Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/9/2014 (2195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s leading business organization says the city's residents are still waiting for the mayoral candidates to outline their vision for the city.

Loren Remillard, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce's vice president of policy and public affairs, said the mayoral candidates have talked non-stop about the changes they’ll make, but none of them has said what Winnipeg should become.

"As a city, we don’t know where we’re going and for what reasons. All (election promises) are is a collection of ideas that we’re hearing from candidates," Remillard said following the chamber’s release Wednesday morning of a package of ideas on how to reform city hall.

Remillard said the most important issue the mayoral candidates need to address is their vision for the city.

"We need to have a sense of where we want to go as a community – that vision. That has been the one single (message) we’ve heard from people that’s been lacking in this campaign: That compelling vision for where the candidates want to take our city."

None of the seven mayoral candidates was at the Wednesday morning event outside Red River College's downtown Paterson Global Food Institute, but Remillard said the chamber has been meeting with them on a one-to-one basis.

The chamber’s event Wednesday morning was a promotion for its "Bold Winnipeg" initiative, a collection of what it called innovative ideas to reshape city hall and city council.

Want to get a head start on your day? Get the day’s breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

The entire Bold platform is available at the Chamber’s website. Some of the proposals discussed at the event include:

Replacing the property tax system with a series of growth taxes and fees, including a municipal income tax.

A citizen advisory council for city council and the city’s chief administrative officer, representing the city’s business, arts, ethnic, recreational and arts communities.

Neighbourhood social enterprise centres designed to help the disadvantaged get jobs.

An arms’-length agency to build the city’s roadways.

Allowing people to vote in municipal election with smartphones and other digital devices.

Remillard said the Bold project represents creative suggestions from a cross-section of Winnipeg, adding it’s a long-term approach to resolving serious systemic issues at city hall.

"The issues facing us right now… are complex and evolving. They require more than just simplistic solutions to deal with them," Remillard said.

"Bold is an ongoing, organic process and document. It’s really not professing to say we have all the answers, it’s let’s get the conversation going and start talking about the ideas.

"The goal is that bold thinking, that bold, creative confident vision that this city needs."

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca