Winnipeg news: the Winnipeg Growth Officer is back on the table, and Mayor Scott Gillingham told the city’s business leaders Monday he is pushing ahead with the hire after Ottawa’s $1-billion windfall for Winnipeg.
By Maplestime News Desk | Winnipeg, Manitoba | November 10, 2026
Sources: Europe Says, Scott Gillingham campaign platform | Last updated: November 10, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Gillingham promised a Winnipeg Growth Officer at a packed Leaders’ Forum on Growing the Economy on Monday, November 9, at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre.
- The Winnipeg Growth Officer would keep an inventory of shovel-ready infrastructure, land and investments, and streamline major projects.
- The Winnipeg Growth Officer would focus on Centreport, where servicing pipes are now in the ground, with aviation, aerospace and defence, including 17 Wing, poised to grow.
- Ottawa recently committed $1 billion for homelessness and health care in Winnipeg, including 2,000 supportive housing units and a new mental health and addictions centre.
- No name or timeline for the hire was given, but Gillingham’s team calls bringing it to council “priority number one.”
Winnipeg Growth Officer Would End the City as Chokepoint
The growth officer was a key campaign promise first proposed on September 21, and Gillingham used the forum to tell Winnipeg’s business community he is moving forward with it. The officer’s job is to keep an inventory of shovel-ready infrastructure, land and investments so the city is ready when a major project comes knocking, and to streamline the big investments that follow.
“First and foremost it’s about making sure the city has all of the shovel ready infrastructure, land, and investments ready to go, I never want to see the city be the chokepoint in development,” said Gillingham.
It is a direct pitch to a room full of people who have watched Winnipeg projects stall in permits and process. The mayor’s message was blunt: the city should never be the reason a deal dies.
Centreport and the $1-Billion Federal Windfall
The timing rides on Ottawa’s recent $1-billion investment for homelessness and health care in Winnipeg, including 2,000 supportive housing units and a new mental health and addictions centre. That is a building program, and Gillingham says it will need construction crews, technicians, drywallers and foundation workers to deliver it.
That is where the Winnipeg Growth Officer would focus first: Centreport. With servicing pipes now in the ground, Gillingham pointed to aviation, aerospace and defence as the sectors poised to grow there.
“Aviation, aerospace, our defence sector with 17 wing right there, all of that is poised to grow, now that Centreport is serviced,” said Gillingham.
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Builders Say They Can Handle the Work
The construction industry, for its part, says it is ready. Manitoba Heavy Construction Association president and CEO Chris Lorenc said the industry has the capacity to meet the coming demand, a welcome signal for a Winnipeg Growth Officer plan that depends on getting shovels in the ground quickly.
What is missing is the person at the centre of it. No name or timeline for the hire was given at the forum, and the role still has to go before council. Gillingham’s team says bringing it to council is “priority number one,” which means Winnipeggers should find out soon whether the Winnipeg Growth Officer is a real job with real power, or a new title on an old problem.
Maplestime will provide updates from Winnipeg’s growth officer plan as announcements are made.
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Will a single growth officer actually unclog Winnipeg development, or is this another title for a job City Hall was already supposed to do? Tell us in the comments. And share this with every Winnipegger who has watched a good project stall.
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