Portage Place mall, parades and green energy the focus on the campaign trail

Rana Bokhari is running for mayor of Winnipeg (candidate website)

A trio of mayoral candidates shared their plans for the city if they are elected mayor.

Rana Bokhari, Jenny Motkaluk and Scott Gillingham provided more details on some of their campaign hopes and promises.

Bokhari threw her support behind a new proposal to change Portage Place mall into a community-owned meeting and living space.

"While Portage Place has failed as a retail mall, where it hasn't failed is as a gathering space downtown, especially for the newcomer and Indigenous population," she said in a news release Wednesday.

A plan was presented last week to make the area a community centre that featured affordable housing and other amenities like a grocery store.

"The affordable housing aspect is of special interest to me, especially for newcomers with large families," she said. "It is so difficult for them to find housing where they can all be together."

She said she would like to see an Indigenous-led group develop the mall, but noted she would be open to all ideas to develop it.

Motkaluk was out for the third straight day, this time promising grants for parades and encouraging more festivals in Winnipeg.

"Events that gather people together to celebrate the things we love have a positive economic impact and support our values and lifestyle," she said in a release.

She said she would provide annual grants to Winnipeg's four largest parades if she becomes mayor.

Those parades are the Santa Claus Parade, Pride Winnipeg parade, The Manitoba Filipino Street Festival and the Nagar Kirtan parade.

"Parades and festivals are the kind of family-oriented activities that give everyone a chance to join their neighbour and celebrate the things they love."

Lastly, Gillingham announced plans to help with climate change goals, retrofitting city buildings for energy efficiency and adding green power production capacity.

His plan would see the Municipal Accommodations Division turned into Winnipeg Green Properties and Green Power. He said this agency would build partnerships to help retrofit city buildings and pay for solar and geothermal generation for some city facilities.

"We're leaving money on the table if we aren't more aggressive in our quest for green energy dollars in Winnipeg," Gillingham said in a release.

He said other cities have invested millions of dollars into retrofitting buildings for green energy, which he says has created jobs, saved money and reduced the carbon footprint.

Gillingham has set a goal of the city building up one megawatt of green energy in city-owned renewable generation capacity through Winnipeg Green Properties and Green Power by 2026.

"If a small community like the Fisher River Cree Nation on Lake Winnipeg can build a megawatt of solar generation for itself; surely Winnipeg can do the same in four years as a first step to much bigger projects."

Winnipeg's election will be held on Oct. 26.