After being the first candidate to declare, the campaign of Emma Durand-Wood has knocked on every door in Elmwood-East Kildonan. In Episode 52, she tells about her platform, her background in urban issues, and her vision for the ward as the October 25th vote draws near.
A writer and editor by trade, Emma Durand-Wood moved to Elmwood in 2008 from Vancouver. While not being involved in politics there, her rise through community organizing in Winnipeg is similar to the BC progressive playbook.
She’s been endorsed by Shaun Loney, who finished fourth in the 2022 Mayoral election as the far left-wing choice. It appears he’s the only one from that race to publicly endorse a successor to Coun. Jason Schreyer. Loney has vowed to put together a slate of like-minded people for next year’s election.
Part 1- Durand-Wood says that at the doorstep, a “common set of concerns” emerge. She recounts what she heard about crime, homelessness, the emergence of Transit complaints, and “a lot” of people want civic investment in youth programs.
She tells Marty Gold about her own experiences living in the ward and how long it took to get a gang house shut down.
“Have the police been effective? They’ve been very very busy… we need to take tackling crime as a community effort.”
10.00 – “We can’t have this chaos of encampments.”
Durand -Woods hadn’t considered the idea of establishing a monitored encampment at the Legislature. She advocates for more grassroots approaches like Elmwood Unity Walk to help get people out of encampments, but “we can’t run everyone into jail.”
A Transit user, the new routing and schedule problems “does seem like a pretty big oversight” by city councillors, as her area “got a downgrade in service.”
“The smarter thing to do is the rehabilitation” for the Louise Bridge, rather than construct a new one, citing “a systemic problem” that’s leading to “massive” deficits in the civic budget.
24.55 Part 2- Durand-Wood describes her personal background in the west before moving here for affordability and to start a family. She became involved in Elmwood issues by opposing a pawn shop licence, then helped re-establish a residents association in Glen Elm, then initiated a tree planting coalition.
36.00– With strong support from prominent members of the bike lobby and the 30km speed limit advocates- two groups that disrupted council proceedings in the last year – Durand-Wood is asked about whether their extremism and rhetoric aligns with her values. She disavows the political violence seemingly espoused by a prominent campaigner for her who posted the Charlie Kirk vigil at the Legislature was like “a Klan rally.”
46.00– Citing a petition drive in EK showing support of 80-90% for lower residential speed limits, she maintains “it actually is not an extreme idea.”
Durand-Wood supports infill housing, and is asked about whether opposition to zoning changes because the demand for housing is rooted in mass immigration is also “not an extreme position”. While she shows sympathy for their concerns, she says “Our neighborhoods have been kind of locked in amber… we need more people living in our existing neighborhoods” to ease fiscal pressures.
Voters can get more information on her campaign at emmadurandwood.ca
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Go to the ActionLine “City” tab to find every interview with the seven candidates.
Read our by-election preview column in the Winnipeg Sun:
Home stretch starts in Elmwood-East Kildonan by-election
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