Almost 20 years after Winnipeg approved a plan to develop Waverley West, construction is about to start on a temporary fire-paramedic station to serve the area that’s now home to approximately 57,000 people.
Station No. 15, a modular structure capable of being moved at a later date, will be built in the coming months at Eaglewood Park in the southwestern corner of Waverley West, officials said at a ceremonial sod-turning attended by provincial and federal politicians on Tuesday.
The $6.8-million project will give Waverley West its first fire-paramedic station since city council approved the southwestern Winnipeg development in 2005. The initial proposal for the area envisioned the construction of a fire-paramedic station within 10 years.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham acknowledged the time it has taken to build the station, noting it is something both he and Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes have been lobbying for since they were first elected to council in 2014.
Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service response times to calls in Waverley West tend to be among the longest in the city.
“It is overdue. It is frankly overdue. Thank you to the people of Waverley West for their patience,” Gillingham said at Eaglewood Park on Tuesday.
“Right now we’re enjoying good relations between all three levels of government. That hasn’t always been the case.”
Lukes was even more blunt about the delays the project has suffered.
“The sad fact of the matter is we should have been standing here five years ago doing this sod turning for a fire hall,” she said, adding her constituents frequently call her asking when the station will be built.
“No one has … taken the heat for not having a fire hall for residents more than myself and the good men and women of the fire-paramedic [service].”
Funding model needs change: Lukes
Lukes went on to say the City of Winnipeg lacks the ability to raise the capital it needs to build infrastructure for new neighbourhoods. She implored the provincial and federal governments to do more to help the city build roads, sewers, community centres and fire-paramedic stations to serve a growing population.
“For every home built, there must be corresponding infrastructure. We can’t even build in parts of the city, because we don’t have sewer capacity,” she said, standing alongside Premier Wab Kinew and Winnipeg South Liberal MP Terry Duguid.
“We have to do a better job of being partners. We need change. We need to change the model,” she said, referring to a funding model that effectively gives municipalities 10 cents out of every dollar raised through taxes from all three levels of government.
The Kinew government has promised to revisit that funding model, but has not indicated in what manner.
Lukes also said the funding model is impairing Winnipeg’s ability to absorb newcomers to Canada.
“I love growth. I love immigration, but when it comes at such a rapid pace from federal immigration policies, I don’t think it’s fair to Canadians, to new Canadians and to all new Canadians.”
Lukes has mused about seeking the federal Conservative nomination to run against Duguid in 2025. His government contributed $1.3 million toward the $6.8-million fire-paramedic station.
The provincial government has budgeted $3.4 million to help the city hire staff for the new station. Kinew shrugged off questions about the delay in getting it built, noting his government has only been in power for six months.
The premier would not commit to helping the city build another new amenity in Waverley West: the South Winnipeg Recreation Campus, whose projected cost recently rose $23 million to $94 million.
The city may borrow money to complete the project south of Bison Drive.
A permanent Waverley West fire-paramedic station is slated to be built next to that campus, about three kilometres northeast of the modular station on Eaglewood Drive.
The fire-paramedic service will move the modular station to another area that needs it after the permanent station is built, Deputy Chief Tom Wallace said.