A chat with mayoral candidate Don Woodstock

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Don Woodstock says city hall needs a clean sweep.

Woodstock said if heis elected mayor, he would get rid of the Executive Policy Committee, “...where the mayor holds everybody at ransom for anything they have to do in their community," said Woodstock. "If they don't - at the beckoning of the mayor - they don't get anything done. That's not democracy."

Woodstock also said the process for bids on city contracts needs to be overhauled.

"If you were to call any sub-trades in the city, and you make ten phone calls, I guarantee not one of them would have a good word to say about the City of Winnipeg, and I know this because my business deals with them on a regular basis," he said.

It's Woodstock's second time running for mayor, after coming in fourth with 4,738 votes in the 2018 municipal election. He said he still feels like he can help Winnipeggers.

"It breaks my heart to see what people are living through on a regular basis," said Woodstock.

He said he has already worked to help Winnipeg's homeless, having petitioned city council to allow Homes for Heroes to build here in 2018. He said he worked with fellow mayoral candidate Kevin Klein to get that done.

"I said Kevin, you gotta listen to these guys, and that's how Homes for Heroes is here," said Woodstock.

On the issue of crime and safety, Woodstock said he would ask large corporations and the federal government for money to improve rec centres and create youth programs.

"To keep the kids engaged and keep them out of trouble is the only way you're going to have less kids in jail," he said.

He would also tighten up the police budget.

"Nobody's calculating the money that the police have to pay for the gas they use, for the vehicles they drive, all this is leased and they have to pay for it," he said.

Woodstock stands by comments he made earlier in the campaign that Indigenous men were responsible for missing and murdered Indigenous women.

"We have some issues, we have to deal with them. Leaders cannot run away from issues, leaders are supposed to tackle issues," said Woodstock.

Winnipeggers will elect a new mayor and city council on Oct. 26.