Canadian politics news — Winnipeg mayoral candidate Kevin Klein promised a Winnipeg tax freeze for 2027 on Friday, five days before election day, and paired it with a new monthly policing levy that he says would put more officers on the street without cutting city services.
By Maplestime Business Desk | Winnipeg, Manitoba | October 24, 2026
Sources: CBC Manitoba, CityNews Winnipeg | Last updated: October 24, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Klein’s Winnipeg tax freeze would hold property taxes flat in 2027, cap later annual hikes at 2.99 percent, and freeze water and sewer rates in 2027.
- His new policing levy would cost households $3.99 a month, about $48 a year, which CBC describes as equal to a 1.4 percent property tax increase.
- Klein says he will make no cuts and will find savings inside the city budget instead.
- Mayor Scott Gillingham says the plan adds up to more than 4 percent starting in 2028 and would force cuts to road renewal. He has confirmed a 3.5 percent property tax hike in 2027 if he is re-elected.
- Winnipeggers vote on Wednesday, October 28, with 12 candidates on the mayoral ballot.
Five days out from election day, the Winnipeg mayoral race finally has a clean fiscal fight. Klein laid out his numbers on Friday, October 23. Gillingham answered the same day, and he did not hold back.
The Winnipeg tax freeze, In Plain Numbers
Klein’s headline promise is the Winnipeg tax freeze for 2027: no increase in property taxes next year. After that, he would cap annual property tax hikes at 2.99 percent. Water and sewer rates would also be frozen in 2027.
That last piece comes with a structural change. Klein supports having the Public Utilities Board set the city’s annual water and sewer rates, taking that decision out of council’s hands.
For homeowners, the pitch behind the Winnipeg tax freeze is simple: one year of breathing room, then a hard ceiling on future increases. For a city that has leaned on steady tax hikes to pay for roads, transit, and emergency services, the question is what gives.
Klein’s answer is that nothing has to give. He says he will make no cuts and will find savings within the city budget instead. He has not, in the material reported Friday, pointed to a specific list of savings large enough to cover a frozen tax base, and that gap is exactly where Gillingham aimed his response.
The Policing Levy, Explained
The second half of Klein’s plan is a new policing levy of $3.99 per household per month, about $48 a year. CBC’s summary describes it as an emergency service fee equal to a 1.4 percent property tax increase.
The levy would fund more police officers. That is the trade at the heart of Klein’s platform: hold the main property tax bill flat in 2027, but add a separate monthly charge, dedicated to policing, on top of it.
It is a distinction with a real difference for household budgets. A Winnipeg tax freeze that comes with a new levy is not the same as a freeze with no new charges at all, and voters will notice the $48 on their bills even if the tax line itself does not move.
Gillingham Fires Back
Gillingham countered that Klein’s tax increases plus the policing levy work out to more than 4 percent starting in 2028, and that the Winnipeg tax freeze in 2027 would require cuts to road renewal budgets.
Speaking at his St. James Street campaign office on October 23, he was blunt about Klein’s fiscal plan:
“It looks like it’s been put together in the back of a napkin. For someone who is running for mayor of one of Canada’s largest cities, he needed to do better. This is woefully inadequate.”
Gillingham, by contrast, has confirmed a 3.5 percent property tax hike in 2027 if he is re-elected, and says he will detail more fiscal promises on Monday, October 26. His argument, in short, is that he is telling voters the harder truth up front, while Klein is dressing up a tax increase as a freeze.
That framing will define the final five days. Klein gets to campaign on the Winnipeg tax freeze. Gillingham gets to campaign on the arithmetic behind it.
Both cannot be the whole story, and Winnipeg voters now have a clear, checkable contrast to weigh.
A Crowded Ballot, Five Days Out
Twelve candidates are on the mayoral ballot. Alongside Klein and Gillingham, they include Mazher Alam, Johnny Calderon, Chris Clacio, Tracey Drexler, Brad Gross, Umar Hayat, Joshua Pagdato, Noah Redden, Mike Vogiatzakis and Don Woodstock.
The race comes down to a familiar municipal question: what are Winnipeggers willing to pay for, and what do they expect in return? Klein is betting that a Winnipeg tax freeze, even one paired with a policing levy, is the promise voters want to hear, and that the Winnipeg tax freeze will carry him past the incumbent. Gillingham is betting that voters will punish a plan that does not add up.
On Wednesday, October 28, Winnipeggers will settle it.
Maplestime will provide updates from the Winnipeg mayoral race as announcements are made.
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Is Klein’s freeze real relief for Winnipeg homeowners, or just a tax hike with better branding? Tell us in the comments, and share this with every Winnipeg voter still making up their mind before October 28.
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