In this episode of WINNIPEG VOTES 2026, host Graham McDonald spoke to Chris Giesbrecht, a candidate for city council in Transcona. Born and raised in Transcona, he works as a constituency assistant to Transcona MP Colin Reynolds.
Giesbrecht emphasized the need for improvements to infrastructure in Transcona.
“I want to renovate the historically neglected streets in Transcona. And I singled out Brewster Bay in particular… there was a sinkhole almost as wide as this table, about four or five feet deep.”
Giesbrecht said his experience as a constituency assistant will help him work with other levels of government.
“The primary advantage of this is you come in with relationships already built. I already know the MLAs in the area… and part of this job is being a team player.”
Giesbrecht wants to reverse the changes to transit that happened as a result of the 2025 overhaul.
“I’ve knocked on thousands of doors already, and I think there was one person who said that their new commute was a little bit better… maybe the old system is a better building block.”
Giesbrecht is in favour of police officers and police cadets on particularly dangerous bus routes.
“For some of the more dangerous encounters… you need full police or cadets, people with the legal authority and the training to be able to do fare enforcement [and] remove unruly passengers.”
Giesbrecht believes an arson task force and preventing retail theft are particularly important.
“When I spoke to Nick Kasper, the president of UFFW… he said they literally follow arsonists going around and lighting fires… Arson’s a free crime almost right now. That’s unacceptable, in my opinion.”
He’s also in favour of the province giving 1% of PST revenue to the city and 50/50 provincial-municipal funding for Winnipeg Transit.
Giesbrecht supports Habitat for Humanity’s “sweat equity” approach to housing and says Winnipeg should emulate Calgary’s building-permit timelines.
“We can deal with this by making Winnipeg the best city in Canada to build in… a permit approval is a day or two versus several weeks.”
He’s also in favour of a universal $200 transit pass for seniors.
“Transit is how they get around. But right now, transit is also one of their biggest expenses… If we can do a little bit better to help our seniors get to where they need to go at an affordable price, I don’t see a problem with that.”
Giesbrecht is in favour of collaborating with the federal and provincial governments to advance the East of the RedRecPlex project.
To learn more about Chris Giesbrecht, his candidacy, and his positions, check out the full interview on U Multicultural Channel 14 in Manitoba, Bell MTS channel 1029 in Winnipeg, U Radio on 88.7 FM in Manitoba and U Multicultural’s YouTube channel.
Disclaimer: As part of U Multicultural’s 2026 Winnipeg Municipal Election Coverage, candidates were invited to share messages with our audience. The views expressed in this article are the candidate’s own, and this article does not constitute an endorsement by U Multicultural.
Graham McDonald, U Multicultural Journalism and Media Arts Centre