continues to this day. The first Core Area Initiative had a lot of components to it and helped a lot of areas leverage investments in other projects for years to come. In recent years there seems to be a rush to spend in one area lest the money disappears and the planning is awful and the execution worse. A lot of planning went into The Forks and that has contributed to it's success.

The Core Area Initiative of 1981 to 1991 was followed up by the Winnipeg Development Agreement/Partnership of 1994 to 2001 and the Winnipeg Housing and Homelessness Initiative of 2001 to 2012. The fall off of any plan up till 2024 is probably one of many reasons we seem to be ill prepared for what comes next in the city. Taking a dozen years off has left sustainability off the table. One of the things that CAI did was not just invest in infrastructure but in people as well. Nothing works though if you don't do both. Later development plans invested in people but not enough in infrastructure to support/leverage other investments in the area.

It is a tricky business building sustainability into an initiative. A program should have a beginning, middle and end. In other words, it isn't solely an entitlement programs like old age security or an income support system. The program should be set up to help in such ways like renovate a home, help someone buy a home, seed money for some street renewal, plans for a park, consultations on larger projects, fund a security system, establish patrol offices and so on and so on. The first CAI was very much like this. While it did try to be leaders in some projects, there was an effort to repopulate central areas of the city and create more reasons to come to the central areas. And that was usually done as a secretariat or clearing house in partnerships with many other groups and levels of government.

A new CAI would probably be a good thing. Unlike past decades though there seems to be groups looking to gorge themselves on money directed to them alone. This will cripple the program if one neighbourhood wants $200 million of work or one lobby group wants that type of work only used for them. Quite simply, one neighbourhood getting $200 million for housing will only beggar other central areas or $200 million of bike paths won't revitalize the larger community. The success of this program will be covering a lot of areas with a revitalization and re-population goal. And if there is a very large project such as rail relocation or the Little Forks proposal, know that it the initial outlay of money should large come from other sources. But for the consultation stage or smaller projects that help launch the project, it can be the start of something great as it was with The Forks.

What is needed is vision. The big question is whether the province or Feds will be turned off by other requests for billions for suburban roads that look like highways. It sends the wrong message if the city keeps supporting sprawl it can't pay for later.

The Exodus from Winnipeg

Winnipeg experienced a net loss of 7.140 people July 1 of 2021 to July 1 of 2022. It is the worst drop in 20 years. Even before the pandemic in 2019, the number was 6,607. It only dropped in 2020 when people were not easily able to move because of Covid 19. Statistics Canada has reported in its latest data that Winnipeg has seen more people leave for other provinces for 20 years straight. While this could be blamed on the city of Winnipeg government, keep in mind that Brandon last year lost 981 people and Thompson 163.

The numbers have worsened in recent years but under NDP and PC governments provincially, it has been consistently bad. Were it not for immigration and birthrate, Manitoba would be in steady decline. There are no studies of why people leave. Anecdotally, the media will quote reasons from those who have left but there is no break down done from post-exit interviews that could assist in changes to government and businesses policies. Good data means better response to get people to move in or move out.

If crime data is all people see, it is not putting our best foot forward. We have our own Bureau of Statistics, we should be compiling data to act on. So much information is buried or requires freedom of information request and money to get a handle on. In many cases the government seems incurious after 20 years and collects no data. They don't want an answer. It is easier to blame past governments although the same results follow the new government.

It is not all bad news. Manitoba, and by extension Winnipeg, has attracted many immigrants through the innovative provincial nominee program. All political parties are agreed on it and it has kept the province from slipping into negative growth. The TV and film industry continues an upward cycle and requires more people each year and all months of the year. Manufacturing, agriculture, energy, financial services and insurance are diverse and strong sectors for the city. Post secondary education and government also contribute to the strength of Winnipeg.

So what are the cons that people outside of Manitoba have towards Winnipeg. In some case, we can't help those impressions and in other cases, we can.

Cons

- Extreme temperatures. Cold or hot, Winnipeg has them both.

- Mosquitoes. Some years terrible, other years tolerable.

- Crime. The numbers don't lie. It is too high.

-Poverty. Some of the poorest census districts are in Winnipeg nationally.

- Homelessness. The numbers are increasing and the housing strategy is too slow, too expensive and uncoordinated.

- Addictions. Winnipeg has a drug and alcohol problem. It is a health problem that can't afford to not have treatment available to those looking to receive it and know there are no spaces. And support has to be more consistent after.

- Downtown, Too spread out with safety issues for those who live and work in the area. 

- Public transportation. Safety issues in recent years and only one rapid corridor after decades of planning. Not nearly enough buses or security to make more people give up their cars.

- Not as senior friendly. While some seniors are able to go to warmer spots and return to Winnipeg. Some are making the choice to move to parts of Canada such as B.C. where they are able to be more independent and face less adversity being outdoors.

- Poor minimum wages, poor professional wages with respect to other jurisdictions in Canada.

- Crumbling infrastructure of roads, bridges, water and sewer makes it difficult to to service the community or expand capacity on existing infrastructure.

- City planning that fails to see sidewalks built of any kind on large lengths of streets like Kenaston or gaps like northside of Sterling Lyon Parkway among other places.

- Falling amounts of affordable apartments or any rentals of any kind. It makes it difficult for people who are students, newly arrived in Canada, those looking to downsize, upsize a bedroom for kids or simply don't want to live in a detached house.

Since Winnipeg grew by nearly 20,000 people, the have to advantages too.

Pros:

- Low unemployment. The city of Winnipeg continues to grow because there are jobs in the city. And those numbers have been steady.

- Steady economy. Other jurisdictions have highs and lows. Ask Alberta. While resources have driven growth, they have had painful times related to world market prices. Winnipeg have a very diversified economy. It has not had such roller coaster times.

- 24 hour airport. There are few in North America and the advantage for Winnipeg has been and will be worth billions. It has triggered the 20,000 acre Centreport which has over 1000 tenants and has air, road and rail connections. If Winnipeg cannot have a port on the ocean, it can have a port on land.

- Post Secondary Schools. They attract tens of thousands of students and the city has four universities, multiple colleges and several training schools. Foreign students numbers are rising all over Canada. Winnipeg needs to make room for the thousands of residential units needed. Many of these students will be in the city for years and in some cases make Winnipeg their home long term.

- More Affordable Housing. Home ownership is just a dream for some in the most active markets of Toronto and Vancouver. There are a number of options for housing with schools and recreation nearby that are attractive to those who might have worked for a number of years and have not been able to buy a home elsewhere.

- Diverse population. For immigration outside Canada, Winnipeg is attractive as there is usually a support system in place of people already calling the city home whether you are from Ukraine, Philippines, Syria of wherever. 

- Strong arts community. Winnipeg has a huge theatre, music, literature and arts community. One of the fastest growing areas is TV and film and with the addition of new soundstages and direct flights to LA. Some of the past productions that took a pass on Winnipeg will have it back at the top of their lists because of the advances in available flights, soundstages and crews. It is possible to work full-time in various aspects of production within Manitoba.

Winnipeg should not feel so bad. Other cities including Toronto and Vancouver have seen people leave. However, in the case on Ontario, Toronto loses to other urban areas of Ontario,

As long as Winnipeg remains attractive to immigration, growth will be in the thousands added every year. Some suitable economic growth areas have received government and business focus. The location for the city as an inland port is ideal over, say Edmonton and Calgary. Calgary is three hours from the border and the biggest cities in the U.S. are closer to Vancouver or Winnipeg. In short, cargo landing in Calgary or Edmonton, which is even farther away, will take some time to reach a U.S. destination.

Winnipeg, by contrast, is one hour from the border and is connected by three rail lines and a major highway that runs through several major cities all the way to the third largest city in the U.S.: Chicago. It is faster in some cases to land a cargo aircraft in Winnipeg overnight, unload it, put it on a truck and arrive faster in Chicago rather than landing in Chicago in the first place. Centreport could attract even greater cargo capacity and therefore employment.

The move to electric vehicles bodes well for Winnipeg since New Flyer and Motor Coach Industries are based in Winnipeg and are at the forefront of electric bus development and manufacturing. In keeping with the climate file, Manitoba has lithium mining for batteries taking place in Snow lake, Manitoba and the processing plant will be built at Centreport for 2025. Manitoba has nine of the critical metals needed for improving and changing technology for climate change. More than one processing plant might end up being built in the city.

One of the fastest ways to decrease transfers of people out of the province is to make sure more people find a reason to come to your province for education. In 2022, both University of Winnipeg and University of Manitoba rated very high for student satisfaction in Canada. International students are increasing in numbers at both schools and will continue to if adequate housing, flexibility in work and supports encourage this pattern. For many years insufficient housing has plagued all our main universities.  Inter-provincial student migration increases are possible if something is being offered that is not available elsewhere. Winnipeg has a medical school, a dental school, law school and more. We graduate too few doctors and there needs to be a plan that makes it worthwhile for graduates to stay. Some of the doctors at the medical school are in the top per cent of research papers and cutting edge medical science.

Arts, as mentioned, is a huge booster of tourism and jobs. Folk Festival and Folklorama have in the past driven tourism into the province and contributed to employment of artists, hospitality companies and government revenues. TV and film continues to increase and is in a far more stable and predictable arc than in the 1980s and 1990s. Hollywood wants to save money but keep quality and that fits the bill in Winnipeg. And Canadian TV series are now being shot in the city regularly which is good all around. Thousands of people are employed in the arts and the more work they have, the less need there is to move to do work.

There is not much we can do about the weather but work, wages, advancement in career, training and education and picking our spots for growth will help. Energy from hydro is likely to become ever more important, especially with states like Minnesota making it law that they seek out cleaner energy. Conversion of transportation to electric and lithium processing will also contribute to growth. The deficit the city presently faces and the fact that a majority of it comes from snow removal is proof positive Winnipeg has a lot of roads that we maintain. It isn't wrong to think what ten years from now will look like. You can't park cars on the street and drive them without power supply. Assigned parking will be necessary and if a home has two, three or four cars, they will have to be cycled through charging. And if an apartment has dozens of cars parked on the street, they will have to seek out charging areas and wait. It is safe to assume a paradigm shift will happen. A future Winnipeg might include rental cars when you need them.

All in all changes are happening and an aging population will have to stay closer to home and populated areas as they require home care and beyond. The exodus out of cities like Winnipeg can't be sustained because no one will build a hospital or sufficient nursing homes in exurbia. Already people are making difficult choices when insurance is too high to go to Mesa, or living at the lake in Ontario means too far away from visits to the specialist...in the Thunder Bay.

One hopes the government acts rather than reacts. Short term thinking can hurt. There is some inkling things are headed to a turning point. Planning and stable financing to support that plan will mean vital cities like Winnipeg needs and wants. The future does not have to be grim.

Boeing Aircraft in Winnipeg

We often get questions from elsewhere such as: What do you do in Winnipeg? It isn't innocent question. It is a loaded one that generally suggests that the person can't figure out how anyone lives in Winnipeg. In other words, what jobs exist there?

Well, the answer is that Winnipeg has a diversified economy. We have needed it to protect us from the vagaries of commodity prices, booms and busts in different business enterprises, a more difficult climate and geographic isolation.

In other words, we sell insurance to the point that a number of our companies are the nation's biggest. Over the decades we have come to dominate bus manufacturing. We have strong positions in ag manufacturing, services, trading. The e-commerce side has taken off. We punch above our weight in TV, film and production. Medical research is quite prominent.

We also build and repair aircraft. We have done it a long time. We're good at it. So much so that one of the biggest and most successful aircraft manufacturers Boeing has one of the biggest plants in North America here in Winnipeg. Not Montreal, not Toronto, not Calgary or Vancouver. Winnipeg.

Boeing is going through a patch right now but rest assured, Winnipeg will be part of its recovery. And they will always have the company of several other big players in the air business here.

So when someone asks what we do in Winnipeg, tell them we do everything here. And that's just the business side. You should ask about our weekends.

Central Canada Comic Con 2017

C4 is back for the Halloween weekend running this Friday through till Sunday. The success of the con has reached a point where nearly 70,000 people will attend often in costume over the three day run. The expanded RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre has allowed Manitoba's biggest convention to really spread out and cover much of the third floor and a large part of the second floor. There is probably something for everyone at C4 from guests from TV, film, comic artists, wrestling stars, cosplay, gaming on board and networks.

The con is organized along alleys with costume artists in one area, celebrities in another and vendors in in several areas, etc. Ken Shamrock of UFC fame is a guest this year which will appeal to those who love mixed martial arts. John Rhys Davies from Lord of the Rings/Indiana Jones is attending as well as Denise Crosby Star Trek/Walking Dead. In recent years the guest area has been reduced somewhat. The availability and cost is a huge issue despite Winnipeg's large attendance. Moreover, the timing of Winnipeg's convention in prime time in the filming season of many actors. They are sometimes not available at all.

The things that has exploded at C4 is the gaming. BASELAN, Fusion4 and Twin Eagles have three day gaming events separate from the con but part of the con experience. Separate tickets are required for these events which have grown to become the biggest in western Canada.

The most exciting thing for most people in attendance is people watching. There are some great costumes that people make time and effort to wear at C4. Seeing some of your favourite comic artists, celebrities and shopping around on the Halloween weekend has become quite the tradition.

I have suggested areas where C4 excels in and where it could use help. Think no one would disagree that crowd management especially on Saturdays could be better. The first floor meeting rooms represent more opportunities in the future for programming for artists and for activities. Calgary's Comic Con has a lot of free arcade stuff that would be awesome. They also have more celebrity guests. The Calgary con has only 20,000 more people but also runs an extra day. Of course, Calgary would probably die for how much network gaming takes place in Winnipeg.

C4 in Winnipeg will continue to evolve but for now it is the best chance to dress up and celebrate comics and pop culture and wrestling. And thankfully, it looks like the weather will improve just in time for the fun. 

Polo Park 13th Most Productive Mall in Canada

The old Polo Park sign and sundial

Polo Park is the hands down biggest and most popular mall in Winnipeg. None compares in size in the province. But how does it stack up nation-wide?

Well, according to latest figures quite high.

1) Pacific Centre, Vancouver, BC: $1,498
2) Toronto Eaton Centre, Toronto, ON: $1,420
3) Oakridge Shopping Centre, Vancouver, BC: $1,395
4) Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto, ON: $1,356
5) Southgate Shopping Centre, Edmonton, AB: $1,157
6) Chinook Centre, Calgary, AB: $1,125
7) Rideau Centre, Ottawa, ON: $1,008
8) Holt Renfrew Centre, Toronto, ON: "over $1,000" says landlord.
9) Market Mall, Calgary, AB: $942
10) Sherway Gardens, Toronto, ON: $935
11) Square One, Mississauga, ON: $910
12) Metropolis at Metrotown, Burnaby, BC: $886
13) Polo Park, Winnipeg, MB: $873
14) Peter Pond Mall, Ft. McMurray, AB: $870
15) Le Carrefour Laval, Laval, QC: $865
16) Fairview Mall, Toronto, ON: $843
17) Richmond Centre, Richmond, BC: $833
18) Royal Bank Plaza, Toronto ON: $820
19) Toronto Dominion Centre, Toronto, ON: $818
20) Bayview Village, Toronto, ON: $810

Most of the above malls have done multimillion renovations to enhance sales per square footage including Polo Park that is still putting the finishing touches on the second floor improvements within the old Zellers location.

Old Polo Park

 The exclusive stores for certain malls really helps the bottom line. For example, Polo Park having the only Apple store is enormous. Many Apple stores in Canada rack up $50 million is sales with only 5000 square feet!

Sears continues to drag down sales in many malls across Canada including Polo Park. Can the big retailer turn things around? Hard to say. However, it is very likely if they don't there are many who would gladly take over the space or at least part of it.

It would be interesting to see where St. Vital Mall stands in all of this. I suspect that it has too many stores with far lower sales volumes to ever challenge Polo Park. It has also has less room for growth unless they ever take possession of the Sears store or a few other parts of the building. One has to wonder if 20 plus stores in the Sears space would be better for that mall.

What is next for Polo Park? Well, fill the last spaces and shuffling a few more retailers around and come the next months perhaps the biggest sales in the mall's history now that renovations are nearly done. The only big question? Is Sears going to be part of those plans?

Central Canada Comic Con 2013

Me and co-worker at Comic Con

Another Central Canada Comic Con (C4) in Winnipeg has gone by and once again it has surpassed the previous years.

Next years will be 20 years since the start of the trade show and fan exposition. Things could not have been more humble. In 1994, the convention was held in a smaller hotel ballroom and was shared with antiques and toys through Manitoba's Collector's Expo. Six years later, comics pushed to the fore and the convention was named Manitoba Toy and Comic Expo. Add another six years in 2006, the name became Manitoba Comic Con.

The addition of celebrities from TV, film and beyond came just a year later in 2007. It exploded attendance and there was no choice but to seek a larger venue.

In 2008, the Winnipeg Convention Centre became home to Comic Con and its present incarnation as Central Canada Comic Con. It is a non-profit organization and now hosts four events a year with the marquee event being C4.

 

Me and co-worker and friend at Comic Con

In 2012, attendance at Comic Con rose to a whopping 34,000. There are only two other comic and fan expos in Canada that pull in more people in Toronto and Calgary. It is uncertain what attendance for 2013 is but line-ups were even greater than years before. The three day event in November has become a huge media event.

Costumes have grown each year as well as make-up and the addition of wrestling and wrestling stars in recent years as brought more and more people downtown for the three day event. Cars like Back to the Future's DeLorean and Scooby-Doo's Mystery Machine were displayed in the loading dock along with the wrestling ring. This was a brilliant and unothodox way to get more space on the floor and I can't believe the fire marshal didn't say: whoa!

As attendance moves past 35,000, the limitations of the RBC Winnipg Convention Centre begin to show itself plainly. Even with C4 moving to three floors next year, the space will be too small. 

The RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre is expanding and doubling its size. There are now several trade shows and conventions that challenge the present configuration with their attendance.

Here is something interesting to note: In addition to Comic Con, there was a football game with 30,000 plus people and a hockey game with 15,000 people going on...at the same time! In the afternoon, it seemed that all of the city had gotten into their cars to go out and take part in events. 

And what an amazing day it was. Sunny, warm and the downtown was filled with Jets uniforms and Jedi Warriors. Some wag said that all the losers were attending hockey, football and comic convention on Saturday. Well, that mouthy dude had his shirt pulled over his head, was taped to the uprights and was hit with phasers on fabulous for his troubles.

Winnipeg, you did yourself proud Saturday. Just one quibble: who set the time for all three events for Saturday afternoon! Yeek!

Canada Safeway Sold to Sobey's

To certain, it looked like something had to change with so many food retailers crowding into the market. It will be Canada Safeway that retreats back across the border with its tail between its legs and $6 billion in its pockets with Sobey's grabbing up all their stores and concerns.

Winnipeg has a long history in Winnipeg as city was the headquarters starting from 1928. Eventually, executive offices moved to Calgary although Winnipeg continues to have as many as 40 back office people based around their Waverley offices. The old Pacific offices have long since been vacated.

I am uncertain when head office functions moved west but the 1980s were unkind to Winnipeg with recession and bruising company closures. This is when Read Canadian Superstore's WestFair Foods noisily exited decrying the NDP's payroll tax. I think Safeway slowly followed suit.

It is uncertain what will happen to office staff given that Sobey's will look to end redundancies. This is more likely to have a huge impact where Calgary has close to 600 head office staff now. The 40 staff in Winnipeg may have a better chance as back office functions for the west might best continue in a less expensive city than Calgary.

The very large distribution center of Safeway set up in 1962 and with about 80 employees is part of the sale to Sobey's. It is difficult to say what will happen there as Sobey's as massive 350,000 square foot warehouse on Inkster. However, a lot of the recent expansion there has been to supply Target with food product.

There are 10 Sobey's in Winnipeg, a Cash and Carry and other associated stores of the company. Safeway has 20+ stores. There is going to be some cross over.

Do we see store merged? Do we see some sold? Do we see some go under a new banner and marketed differently? What about Airmiles and Safeway cards? So many questions.

Safeway has been part of people's lives here for a very long time. It is not hard to see they have been struggling though and there have been pressures on staff along the way. Those pressures are likely to continue.

Sobey's has a pretty good reputation and is a Canadian owned company. Perhaps a sign of good things to come.

The New Tall Tower

Harmony Village in Barrie, Ontario

The announcement of Winnipeg's tallest building comes roughly a year after I mused about when and where the next one would come. It was suggested by a few that a pure office tower was unlikely and that the best bet would probably be a condominium complex.

There are a few apartments and condos going up in the 20 floor category throughout the city, including Heritage Landing on the Assinibone and D Condo also on the Assiniboine River.

There is a long lag between announcing and building these things as pre-sales dictate how fast. And sometimes...projects never take off. It was a few decades before One Wellington Crescent was built. The site sat with billboards announcing something was going up year after year.

In the case of Heritage Landing, actual construction by Crystal Construction is taking place now. And with D Condo, they have torn down the Dubrovnik restaurant.

As far as announcements go, the splash was quite big. Rental tents were set up for guests to see the CEOs of two large eastern based developers Fortress Read Developments and Mady Development Corporation come and say they are proceeding with a sales office and hope to build as high as 42 storeys.

The tallest buildings in the city are all at Portage and Main and average 32 to 33 storeys.

There were no models or renderings of what things might look like. The closest guess is from what Fortress has done in Toronto and Barrie, Ontario with their Harmony Village concept.

Harmony Village on Lake Simcoe

Even then though, it may not adequately portray what is coming in their Winnipeg project. You can't plan a village per se on land opposite the new Winnipeg Police headquarters. There simply is not enough room on the old Winnipeg Tribune site for multiple buildings and plaza.

Although there is talk of around $150 to $200 million or so for this building or buildings, no financing seems to be in place aside from around $1 million for a sales office. There is nothing wrong with that. A lot of places start with a sales office and nothing more. Some don't even have that. It may be a billboard and a website.

The site on Graham Avenue has stood empty when thieves in the night shuttered the Winnipeg Tribune in 1980. The inevitable demolition happened and the land has been surface parking ever since. The land is now purchased and a development plan now proposed.

Some asked why any of the news conference yesterday was news. It is a legitimate question. However, the reaction from some has been cynical and sarcastic or disbelieving. That's okay. We are familiar with that here in Winnipeg. And we have had the football pulled away at the last minute to be completely certain if something is real.

Without singling anyone out as it was more than a few people who may have mentioned or made comment on the development, here is what we heard over the last days more or less:

We once had the tallest building in Canada, then for the west, now we hope to be the biggest between Calgary and Toronto?

Worst news since the announcement of the expanded Winnipeg Convention Centre.

Carpetbaggers coming to the city with no money.

Won't fly in Winnipeg. No one wants to live where they they will be stabbed in the streets and die a cold miserable death.

Who wants to live downtown when we don't have a commuting problem like big cities?

Another terrible planning choice that turns it's back on the downtown around it.

I hate Winnipeg. It is the worst city, in the worst province in the worst country, on the worst continent on the worst planet in the worst solar system in the worst galaxy in the worst universe. I HATE YOU ALL. DIE, DIE, DIE.

 Or words to that effect.

There is not much we can do for those sour on things. Some are perfectly sound criticisms.

I look at it from this perspective: What exists on the Graham Street spot is a parking lot. It has not had a meaningful existence aside from that for 33 years. Interest is being shown by two large out of town developers who have bought said land and have stated they want to bring a 25,000 grocery store to the area as well as parkade for 350 to 400 cars, 70,000 of retail space, up to 100,000 of office and maybe 300 to 400 condos.

The two developers have done such work before. It is safe to say their goal is to get this project done within a three or four year timeframe.

In terms of city planning, I think it is probably important to make sure the future tower is connectable to the skywalk system and to the neighbourhood. The design features in terms of safety and energy efficiency should be pushed to high standards.

I am far less cynical about the development than some. While the development itself is planned, what happens to the surrounding area might be more organic.

What could the arrival of 1000 people living in the area mean? Well, it is attractive to other people who will see a grocery nearby, a Tim's, a sidewalk cafe, a used book store and so on. We might see more in fill developments happen in the area as it become more desirable.

The truth is that what a neighbourhood starts as is not how it will be forever.

I guess we'll soon see how this development unfolds but given the demographics of people downsizing large homes and other people looking for starter properties, it could work in Winnipeg. And the attraction of a mixed used property could be even more attractive.

Sears in Winnipeg to Close?

Sears Winnipeg in 2003 after $16 million Renovation

The rumours have been flying so much in the last weeks but there may be something to it. Sears many be looking to sell off the lease on their Polo Park location.

Sears department stores have been in free fall for a few years now. They had an absolutely terrible Christmas and Target is opening stores across Canada in only a couple of more months.

Manitoba doesn't figure too large in the grand scheme of things for Sears. There are only four department stores in the province all within Winnipeg. The company also runs Sears Home and Sears Hometown stores and have numerous catalogue pick up locations.

It is a pretty light covering of Manitoba compared to rivals such as Walmart and now Target.

By all accounts Sears Polo Park is a flagship store. It has done very well for Sears over the years. I have not see store breakdowns from this December but I suspect it has been a challenge this year compared to the glory years of past. However, this store was only just renovated in 2003 for $16 million. Can it still be successful in years to come?

Sears has already closed locations in Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa to allow for the opening of Canada's first Nordstrom stores. These lease buy backs netted Sears $170 million.

The head office of Sears has indicated they are prepared to close even more stores, particularly under performing ones. But what about ones that perform well?

There have been whispers about Nordstrom's coming to Winnipeg. One store's downfall can be another's opportunity. Look at Woolco's sale to Walmart for that in 1994 and Zellers closing to make way for Target in 2012 and 2013. Could Sears be next?

To be frank, the only Sears location in a mall Nortstrom's might be interested in would be Polo Park. The store there is between 250,000 and 300,000 feet and anchors the largest and most profitable mall in Manitoba

Sears has already indicated they are struggling with apparel and home decor but do well with "hero" categories of appliances, mattresses and baby goods. Is this enough for them to hang on to such a large location in Polo Park? Probably not.

A better strategy might be to retreat from the mall and use the money to build on the Sears Home brand in Manitoba. The company already has a location close to Polo Park. They could stand to have more in the city and the province.

Polo Park owner already has a 97,000 square feet of space to fill with Zellers closing. The mall is already in a knock down drag out battle for U.S. retailers with St. Vital Centre and Cadillac Fairview, owner of Polo Park, might be looking to grab Sears space as well.

The retail landscape is changing quickly and Sears is struggling badly. They still have some options compared to Zellers laying down and dying. The time to execute those option is quickly coming.

Perhaps we really will hear that the rumours of Sears at Polo Park is closing are true.

The Legacy of Bill Norrie

There is no doubt that Bill Norrie was well liked and generally regarded as a decent man. There is no doubt that he wanted to serve the people of his community.

As befitting of his service as second longest serving mayor for the city of Winnipeg from 1979 to 1992, there has been a rush of praise for the man. I have no problem with that. However, it is also the duty of the press to recall some of the darker moments of that tenure as well.

First elected to council in 1971 and endorsed by the Independent Citizens Election Committee, a right of center political party of Liberals and Conservatives founded in 1921, Norrie was present when the city amalgamated with the surrounding communities to form Unicity. The super council of 50 part time elected officials was carefully guided by the ICEC often in closed door meetings where policy was decided.

It was at this time that Norrie along with his like minded councillors began negotiating a deal for Trizec, a major property developer, to build a tower at Portage and Main. At the time, Norrie was elected councillor, he was present for expropriation of property at the southwest corner that climbed into the milliions by the time it was done.

The ICEC pushed through the Trizec development, the concourse and parkade in numerous closed door meetings and in 1979, shortly before Norrie became mayor, pedestrian traffic was banned from the street in a very long deal with the developers.

The Trizec Building stood thereafter as an example of how not to do things to this day. In the year that Norrie was sworn in, the development was largely unoccupied and had many darkened floors. It also had one of the sweetest city tax deals in the history of the city.

One year into mayor Bill Norrie's term, Winnipeg experienced the most crushing recession in its post war history. The Winnipeg Tribune, Swift's and Canada Packers all shuttered their doors in 1980. The citizens of Winnipeg watched cities like Calgary and Edmonton zip past us in population with Ottawa, Quebec City and Hamilton in quick succession after. Winnipeg experienced and exodus of population the likes of which we had never seen before.

In short, economic prospects were terrible, debt was increasing and borrowing was out of control. Suburban growth was funded with increases on property taxes based on a creaky assessment system. The city was sprawling like never before and the downtown was de-populating and was beginning to resemble a donut.

To top it off, the city was engaged in a language debate that started when a unilingual parking ticket of $5 was challenged by George Forest in 1975. Even a Supreme Court ruling in 1979 affirming language rights was not enough to spur the province and city to translate laws with any haste. For many years, some of the nastiest and vitriolic comments were at municipal and provincial levels and nothing was done. In 1980, another city traffic ticket was challenged and back to the Supreme Court it went.

While the French aspect of Winnipeg of the city was under great pressure from a hostile city response, the First Nations community was near ready to boil over. It is hard to fathom an examination of city politics and Bill Norrie without talking about the shooting of J.J. Harper in 1988.

The chief of police, Herb Stephen, cleared the officer almost immediately. This rather hasty move exposed the city to criticism of racism, police misconduct and cover-up. A raw wound of aboriginal relations was revealed for all to see.

Moreover, criminal police activity in 1981 with the arrests of officers Jerry Stolar and Barry Nielson for murder was still fresh in everyone's minds.

The lack of police reforms and how the chief was selected lay at the feet of Bill Norrie and the council.

The inquiry that followed revealed that the police association challenged the right of anyone to see police notebooks in regards to the shooting. The court disagreed and ordered verified copies be produced.

All through this sad state of affairs, true police reforms were sadly lacking and what should be remembered is that when Norrie left office in 1992, Winnipeg was without a full time police chief when Stephen stepped down in 1991. Outsider Dale Henry was named chief in 1992.

All in all...this period with Norrie as mayor was an extremely difficult time for the city.

There are plenty of kudos that should be listed along with Norrie's tenure as mayor. He did help bring the pandas to Winnipeg (all the while as the Winnipeg Zoo whithered from lack of other investment). He helped bring the Grey Cup game to the city.

And during his various terms, he was involved in tri-lateral work to restore downtown Winnipeg. The highs were The Forks, the lows Portage Place.


Bill Norrie was a genial and hard working councillor and mayor. When a person dies, there is generally a rush to focus on the positive things. However, when he left, the city was in debt, had declined in national standings in population, had no police chief and was in the middle of a biker war. The dissatisfaction with the ICEC and Liberal/Conservative coalition had bubbled over and Win into the 90s was well established and broke the back of one of the longest running civic parties in Canada. When Norrie stepped down in 1992, there was a movement afoot to challenge him at every turn.

It could very well be that if Norrie had wanted to, he could have been in office to his death. Few things can push a sitting mayor out of Winnipeg office. To that end, it is the province that is to blame for that. For some reason, the NDP government believes putting up an NDP affiliated mayor each election will change that.

It won't. What will break the logjam is to allow councillors to run for mayor without resigning their seat unless they win higher office. It is my opinion that if the law was challenged, it would not stand up to constitutional scrutiny.

There is little doubt that Bill Norrie wanted to serve his city and community. He certainly left some legacies to that end. For that, he should be thanked.

Bloomingdale's Coming to Winnipeg?

Bloomingdale's Coming to Winnipeg?

The Globe and Mail reported this week that luxury retailer Blomingdale's is in the final stage of talks with The Bay to come to Canada. There is no doubt that The Bay is trying to position itself well before other major retailers like Nordstrom's arrives.

There are three Bays in Winnipeg in Polo Park, St. Vital and downtown. It is the downtown stores that The Bay are trying to shore up first. To that end, it is Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver stores that get some form of Bay and Bloomingdale's combo.

After that, the concept is supposed to be rolled out across the country in boutique style. How much space this takes up in a store or how many stores is anyone's guess.

There is empty space in the downtown Bay so could we be looking at Bloomingdale's there?

Richardsons to Buy Part of Viterra

The Richardson family continues to be one of the strongest business entities in Canada all the while based in Winnipeg.

Today we learn, the Richardsons will pick up part of Viterra as the Regina-based company is bought up by Switzerland's Glencore International.

Despite the sale of large chunks of the Viterra company, it will remain headquartered in Regina.

We didn't end up so well when Viterra bought up Agricore United a in the past decade. Even now, huge gaps in the once filled Canwest building remain open due to the the purchase and closure of the grain offices (compounded by Canwest being grabbed by Shaw as well).

There had been some promises that Winnipeg wouldn't be so bad off from the purchase of Agricore United but alas, hundreds of employees were shed from the head office that was numbered around 500.

And Agricore's loss came on the heels of United Grain Growers and Agricore joining together. At that time, hundreds more lost their jobs. At least in that event, it was two Winnipeg companies joining forces.

As the Canadian Wheat Board ends (with the loss of hundreds of jobs there as well), the once great agricultural enterprises that employed so many seem to be dwindling.

I wonder how long it will be before we ask: how do we preserve the old Wheat Board building or what should go in there?

Anyways, it is hard to have too much sympathy for Viterra given we got thrown under the bus when they took over Agricore. The Richardsons pick up more grain trading business for a shade under a billion. Agrium from Calgary picks up all the retail stores. Glencore picks up the overseas businesses and makes Regina its base in Canada.

It is hard to measure what value that promise has from Glencore. As much as the promise Winnipeg had from Viterra?

Glencore is in the middle of a even greater $90 billion merger with a mining corporation. Hard to imagine where they will be or where their head offices might exist even a few years from now.

Th Richardsons are not likely to go anywhere. With any luck, this will result in more head office jobs and more economic spin offs for the city.

Likewise, Paterson and Cargill appear to be entrenched in the city.

However, the downtown continues to remain littered with hundreds of jobs lost in agriculture. It is hard to imagine that the end of the Canadian Wheat Board will spur a new movement of ag business that will replace what was lost.

And in many cases what does exist may ultimately be owned and controlled in places like Switzerland.

It will be an interesting year ahead.

Winnipegs needs a new PATH

Illustration from Number 10 Architectural Group on the latest section of the Winnipeg Walkway.



The completed Winnipeg Walkway via second floor of the Delta Hotel.



Map of the Toronto PATH underground walkway.

Winnipeg has recently filled in some of the last sections of its walkway system that traverses the downtown area via second floor overpasses. It has taken nearly 40 years of work to do and runs about 2 kilometers. Our system, modeled on the Minneapolis Skyway System developed in detail in 1959, began ten years after Minneapolis began their efforts to create a counter to the suburban movement of enclosed malls.

In 2010, Minneapolis (and St. Paul next door) have one of the largest skywalk systems in the world. The largest skywalk system could be Calgary's +15 system which runs 16 kilometers versus Minneapolis's 11 kilometer system.

The most recent expansion of the Winnipeg Walkway connected the existing walkway system through to the Winnipeg Convention Centre with an overhead passage from CityPlace Mall to 330 St. Mary, above Hargrave Street, and in front of the Delta Hotel connecting to the established links at the Convention Centre and 155 Carlton. It can be seen in this picture from earlier entry on the Walkway.

I have commented before about the ugliness of some of the second floor overpasses. The ones over Portage Avenue are particularly harsh. While I understand the intent of the skywalks, I often wonder how things might have been done differently.

While researching this article, I found this claim made about Winnipeg's skywalk system.

Wayne Bollman, supervisor of property management for the City of Winnipeg, said the first skywalk, which connects the Medical Arts Building, on the western edge of downtown, to its parkade, was built in 1973.

Clearly, the walkway from Eaton's to the Woolworth building was first as seen in this picture from 1969.

In any event, Winnipeg modeled its skywalk system on what Minneapolis was doing but one wonders if we mimicked Toronto with its PATH underground system.

The Toronto system has evolved into a "28-kilometre subterranean city, which connects more than 50 buildings and office towers, 20 parking garages, five subway stations, six major hotels and City Hall."

I included a picture above to show how extensive it is.

The Toronto PATH system wasn't planned but evolved from the tunnel Eaton's constructed in 1900 from its department store to The Annex, a 10 story office and discount store owned by the company. The next stage happened in 1927 and connected Union Station and the Royal York Hotel.

The linkages in Toronto resumed in the 1970s when some of the large banks were asked to consider underground shopping by planners to mitigate crowded streets above. Some people resisted the idea in favour of Jane Jacob's philosophy of maintaining a vital street level retailing presence.

It was the underground tunnel system that prevailed although the street level does not seem to have been devastated it as a result. Perhaps this has something to do with the densities in Toronto's downtown or the fact that it has multiple forms of well used public transit systems both underground and on the surface through subways and streetcars and trains. However it happened, the results are that the largest underground shopping mall consisting of 1200 stores.

Most of PATH in Toronto is privately owned with some key parts owned by the city. And the future looks bright for the system as even further expansion is planned.

So what bearing does this have for the city of Winnipeg? Well, it seems that our city has both the underground component and the second story component, both of which have had their share of problems.

The difficulties for the Winnipeg system is that downtown is so spread out and we have never had a subway system that would help feed foot traffic below grade as what happened in Toronto. Winnipeg's main underground components are the Civic Centre tunnel system built between 1962 and 1967 and the Winnipeg Concourse and Winnipeg Square built at Portage and Main in 1979.

The Civic Centre tunnels connect City Hall, Public Safety Building, Concert Hall and Manitoba Museum complex. There is no retailing in any of the tunnels between the buildings.

The Portage and Main Concourse, Winnipeg Square and Richardson Concourse are all tunnels built with retailing in the makeover of the famous intersection in 1979 that saw the building of the Trizec complex (now 360 Main Street).

There has been much debate, most of it negative on the coercive move to force Winnipeggers below Portage and Main. And the result has been a retailing experience in Winnipeg Square that is almost exclusively geared to supplying the offices above with quick service restaurants and supplies such as paper, pens and ink cartrides. There are no retailers selling clothes in the 40 plus stores in the mall. Also included in the retailing at Portage and Main is the Richardson Concourse which is undergoing a $10 million renovation along with the surrounding Richardson buildings. There are only 11 stores in this offshoot to the Concourse and they too are mostly retailing and restaurants useful to towers above. A small food-court also sits under the Canwest Tower.

Neither the Winnipeg Concourse or the Civic Centre look to be linked in the foreseeable future due to the distances involved and the amount of heritage buildings that might require quite a lot of work to make their basements suitable for a connection. Still, the idea out to be encouraged. My suggestion is that the Union Bank Tower where Red River College is building their culinary school should be connected to the tunnel system once completed. Likewise, the Pantages Theatre and Manitoba Theatre Centre might makes for another idea linkage in the space between the two buildings.

Winnipeg needs a more uniform plan on connecting buildings. The idea is a sound one although it is quite apparent that skywalks are wholly inappropriate for some sections of the city. Efforts should be made to slowly connect Exchange buildings with underground connections. The skywalk system looks to be the chosen system south of Portage.

There will still be problems with the two approaches but if Winnipeg endeavours to make up a more comprehensive plan, it could attract people to live and shop in the area in a way that doesn't happen today.



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What happened to summer?

School is back after the Labour Day long weekend. I can well imagine that the streets are going to be choked with parents, students and teachers. This problem is likely to be compounded by delayed road construction this year. The wet months early in the summer saw quite a few days of cancelled infrastructure repair.

City councillor Scott Fielding has been championing longer hours for the workers involved in construction but has run into resistance at City Hall. It seems Calgary can do it but Winnipeg can't for whatever reason.

It seems there is a lack of imagination at city hall.

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Winnipeg is to have the first 24 Wal-Mart in Canada. The big retailer has been experimenting with the concept over the last two years in Canada over Christmas holidays. I'm not surprised they picked Winnipeg as the first city to try it and it has always been something of a test market for new concepts.

There are only a few 24 places in the city. There are a couple of restaurants, a Shoppers Drug Mart or two but to date, no major retailer has taken the plunge. By contrast, travellers to North Dakota will find a number of 24 hour Wal-Marts.

Some will say this is a bad thing for people. I don't. Stores like Superstore and Wal-Mart already stock shelves all night. Now, they can simply open the doors and let people shop at the same time.

There are thousands of shift workers in Winnipeg. They are ones who will benefit most from this.




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