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The amalgamation of Winnipeg,
Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
, was the
municipal incorporation A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally owned ...
of the old City of Winnipeg, 11 surrounding
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
, and the
Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg was a governing body that served as part of the leadership for the metropolitan area of Winnipeg. It was established by Premier Douglas Campbell after he was given a commission to do so by the Great ...
(Metro) into a one Unified City of Winnipeg, or Unicity. The city's boundaries were established by the 1971 ''City of Winnipeg Act'', which amalgamated old Winnipeg and Metro with the rural municipalities of Charleswood,
Fort Garry Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company's ...
,
North Kildonan North Kildonan is a city ward in northern Winnipeg, and a former municipality in Manitoba, Canada. Its population was of 2016 was 44,664. History What is now North Kildonan was originally part of the Rural Municipality of Kildonan. In 1914, the ...
, and
Old Kildonan Old Kildonan is the northernmost city ward of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Before the ''City of Winnipeg Act'' of 1972, it was an independent unincorporated municipality called the Municipality of Old Kildonan; prior to that, from 1914, it was a subdivis ...
; the Town of
Tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element fo ...
; the cities of
East Kildonan East Kildonan is a primarily residential community in northeast Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Commonly known by its initials EK, the suburb has a population of approximately 35,800 as of the 2016 Census. East Kildonan is bounded from the Red Riv ...
,
West Kildonan West Kildonan is a residential suburb within the Old Kildonan and Mynarski city wards of Winnipeg, Manitoba, lying on the west side of the Red River, and immediately north of the old City of Winnipeg in the north-central part of the city. It ...
, St. Vital,
Transcona Transcona is a ward and suburb of Winnipeg, Manitoba, located about east of the downtown area. Until 1972, it was a separate municipality, having been incorporated first as the Town of Transcona on 6 April 1912 and then as the City of Tr ...
,
St. Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...
, and
St. James-Assiniboia St. James-Assiniboia is a major community area in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. As it encapsulates most of the city ward of St. James, which includes the major St. James Street, the area itself is often simply referred to "St. James." Located in th ...
into one city. This unicity form of city-metropolitan government officially replaced the existing municipalities on 1 January 1972. Though officially joined in 1972, the total amalgamation of all areas and their respective civic departments (e.g. police) was not completed until years later.


Background

The creation of a 'unicity' has been recognized as an ambitious experiment and unique innovation in metropolitan government reform.Wichern, Phil H. 1986.
Evaluating Winnipeg’s Unicity: The City of Winnipeg Act Review Committee, 1984-1986
" Research and Working Paper No. 26 The Institute of Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg. Retrieved 2021 February 8.
In 1955, the provincial government of Manitoba created the Greater Winnipeg Investigating Commission to look into inter-municipal issues in the Greater Winnipeg Area. The Commission took four years and concluded with the recommendation that a strong
central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...
be formed. With this, the
Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg was a governing body that served as part of the leadership for the metropolitan area of Winnipeg. It was established by Premier Douglas Campbell after he was given a commission to do so by the Great ...
(Metro Winnipeg) was incorporated in 1960. From its creation until 1971, the Metro Winnipeg administrative system comprised Winnipeg and 12 other municipalities under a single
metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...
government, in a "two-tier" system in which councillors were elected through
single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...
. In this framework, each municipality managed their own affairs, levied their own taxes, and took responsibility for local roads, water, and parks. On top of this, however, an additional metropolitan level of government existed as well, holding responsibility for planning major roads, major parks, and major water and sewer systems. The Unicity model thus sought to make such matters more efficient and coordinated, by centralizing service delivery and administration while equalizing property taxes and decentralizing the political process. The Unicity reforms were originally proposed by the
Manitoba New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of Manitoba (french: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Manitoba) is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba C ...
(NDP) government, led by
Edward Schreyer Edward Richard Schreyer (born December 21, 1935) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 22nd since Canadian Confederation. Schreyer was born and educated in Manitoba, and was first electe ...
, elected in 1969. That year,
Saul Cherniack Saul Mark Cherniack, (January 10, 1917 – March 30, 2018) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1962 to 1981, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Edward Schreyer. ...
was appointed as the Minister responsible for the amalgamation, in addition to becoming the
Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
. James Currie Gilmour was also a supervisor of the Unicity project. The coordination of policy and administration was to be facilitated by the close cooperation of a
Board of Commissioners A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually comprise ...
, who would act as the senior officers of the city's civil service, and the 50-member
City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
with its 3 standing committees (Finance, Environment, and Works and Operations). In order to deliver services at the local level, the city was to be divided into 13 community committee areas. The community committee would be composed of the City Councillors within the given community's boundaries, and each committee was to be advised by a "Resident’s Advisory Group."https://www.winnipegarchitecture.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/A-City-at-Leisure.pdf The goals of the NDP included greater citizen participation in government,"Thus a key goal was to reduce citizen alienation through electoral distribution and political decentralization..." Brownstone and Plunkett 1983 ("Metropolitan Winnipeg: politics and reform of local government," University of California Press). as quoted in McAllister, Mary Louise. 2005. ''Governing Ourselves? The Politics of Canadian Communities''. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press. , . p. 104. "financial equity, the elimination of conflict and stalemate between the Metro and municipal levels, greater efficiency in the delivery of services, and a greater degree of involvement by the public at large in local politics." However, the unicity reforms as actually enacted were far from those laid out in the NDP's original December 1970
white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
on the subject ("Proposals for Urban Reorganization in the Greater Winnipeg Area"). Then-Mayor of Winnipeg
Stephen Juba Stephen Juba, (July 1, 1914 – May 2, 1993) was a Canadian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1953 to 1959, and served as the 37th Mayor of Winnipeg from 1957 to 1977. He was the first Ukrainian Canad ...
played an integral role in the amalgamation project. He actively opposed the idea of having a
cabinet government A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countrie ...
—wherein the Mayor would be elected from Council rather than by the residents of Winnipeg—that was intended for Unicity. Juba argued for
direct election Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...
, a view that proved to be popular, and pushed the continuation of the office of the mayor as a strong
executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dire ...
that is independent of the City Council.


Amalgamation

The 1971 ''City of Winnipeg Act'', which established the city's boundaries and defined its neighbourhoods, incorporated the City of Winnipeg (1874–1971); the rural municipalities of Charleswood,
Fort Garry Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company's ...
,
North Kildonan North Kildonan is a city ward in northern Winnipeg, and a former municipality in Manitoba, Canada. Its population was of 2016 was 44,664. History What is now North Kildonan was originally part of the Rural Municipality of Kildonan. In 1914, the ...
, and
Old Kildonan Old Kildonan is the northernmost city ward of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Before the ''City of Winnipeg Act'' of 1972, it was an independent unincorporated municipality called the Municipality of Old Kildonan; prior to that, from 1914, it was a subdivis ...
; the Town of
Tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element fo ...
; the cities of
East Kildonan East Kildonan is a primarily residential community in northeast Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Commonly known by its initials EK, the suburb has a population of approximately 35,800 as of the 2016 Census. East Kildonan is bounded from the Red Riv ...
,
West Kildonan West Kildonan is a residential suburb within the Old Kildonan and Mynarski city wards of Winnipeg, Manitoba, lying on the west side of the Red River, and immediately north of the old City of Winnipeg in the north-central part of the city. It ...
, St. Vital,
Transcona Transcona is a ward and suburb of Winnipeg, Manitoba, located about east of the downtown area. Until 1972, it was a separate municipality, having been incorporated first as the Town of Transcona on 6 April 1912 and then as the City of Tr ...
,
St. Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...
, and
St. James-Assiniboia St. James-Assiniboia is a major community area in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. As it encapsulates most of the city ward of St. James, which includes the major St. James Street, the area itself is often simply referred to "St. James." Located in th ...
; and the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg into one city, commonly referred to as ''unicity''. The ''Act'' also guaranteed
bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
services in some parts of St. Boniface and St. Vital, as well as in certain City of Winnipeg offices. Donald Ian MacDonald became the first
Chief Commissioner A chief commissioner is a commissioner of a high rank, usually in chief of several commissioners or similarly styled officers. Colonial In British India the gubernatorial style was chief commissioner in various (not all) provinces (often after be ...
of the new City of Winnipeg in 1971. The unicity system replaced the two-tier metropolitan system with
first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
voting. The election of the first
Winnipeg City Council The Winnipeg City Council (french: Conseil municipal de Winnipeg) is the governing body of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Council is seated in the Council Building of Winnipeg City Hall.6 October 1971 and the new City came into legal existence on 1 January 1972. Beginning in 1972, the new unified Council consisted of 50 councillors, one elected from each of the city's 50
wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
, and a
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
, elected by voters in the city-at-large. The inaugural meeting of the new City Council subsequently took place in the Council Chamber of the
Winnipeg Civic Centre Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,60 ...
on 4 January 1972. Though officially joined in 1972, the total amalgamation of all areas and their respective civic departments (e.g. police) was not completed until years later, taking place in stages after considerable research and consultation. The Unicity-area
Fire Departments A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
, for instance, amalgamated in January 1974. The Winnipeg ambulance service subsequently formed in 1975. The scale of this operation was due to the fact that each former municipality had its own civil service with its own
seniority list Seniority is the state of being older or placed in a higher position of status relative to another individual, group, or organization. For example, one employee may be senior to another either by role or rank (such as a CEO vice a manager), or by ...
s,
pension plan A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
s,
benefits Benefit or benefits may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Benefit'' (album), by Jethro Tull, 1970 * "Benefits" (''How I Met Your Mother''), a 2009 TV episode * '' The Benefit'', a 2012 Egyptian action film Businesses and organisatio ...
,
classification system Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes. It may also refer to: Business, organizat ...
s, and
collective agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...
s with employees.


Police forces

Not all functions within the new city joined together immediately. Though officially joined in 1972, the total amalgamation of all areas and their respective civic departments was not completed until 1974. The various Police Departments continued working as independent forces, each still maintaining their own radio system, stations, and distinct uniforms. In case of an emergency, they would use a
Civil Defence Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...
radio network to connect all of the departments. The change that would occur in 1972 was that the existing forces would be combined into 8 community districts. The
North Kildonan North Kildonan is a city ward in northern Winnipeg, and a former municipality in Manitoba, Canada. Its population was of 2016 was 44,664. History What is now North Kildonan was originally part of the Rural Municipality of Kildonan. In 1914, the ...
Police Force (who had 18 members) left their building on 1400
Henderson Highway Route 42 is a major arterial road located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It connects the suburbs of North Kildonan, East Kildonan, Fort Rouge, Fort Garry, and St. Norbert with the city's downtown core. In the north, it is a continuation of Manitoba Pr ...
to move in with the
East Kildonan East Kildonan is a primarily residential community in northeast Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Commonly known by its initials EK, the suburb has a population of approximately 35,800 as of the 2016 Census. East Kildonan is bounded from the Red Riv ...
Police Department (39 members) at 545 Watt Street. The
Old Kildonan Old Kildonan is the northernmost city ward of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Before the ''City of Winnipeg Act'' of 1972, it was an independent unincorporated municipality called the Municipality of Old Kildonan; prior to that, from 1914, it was a subdivis ...
Police Force (7 member) similarly moved out of their location at McPhillips/Jefferson to work at 260 Hartford Avenue, the station of the
West Kildonan West Kildonan is a residential suburb within the Old Kildonan and Mynarski city wards of Winnipeg, Manitoba, lying on the west side of the Red River, and immediately north of the old City of Winnipeg in the north-central part of the city. It ...
Police Department (22 members). On 1 October 1972, the Tuxedo Police Force (5 members) joined the Winnipeg Police Department (WPD; 528 members) in Winnipeg Inner City; thereafter, the former Tuxedo Police Station at 2020
Corydon Avenue Corydon may refer to: Literature *Corydon (character), a stock name for a shepherd in pastorals * ''Corydon'' (book), an early 20th-century book by André Gide People * Bent Corydon (born 1942), American author and journalist *Bjarne Corydon (bor ...
would be used as an ancillary office. Winnipeg also overtook responsibility for the RM of Charleswood, whose contract with the
RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...
had expired. The remaining police forces at this time were those of Winnipeg, Fort Garry, St. Boniface, St. James-Assiniboia, St. Vital, and Transcona—each of whom continued working out of their own stations and wearing their respective shoulder flashes. By 1973, the WPD continued to increase in size with the expanding workload, consisting of 493 officers and 141 staff. The early years of amalgamation also saw the creation of various specialty units within the Winnipeg Police, in addition to the canine unit which began in 1972. For instance, an underwater recovery unit existed in the Fort Garry Police Department and was enlarged; a
letter bomb A letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb, package bomb, note bomb, message bomb, gift bomb, present bomb, delivery bomb, surprise bomb, postal bomb, or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with t ...
explosion in Winnipeg inspired the establishment of a
bomb disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous Explosive device, explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functi ...
unit; the possibilities of large
public disorder Public security or public safety is the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant Risk, danger, injury, or property damage. It is often conducted by a State (polity), state ...
s brought on the creation of a
crowd control Crowd control is a public security practice in which large crowds are managed in order to prevent the outbreak of crowd crushes, affray, fights involving drunk and disorderly people or riots. Crowd crushes in particular can cause many hundreds ...
unit; and the need for specially trained negotiators and weapons experts lead to the formation of an
emergency response Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal wit ...
unit. Additionally, in order to enforce all laws within the
public parks A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...
and other City-owned properties, section 661 of the new ''City of Winnipeg Act'' provided for the employment of
watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 a ...
, who had "all the authority and powers of, and eresubject to the same liability and to the performance of the same duties as, a constable under the ''Provincial Police Act''." The final amalgamation of the individual police forces took place on 21 October 1974, when the 8 remaining departments merged into the unified City of Winnipeg Police Department, commanded by Chief of Police Norman M. Stewart. Six separate districts would be formed based on geography, as St. Vital Police joined St. Boniface to become District #5 and East Kildonan Police joined Transcona to become District #4. The other districts became: * District #1 was the former Winnipeg Inner City Police in the downtown area * District #2, the former St.James-Assiniboia Police to the west * District #3, to the north, was the former West Kildonan Police * District #6, to the south, was made up from the Fort Garry Police with the parts of Winnipeg Police who were now patrolling Tuxedo, Charleswood, and Headingley. When this final amalgamation took place, the force nearly doubled with the authorized strength of 1975 at 921 officers and 171 staff—excluding 35 Commissionaires for parking patrol. Effective January 1975, all officers were required to be wearing the new Winnipeg Police Department shoulder flashes, "One With The Strength of Many", thereby completing the transition to a new force.


Fire departments

The fire departments of the Unicity-area amalgamated in January 1974 to become the City of Winnipeg Unified Fire Department. Upon the formation of Unicity in 1972, changes to Winnipeg's fire stations included: * Fire Hall #8 (325 Talbot Ave) became an
ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...
depot. * Fire Hall #12 (1055 Dorchester Ave) was closed. * Fire Hall #15 (524 Osborne St) was initially closed, but converted into an
ambulance station An ambulance station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of ambulance vehicles and their medical equipment, as well as working and living space for their staff. Ambulance stations have facilities for maintaining ambulance vehicles ...
between 1975 and 1978 and re-designated as Ambulance Station #10. Further changes occurred for fire departments upon their official amalgamation in 1974, primarily the renumbering of various fire stations: * Fire Hall #7 (349 Burrows Ave) became #6. * Fire Hall #11 (180 Sinclair St) became #7. * Fire Hall #17 (1710 Grosvenor) became #12. * St. James Fire Hall (200 Berry St) became Winnipeg Fire Hall #11. * St. Boniface Fire Hall #3 (864 Marion St) became Winnipeg Fire Hall #9. * Transcona Public Safety Building (730 Pandora Ave. West) became Winnipeg Fire Hall #21.


Other civic service

Following the formation of Unicity, various civic features of the former municipalities were changed, including: * East Kildonan City Hall (755 Henderson Hwy) became the city's East Kildonan – Transcona Community Office. * Public libraries of the former municipalities joined the
Winnipeg Public Library The Winnipeg Public Library (french: Bibliothèque publique de Winnipeg) is a public library system in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Branches provide programming for children, teens, and adults. The Library also contains an Outreach Department which works ...
(WPL) system: ** St. Boniface Public Library Provencher Branch (255 Avenue de la Cathedrale) became the WPL Provencher Park Branch ** St. Boniface Public Library Norwood Branch (120 Eugenie St) became the WPL Coronation Park Branch. ** Transcona Public Library (111 Victoria Ave. West) became the WPL Transcona Branch. * The Winnipeg Incinerator (Henry Ave) was renamed the Maude Street Incinerator to differentiate from other facilities. In 1971, 6 former municipalities had their own
parks & recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...
boards or recreation commissions: East Kildonan, Fort Garry, St. Boniface, St. James-Assiniboia, St. Vital, and West Kildonan. The other 6 (including the City of Winnipeg) had run their parks & recreation programs through a council committee. Winnipeg's former Metropolitan Parks and Protection Division would provide the basis for the central administration for the new, unified Parks and Recreation Department.


Aftermath

To review the ''City of Winnipeg Act'', a provincial Committee of Review (the "Taraska" Commission) was appointed in 1975, chaired by Peter Stanley Taraska. The Committee found numerous problems in the political structure of the unicity, attributing such to the failure of the provincial government to fully implement the ideas of the original architects of the unicity plan. In 1976, the Commission recommended a
parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
for Unicity. Insofar as it did not achieve many of its lofty goals, the Unicity amalgamation has been widely regarded as a failure. However, it did have some success in equalizing
property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...
rates across the city, eliminating the
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
an "property
tax haven A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
s" that had coupled low tax rates with a high level of services provided by the city at the cost of higher tax rates overall. In 1984, the provincial government appointed a City of Winnipeg Act Review Committee, chaired by former City Councillor Lawrie Cherniack. In 1986, the Committee released the Cherniack Report, concluding that "the unicity structure, with its many suburban councillors and large
tax base A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal person, legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regiona ...
, facilitated the building of suburban
infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
, to the detriment of
inner-city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists sometim ...
investment." This may have been inevitable, since the incorporation of so many large suburban areas into a unicity naturally increased the political clout of the suburbs at the expense of the old City of Winnipeg.


Developments since

Initially following the amalgamation,
Winnipeg City Council The Winnipeg City Council (french: Conseil municipal de Winnipeg) is the governing body of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Council is seated in the Council Building of Winnipeg City Hall.mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
). The council was reduced to 29 councillors in 1980; and to 15 councillors in 1992. These reductions have garnered pushback: according to the
Canadian Union of Public Employees The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...
Local 500, "One of the cornerstones of Unicity was the assurance to all citizens that amalgamation would not reduce resident involvement in civic politics."Toews, Owen.
Winnipeg Free for All: Towards Democracy at City Hall
" Winnipeg:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) is an independent think tank in Canada. It has been described as "left leaning". The CCPA concentrates on economic policy, international trade, environmental justice and social policy. It is es ...
Manitoba Office. .
On 7 October 1992, the ''City of Winnipeg Act'' was amended, as per the recommendation of the Winnipeg Wards Boundaries Commission, in order to provide for the definition and recognition of 5 Community Committee areas comprising a total of 15 wards. Later that year, on December 31,
Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...
seceded from the City of Winnipeg. On 29 October 1997, the ''City of Winnipeg Act'' was again amended, providing for a 4-term of office for Mayors and City Councillors, as well as replacing the Board of Commissioners with a
Chief Administrative Officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is a top-tier executive who supervises the daily operations of an organization and is ultimately responsible for its performance. Government and non-profit A CAO is responsible for administrative management of ...
model. Six years later, on 1 January 2003, the Act was amended yet again, this time being replaced by the ''City of Winnipeg Charter''.


See also

*
Law, government, and crime in Winnipeg The municipal government of Winnipeg is represented by 15 city councillors and a mayor elected every four years. Along with being the current provincial capital of Manitoba, Winnipeg has served as the capital for two other Canadian territories: t ...
*
List of municipalities in Manitoba Manitoba is the fifth most populous province in Canada with 1,342,153 residents as of 2021 and is the sixth largest in land area at . Manitoba's 137 municipalities cover only of the province's land mass yet are home to of its population. ...
*
1971 Winnipeg municipal election The 1971 Winnipeg municipal election was held in October 1971 to elect a mayor, councillors and school trustees in the City of Winnipeg. This was the first municipal election to take place after the amalgamation of Winnipeg with its suburban comm ...
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Manitoba municipal amalgamations, 2015 The 2015 municipal amalgamations in Manitoba was the result of new legislation (''Municipal Amalgamations Act'') in the province that required a minimum population threshold of 1,000 people in order to incorporate a municipality. To meet this new ...
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Politics of Manitoba The Province of Manitoba, similar to other Canadian provinces and territories, is governed through a Westminster-based parliamentary system. The Manitoba government's authority to conduct provincial affairs is derived from the Constitution of Can ...
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Political culture of Canada The political culture of Canada is in some ways part of a greater North American and European political culture, which emphasizes constitutional law, freedom of religion, personal liberty, and regional autonomy; these ideas stem in various deg ...
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Subdivisions of Winnipeg Winnipeg, Manitoba, is subdivided in different ways for different purposes. The suburbs and neighbourhoods of Winnipeg take their names from former administrative districts, parishes, and geographic features. City wards , the City of Winnipeg ...
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Unicity Mall Unicity Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was named for the 1972 unicity restructuring of city management. Originally known as Unicity Fashion Square when it opened in September 1975, the mall was anchored by a Wool ...


References


Further reading

* Axworthy, Lloyd. 1980. "The Best Laid Plans Oft Go Astray: The Case of Winnipeg." Pp. 105–21 in ''Problems of Change in Urban Government'', edited by M. O. Dickerson, S. Drabek, and J. Woods. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. *
The Unicity Papers
'. Institute of Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg. ** Klos, Nancy. 1998.
The State of Unicity—25 Years Later: Conference Proceedings (October 3-4, 1997)
" Winnipeg: Institute of Urban Studies. . {{Winnipeg Municipal government of Winnipeg Urban planning in Canada History of Winnipeg 1972 in Manitoba
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...