Huge Plan20-50 turnout surprises Metro board, delays public hearing into fall

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NIVERVILLE — The Winnipeg Metropolitan Region board was forced to postpone the final public hearing into their “Plan20-50” on Thursday, after staff failed to anticipate a surge of interested stakeholders seeking to voice opposition to the controversial proposals.

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Despite the City of Winnipeg not advertising the public hearing was being held, hundreds of Winnipeg residents joined concerned citizens from surrounding communities at the Niverville Heritage Centre, with hall capacity being eclipsed a half-hour before the 3 p.m. start time.

Hundreds of people remained in the lobby despite being told by RCMP to leave and chanted “Shut it down!” as many of the 220 seated inside the hall chanted “Let them in!”

The crowd filled the lobby, with many voicing tense accusations that their right to participate was deliberately being thwarted, as they could see plenty of available space at the back of the hall for people to stand. However, officials had realized that the space simply couldn’t fit all those still awaiting entry. Provincial security officers physically blocked the entrance as anger built among the excluded contingent.

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WMR staff were dazed by the scene and confused at the massive turnout, even though almost 300 people came out to the first hearing on July 25 with almost all standing up when asked by presenter Ken Lee if they opposed the plan.

If approved, sweeping powers over zoning, multi-family housing developments, highway access and agricultural land use would be granted the Metro board, which is made up of Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham, elected politicians representing 17 nearby municipalities, and three provincial appointees.

At one point, WMR staff spoke about holding off the meeting until Friday and conducting it via Zoom, but that was quickly discarded.

When the meeting was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., WMR chair Michael Moore told those inside the hall, “We have too many people that this facility cannot accommodate and we feel it is very important that everybody gets to be heard. Therefore we will not be going today.”

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Moore, a provincial appointee explained, “We will reschedule — there has to be a 40-day notice, and we’re going to get a larger facility so that everybody can participate and everybody can be heard. It’s not fair to the people out there that they can’t be inside.”

Lee, who was inside the hall yesterday, told the Sun, “This is the biggest change ever imposed on the city and surrounding area. The WMR board should have realized there should be a public hearing in all 18 communities for all 875,000 Manitobans who are affected by these monumental changes they are proposing — and if the board won’t do it, I know people who will hold them.”

While media reports circulated that the hearing was disrupted or interfered with by protesters and that the RCMP ordered it to close, there was no evidence of any organized “group” coordinating or provoking the dissent, and neither Moore nor the RCMP cited that as a factor in the postponement.

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Some who came to the hearing were from rural municipalities that aren’t members of the WMR, and told the Sun they did not want to see the plan extended in the future to their communities.

“I do think this is a win,” a resident of Somerset said about the delay. ”I think the board is unaware of what they’re doing and might not know what the consequences are (of the plan). They mean well but didn’t understand, I think (the turnout) was an eye-opener.”

Moore confirmed to the Sun that the scheduled delegations would not have to re-register, and that the session was still required to be held in a facility outside of Winnipeg. It’s now anticipated to be conducted by mid-October.

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