The city's share of the cost to relocate the North End rail lines could be as little as $150 million, mayoral candidate Robert-Falcon Ouellette says.

Ouellette told the Winnipeg Sun's editorial board earlier this week that no one knows the true costs yet and a $1.5-million rail study must be done first, but unnamed rail executives have told him it could be done for as little as $1.3 million per rail mile. He said with the cooperation of rail companies and funding from the federal government, Winnipeg could shelve its $590-million plan for the second phase of the southwest rapid transit corridor and replace it with light-rail, saving the city $375 million.

As an academic and program coordinator by trade, Ouellette explained to the Sun's editorial board this week how he plans to put the years he spent studying Winnipeg and city planning into action. He has spoken with rail executives, he researched what cities like Montreal have done with their bus lines, and looked at Calgary's model for converting its rail lines to light rapid transit.

He remains convinced that using the rail lines is the best decision for Winnipeg's future.

"(In Calgary) it was one of the cheapest in North America because they were using rail lines," he said of Calgary's decision in the 1980s. "In Winnipeg, we are very blessed from just a bit of luck in our history that we have these railways."

Ouellette said rail executives told him they'd be willing to move their yards out of the city, but "won't pay a penny for it."

However, he notes under the Rail Relocation Act, the feds would cough up half the cost. By allowing the rail yards to be in charge of the move, it would be a cost-effective plan, he said.

"In sitting back and just looking objectively at the city, it is really the plan that Winnipeg needs to move forward with," he said. "Not only do we save money by not pouring cement, but we are also saving money not rebuilding the Arlington Bridge at $100 million, not building another overpass or underpass at Waverley for $50 million, and the final component in which we do this is safety."

He mentioned a conversation with an engineer who once told him, "It is not a question of if we will have a disaster in Winnipeg related to the railways, but when."

A spokeswoman for Canadian Pacific Railway said they do not comment on candidates' platforms, but have no plans to move their rail yards.

"CP is satisfied with the current location and operation of our rail yard in Winnipeg and has no plans to relocate our yard or any portion of it," Salem Woodrow said in an email statement.

kristin.annable@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @kristinannable

No paving lanes Oullette says

If Robert-Falcon Ouellette is elected mayor, he will not be paving your back lane.

“People can stand up and say we will pave your back lane because it is nice and clean, but frankly it is not needed,” he said.

At an editorial board meeting with the Sun, Ouellette explained with the city’s crumbling roads, frozen pipes and brown water woes, paving someone’s gravel lane is not a priority.

“I would not pave any of the back lanes because I think it is unsound environmentally and economically because it does not add economic value to the movement of goods and services to the people around the city,” he said.

Currently, the city spends up to $1 million a year towards paving gravel back lanes.

Under Ouellette’s watch, he envisions the city’s more than 100 kilometres of gravel back lanes being converted to gardens, copying a project done with success in Montreal.

“We are paving a lot of back lanes in the city, which I disagree with. We need to look at what they are doing in Montreal, where they are actually creating back lane gardens,” he said.

By creating a garden to cover the unsightly gravel, it will improve drainage because it is more absorbent than cement and it is better for the environment, Ouellette said.

It also much safer, he said.

“It’s actually grass so it will slow the traffic down. There was a young boy killed this year in one of the back lanes,” he said referencing the death of a three-year-old in a lane between Toronto and Victor streets.

As for the crumbling back lanes already paved, he said the only thing the city should be doing is patching potholes, not wasting money fixing them completely.

— Annable

HE SAID IT

“I would like to get away from the term ‘bus rapid transit’ because it is almost an Orwellian term from 1984 to convince people of something which it is not actually.”

— Ouellette, who opposes building the second phase of the southwest rapid transit corridor.

“I’ve gone essentially from being a nobody, who no one knows, who no one expected to run, to actually being in contention.”

— On raising his public profile from that of a fringe candidate in the early days of his campaign.

“I went out to see Naheed Nenshi on April 3 and had a conversation with him. I asked him what he did well, he gave me tips and said, ‘This is what you got to do Robert’ and it has worked quite well.”

­— On meeting Calgary’s mayor. Ouellette wouldn’t divulge what else Nenshi told him.