Here are some of the organizations and projects I've helped support with funding during my short time in office:

• East Side Eagles Football Club: bathroom facility upgrade
• Valley Gardens Community Centre: new hot water tank
• Morse Place Community Centre: tractor repairs
• East Elmwood Community Centre: garage upgrade and repairs
• Khalsa Diwan Society: community building expansion
• Guru Nanak Darbar: community building expansion
• Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corp: Food Access Bus and food security initiatives
• Rahma Community & Youth Centre: youth basketball program
• Elmwood High School: Elmwood Supply Co youth entrepreneurship program
• Miles Macdonell Alumni Association: 75th anniversary celebrations
• Northeast Winnipeg Historical Society: production of local history book
• Hampstead School: shade structure project
• Ecole Salisbury Morse Place School: basketball courts project
• Ecole Neil Campbell School: accessible swing set project
• Adventist Community Services: drop-in centre and soup kitchen
• The Big Red Church: roof replacement project
• Elmwood Curling Club: security upgrades
• Latinas Manitoba: supports for newcomer women and their children
• Afro-Caribbean Association of Manitoba: youth scholarship
• UMulticultural: youth skills training
• Glenelm Neighbourhood Association: shelving and equipment
• Cool 2Be Kind: anti-bullying school kindness projects
• Keenleyside Family Dynamics: family programming
• Winnipeg Art Gallery: elevator accessibility upgrades
• St. Boniface Street Links: homelessness outreach and housing services in Elmwood-East Kildonan
• Seniors wellness initiatives and holiday meals at Kildonan Horizons, Legion Gardens, Columbus House, and Kiwanis Gardens
• many, many community events throughout Elmwood-East Kildonan

Together, we've moved forward projects and policies that will serve the residents of Elmwood-East Kildonan and have positive impacts for years to come, improving life in our community for all.

• seconding an amending motion to the budget (the only one that passed) to double the number of firefighters being hired in 2026
• re-investing in Centennial Park: this park lost its wading pool in 2025, and its play features are old and damaged. I directed funding to add a new accessible playground, along with new swings, trees, seating and pathways, with construction starting next spring.
• re-investing in Hespeler Park: this park was damaged by arson in 2024. I directed funding for the addition of new playground features, including climbing logs and steppers, more accessible swings, new pathways and signage, benches and garbage receptacles, coming this fall.
• improving transit: thanks to residents' calls to 311 and to my office, Transit added more frequency to the F8 route, extended service until after midnight on the D10, D17, 38 and 43 routes, and extended the south boundary of On-Request zone 106 from Edison Avenue to Kimberly Avenue to improve service in the evenings and on weekends. I've also voted in favour of the expansion of Transit service hours, more than once.
• voting to approve the construction of many affordable and supportive housing projects, throughout the city as well as in Elmwood-East Kildonan, such as ECRC's Elmwood Hub at 545 Watt St
• multiple times, voting against financially-unsustainable road expansion mega-projects and unproductive development proposals that threaten the city's ability to pay for existing much-needed infrastructure maintenance like the North End Water Pollution Control Centre project, which aims to reduce the amount of sewage being released into our waterways
• pushing for continued investment in the urban forest to continue to increase canopy cover in the city by planting more trees and maintaining the ones we have, in order to help keep more rainwater out of our combined sewers, reduce thermal stress on our streets which extends the life of the pavement, and help to reduce household energy costs
• supporting a successful amending motion to deliver compost pick up services using city staff instead of outside contractors, starting in 2030
• bringing forward a motion to create a faster, more responsive, and less expensive traffic calming program, aiming to bring wait times down from years (or even decades) to weeks, at a fraction of the cost

A big part of the job has been helping residents navigate city systems, and keeping everyone informed about city and ward happenings. In addition to ensuring a prompt response to any resident calling or email my office, I've been sharing community news, topics of interest, as well as background information on major spending decisions on Council's agenda. I've done that using several methods:

• Monthly email newsletter
• Periodic printed mailers, delivered to your home
• Bi-monthly Ward Updates in the Winnipeg Free Press Community Review East
• Citizen Explainers on my website, to provide background information on some of the city's hot topics

We’re failing to keep up with our existing infrastructure maintenance and replacement. Whether we’re talking about the Louise Bridge, streets full of potholes, or aging recreation facilities like wading pools and playgrounds, the root cause of these struggles is the same: a failure to plan for the completely predictable maintenance and replacement of our infrastructure. We cut services, and increase taxes and fees, to try to make up the shortfall, but the gap is just too big.

Nearly 90% of our city’s infrastructure is just roads and pipes. We simply have more than we’re able to pay for, so our biggest gains will be made by making better use of what has already been built. Our focus must also be on keeping and growing the existing services and amenities that provide actual value within our neighbourhoods, like ample library hours, swimming lessons, and youth programming.

Expanding roads while closing recreational facilities is simply making the problem worse. We need to focus on fixing what we have first.

Did you know that in 2025, an average of 20 people were injured in a motor vehicle collision every single day in Winnipeg? Whether it is the expense and time costs of vehicle repairs, or the life-altering effects of being injured or losing a loved one, when streets are unsafe, everyone suffers. We know that simply expecting everyone to behave better doesn’t work, and our current enforcement system seems designed to generate income, rather than to improve safety.

We can and must work towards safer streets where everyone can get around safely regardless of whether they’re driving, walking, biking or taking the bus.  A good starting place is to reduce residential speed limits to 30km/h. The quickest and most effective way to get safer streets is through changes to street design. Using temporary, low-cost interventions, we can immediately make changes in places we know that there are safety issues. These changes can be tested and tweaked until they work effectively, and then incorporated with permanent infrastructure when it’s time for street renewal.

Transit is very important to me. And I don’t just mean in the big picture for the city, I also mean personally. My family doesn’t own a car, so transit is a critical part of how I get around every day.

The recent complete overhaul of Winnipeg Transit's routes, along with the accompanying challenges, have made it very clear: we all want reliable, convenient transit. A reliable transit system is a necessity for many people to get to work, recreation and daily errands. But even more than that, having quality public transit in a city benefits even those who don’t use it, since every trip taken by transit rather than by car is a net saving for the city in infrastructure costs. While some parts of the new system are working well, big issues remain, and we need to address them quickly. We need:

• more frequency on almost all routes, especially in areas that were better served under the old system, like along Henderson, and routes that serve major shopping areas
• more reliability of service by giving buses their own priority lanes in congested areas
• we also need to provide better service for destinations like seniors' complexes, healthcare facilities, schools, and major shopping areas
• our infamously bad Peggo cards must be replaced by a modern and convenient fare payment
• bus stops need to be safe and pleasant, which means we need more shade, shelter and seating
• since every trip begins and ends with a walk, sidewalks must be safe, properly maintained, and cleared of snow and ice

Transit must also be safe – for both drivers and riders. More supports are needed to make sure everyone who takes the bus feels safe and comfortable.

While we need the Province to step up and restore the 50-50 funding model that was in place pre-pandemic, we can't wait around for them to come to the table. We can make transit a municipal priority right now with the resources and powers we already have.

There’s no sugar-coating it: our city is not in great financial shape. As we've seen over successive budgets, it’s not a problem we can get out of by cutting spending. Likewise, increasing fees and taxes is pushing household budgets to their breaking point. The problem is structural, and solving that will require making changes to how we grow our city.

But while we do that, we can also ensure the money we spend within existing budgets does more than one thing, including making life more affordable for the people who live here. For example:

• we can help reduce home heating and energy costs, and reduce the risk of basement flooding, by growing and caring for our urban forest;
• we can reduce household transportation costs by providing convenient, viable alternatives like transit and active transportation;
• and we can reduce pressure on property tax and water fee hikes by growing our tax base where the infrastructure to support it already exists.

When problems arise in our neighbourhoods – like crime, or derelict and problem properties – it’s incredibly unsettling and upsetting. These things affect us all, and our current reactive approach to addressing them isn’t working. We need to tackle their root causes, in addition to putting in place deterrents, in order to prevent small problems from becoming big ones.

While City Council does not have the power to direct police resources or operations, we can tackle problem properties and reduce fire risk by working collaboratively with the appropriate authorities to ensure they are aware of these places, and can act on them, early on. Together with residents, we have been actively reporting problems in the community to:

• City by-law enforcement
• Winnipeg Fire & Paramedic Service
• Winnipeg Police Service
• Manitoba Justice's Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods office

Where City Council does have powers is in the development of policies that discourage irresponsible property ownership. I believe in using both a carrot and a stick approach, simultaneously disincentivizing bad property behaviour through fines and other penalties, while making redevelopment and reinvestment much easier.

We can also make progress on crime prevention by addressing its root causes. Research shows that crime, poverty, lack of recreation and opportunities, along with disconnection of community are interlinked. It also shows that Canadians value crime prevention over law enforcement. So what can we do?

Over and over, I hear that we need recreation opportunities for our young people. Plenty of evidence shows that when kids and youth are busy, safe, and connected to their communities, gangs and crime don’t become an attractive way to get by and find a sense of belonging. This means both investing in services for families and youth, as well as supporting the organizations that are offering programming and support to youth.

In a broader sense, the city can support the well-being of young people by:

• Improving food security
• Fostering economic development by making it easier for local businesses to set up and create neighbourhood job opportunities
• Ensuring that it’s safe and convenient for teens to get around independently, through reliable public transportation and safe ways to walk and bike

In fact, all of these actions work towards poverty reduction, not just for youth, but for everyone. And poverty reduction is crime prevention. These are the preventative, “upstream” actions that work, and they are actions I’ve already been working on within the Elmwood-East Kildonan community to ensure everyone’s basic needs are met.

Housing is a basic human right. Right now, too many people in Elmwood-East Kildonan are struggling to find housing that's right for their age or stage of life. Many seniors are ready to downsize but can't find housing in the area they want to live in, with the amenities they want, or at a price they can afford. Families compete over too few apartments with adequate bedrooms. And almost everyone wants to live somewhere with easy access to transit, shopping, and other amenities. We need to build all types of housing so that no one is stuck in a situation that doesn't meet their needs, or can't afford. We especially need more affordable and deeply-affordable housing.

We can't talk about housing without talking about homelessness. I’m a proponent of the “Housing First” model. Housing First is an evidence-based approach that focuses on eliminating chronic homelessness by providing unconditional safe and permanent housing as the first step to getting folks out of encampment or shelter living, paired with robust wraparound supports to start addressing health issues like addiction and trauma, mental health and other help they may need. To that end, I arranged to have St. Boniface Street Links provide homelessness outreach and encampment cleanup services in our ward, starting this past May.

There is also a huge need for homelessness prevention services. Many people find themselves teetering on the edge of losing their stable housing. Homelessness prevention efforts support these folks with the resources and skills they need to avoid losing their safe place to live in the first place, including housing supports, food security and mental health supports. In the past months, I provided funding support to groups doing this work such as Adventist Community Services, and Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal.

The city also has a role to play in enabling and facilitating the construction of affordable, and deeply affordable, housing. Since being elected, I'm happy to have supported the construction of several affordable and supportive housing projects, including some right here in Elmwood-East Kildonan, like Elmwood Hub at 545 Watt St.

Access to affordable, healthy food is a basic human right. Time after time, consultations within Elmwood-East Kildonan have identified food security as a major challenge. Large parts of the ward are considered “food deserts,” where it’s very challenging to get affordable, healthy food within walking distance. Plus, groceries keep getting more expensive, which is an additional challenge for everyone, regardless of how readily we can access grocery stores.

Nonprofits and grassroots organizations in our ward are leading the way in improving food security, through initiatives like low-cost bulk-buying programs, food access buses, community gardens, food rescue programs and more. I have been working with these organizations to ensure their programs are sustainable, can scale up to meet even more residents’ needs, and continue to grow and evolve to support the health of all our residents. In my role as Chair of the Winnipeg Food Council, I'm also helping to ensure City policies and programs support resilient and accessible food systems.

A recent survey found that 77% of Winnipeggers are worried about climate change. With smoke conditions now being regularly reported along with the weather, clean air is on our minds. Extreme weather events caused by climate change place a huge burden on our stormwater systems and result in flooded basements, and raw sewage being dumped straight into the rivers that run through our city. It has also led to extreme heat events that are dangerous for human health and cause catastrophic buckling to streets and sidewalks.

7 in 10 Winnipeggers think the city should be doing more to stop pollution, and a similar number think that climate change should be a consideration in every decision that City Council makes. Fighting climate change is a core value of mine, and we’ve got a lot to do. We can evolve to be a more resilient city by investing in:

• Bountiful greenspace and trees that help nurture and grow biodiversity
• Frequent and reliable public transit, plus walkable and bikeable neighbourhoods that give the option to drive less
• Green infrastructure that not only helps us adapt to a warming planet, but also looks beautiful
• Curbside compost pickup to help us reduce landfill emissions
• Cooling infrastructure & services (like shade structures, pools, and water stations) where they are needed most

A climate-resilient city has the potential to save everyday people money with lower home heating and cooling costs, and reduced risk of basement flooding and sewer backups. And it will save public money in the long run too.

Since being elected, I became a member of the Climate Caucus, which is a non-partisan, national coalition of 1000+ local elected leaders and 1500+ allies working together to develop, launch and scale beneficial climate policies for communities and the country.

The budget challenges we face aren't theoretical: they're the reason behind neglected roads, bridges and recreation facilities, the reduction of services, and the increase of fees and property taxes. But they're not the result of mismanagement by prior councils. The problem is structural, due to decades and decades of unproductive urban growth, using a pattern that costs more to maintain than it generates in income.

We won't get out of that overnight, and cash-strapped as the city is, there are no silver bullets. We need to do away with unaffordable megaprojects, and instead focus on the many, many small but impactful projects that need doing in our neighborhoods. I'm happy to have supported many such projects this year, such as those in local parks, but also by partnering with schools and community groups on facilities that benefit the entire surrounding neighbourhood, like basketball courts, accessible swing sets and shade structures.

In that way, we make sure every dollar we’re already spending is providing a good return on investment by helping us make better use of the infrastructure and facilities we've already built, rather than spreading ourselves even thinner, and leveraging partnerships to get more done with less.

The challenges we face are big and complex. It can be tempting to try to solve everything all at once. But that’s a time-consuming and expensive approach which often leads to unintended consequences, or worse, “analysis paralysis” (years of expensive studies and reports with no results to show for it). The most powerful thing we can do is to humbly observe what challenges need addressing, where people are struggling, and identify what the next smallest thing we can do to help is.

While our hopes and dreams for our community may reach to the sky, once we’ve identified the next smallest thing we can do to help, it’s our responsibility to do that thing, and to do it as soon as possible. No endless studies, reports, or consultations. No waiting for provincial or federal grants, or a “new fiscal deal”. Just immediate action that makes things a little better, right now.

So many of our parks, recreation facilities, roads and pipes are nearing, or past, the end of their useful lives. The biggest impact for any money we spend will be in maintaining what we already own. But beyond that, we should strive to ensure that the money we spend does more than one thing at the same time.

One example of this is proper maintenance of street trees, which extends the life of pavement by reducing thermal stress on roads, keeps streets safe by calming traffic, increases adjacent property values, keeps more rainwater out of our combined sewers, and so much more.

We should be applying these principles to every single dollar we spend.

If we want our community to flourish, we have to give it the opportunity to do so every chance we get. That means investing in Elmwood-East Kildonan, obviously, but it also means meeting the needs of the people who live here, supporting local businesses with our dollars and our policies, and providing opportunities for locals of all ages to thrive in their own neighbourhood. A city councillor should be laser-focused on how their decisions can help, or hinder, with all of these things. These are core values of mine.

I’m so proud that the key members of my campaign team, like my official agent and my auditor, are in Elmwood-East Kildonan, and that all of my flyers and signs were printed locally in Elmwood-East Kildonan as well. I walk the talk when it comes to supporting my community.

Progress doesn’t just come from the councillor’s office. There are people and organizations working hard in our community towards a better place for everyone, and getting incredible results. Sometimes the best thing the city can do is simply to get out of their way, by removing barriers and red tape. Other times, those groups just need a little boost in order to supercharge their impacts.

As your city councillor, I have remained committed to elevating the efforts of the heroes working in our community, and to help build capacity for more folks to make a difference where they live.

Small, continual progress, using the resources we already have on hand, adds up to incredible results. That’s how we’ll ensure we have a community where people of all ages enjoy a great quality of life, and one that young people will be proud to stay in.

You’ll often hear politicians say they’ll “fight for you”. I think people are tired of elected officials fighting – what they really want is for them to work together and get stuff done. And because the challenges we face are so great, we really do need everyone on board.

One of my key strengths is bringing people together to collaborate – it’s why you’ll find all kinds of people, from all walks of life, and all parts of the political spectrum on Team Emma. In a thriving Elmwood-East Kildonan, we leave no one behind.

The City of Winnipeg provides so many critical services that touch our everyday lives: from the water we drink, to the streets we use to get to work, the recreation facilities we play at, the firefighters who protect our homes and businesses, and so much more. Our city needs to be able to continue providing these services not just right now, but for all future generations.

We must remain mindful that the decisions we make today have far-reaching impacts, not only for the environment, but also in terms of the city’s financial ability to continue providing the services we all depend on, while remaining affordable for us all.

Cities are complex places, and the decisions we make in one department often have a ripple effect in other areas. Many decisions come down to trade-offs or compromises between conflicting priorities. Much like I've asked for you to put your trust in me, I am also putting my trust in you, because the people of Elmwood-East Kildonan deserve to have elected officials who respect their intelligence.

That’s why I believe it’s important to share not just the decisions, but the factors and the reasoning that go into those decisions, in a plain and transparent way. Clear and open communication from the beginning is key, so everyone is working from the same information. That's how we can make better decisions together as a community.

It’s critical that people can connect with their councillor’s office when they need to, and be assured of a prompt and helpful response that demonstrates they are truly listening. Bettering our community is a team effort, and proactive communication from the councillor's office is a key part of an ongoing two-way conversation as we build a better Elmwood-East Kildonan together. While the learning curve at City Hall has been steep, my assistant, Charity, and I have made this a core part of our office values.

I’m proud to serve as an independent voice at City Hall, unaffiliated with political parties or other lobbies, and committed to meeting the needs of the people of Elmwood-East Kildonan.