A chat with mayoral candidate Rana Bokhari

The former leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party is looking to return to politics and is in the running to become Winnipeg’s next mayor.

Mayoral candidate Rana Bokhari said her time as Liberal leader has helped her during this campaign.

“One of the greatest things in life is learning from experiences and carrying that experience on,” she said in an interview with CTV News Winnipeg.

One thing Bokhari pledges to do if elected mayor is to set up a safe injection site in Winnipeg – something the province is not on board with.

“Technically, we don’t actually need the provincial support, what we need is an exemption from the federal government to be able to bypass their substance control legislation,” she said, adding that what is needed from the province is funding for kits to test contaminants in drugs.

Bokhari said harm reduction is critical for the betterment of the province.

“If we don’t want crime, if we want our families to be safe, if we feel compassion towards people who are struggling the way that they are right now, there’s no other option but to proceed with safe injection sites,” she said.

“Frankly, it’s this option or we continue on this path.”

As mayor, Bokhari has also pledged to open Portage and Main to pedestrians.

“The infrastructure has to be rebuilt. It is going to cost millions of dollars to rebuild it,” she said.

“All I’m saying is, once it’s torn down, I, as a steward of the public purse, don’t actually feel it’s a good idea to invest millions of dollars to build those barriers back up when we know we can probably do a better job in making our city accessible.”

You can watch the full interview here with mayoral candidate Rana Bokhari, and hear more about what she is promising to do if elected mayor.

 

CTV News will be conducting interviews with all 11 mayoral candidates in the lead-up to the election. You can find more coverage of the mayoral race on the CTV News Election Page.