Latest news with #RochelleSquires
CBC
7 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Weeks after pedestrian-friendly facelift, paint already peeling on new Graham Avenue murals
Murals on the now pedestrian-friendly Graham Avenue were meant to bring a splash of colour to downtown Winnipeg. But just weeks after being painted, cracks are already beginning to form in some of that artwork. "I think anything that beautifies the downtown is a good project," downtown resident Barb Janes said on Wednesday. "I'm sad they didn't do more research on the paint, because it's already peeling up, and that's kind of disrespectful to the artists." After being used for three decades as a transit corridor, buses were moved off of Graham Avenue in July, when the city introduced its new transit plan, and a pilot project was introduced to transform the downtown street into a pedestrian corridor. Rochelle Squires, the CEO of CentreVenture, one of the downtown organizations that worked on transforming the area, said murals now on the street were funded through a $100,000 US grant from the American charity Bloomberg Philanthropies. The work was done by local company Cool Streets, over an approximately 10 day-period. On Tuesday, peeling paint could already be seen on some parts of the murals, and Squires said Cool Streets will be responsible for any repairs. "We understand that there's some repairs that need to be made to the street paint, and that's part of the maintenance agreement with Cool Streets," Squires said. "Ongoing maintenance will be part of that, absolutely." Stéphane Dorge of Cool Streets, who was the project manager on the mural project, blamed some of the peeling issues on the condition of the street, as well as the quick timeline in which the pieces were painted. "There's definitely more paint peeling than we had hoped for, but essentially two days before we started painting, this was an industrial road for transit buses only," Dorge said. "It was 20 years of transit buses leaking oil on the street, heavy tire wear really polishing the concrete, so we anticipated that longevity of the paint wouldn't be the same as using the product on brand new concrete or brand new asphalt, as we typically would." According to Dorge, the murals are only supposed to be on the street for this year and next year, before he said the city will work on a more permanent design for the corridor, and they do plan to touch up the murals at the end of this upcoming winter. "It's something that's meant to fade, it's meant to be replaced in the long term," he said. Despite the peeling, Dorge believes the murals are still a great benefit to the downtown. "It's definitely a challenge to work on this scale at this speed, and this type of surface, but I think the benefits far outweigh the visual impacts of the wear," Dorge said. In a statement the city of Winnipeg said, "Before the paint was applied we decided not to chemically treat the street, as this would have added at least a week to the timeline and increased costs and chemical run off. We did, however, clean it as thoroughly as possible prior to the first application. "As this is a pilot project, we'll be able to use this data when considering the permanent redesign of the street." Cracks forming in Winnipeg's plan to rejuvenate downtown street 11 hours ago The City of Winnipeg got to work this summer on a rejuvenation plan to give Graham Avenue a more dynamic feel, with the work including a street mural covering 24,000 square feet of road. Now, less than two months later, the street mural is peeling.
Global News
23-06-2025
- Business
- Global News
‘Full of life': Winnipeg launches pedestrian reimagining of busy Graham Avenue
Winnipeg has kicked off its reimagining of a busy downtown street. Graham Avenue is set to become the site of a 'pedestrian placemaking pilot' over the next few weeks, coinciding with the launch of the city's new bus network on Sunday. Previously a busy transit route, Graham will see buses diverted off a large stretch of the street, so instead of opening it up to cars again, the city is opting for pedestrian-friendly amenities and protected bike lanes. 'This is a great opportunity to change how people experience this part of our downtown,' Mayor Scott Gillingham said in a statement Monday. 'We're turning Graham into a street full of life and local creativity. This transformation will bring more people and energy downtown – and it complements re-opening Portage and Main, launching our new transit network, and investing in new residential and commercial developments.' Story continues below advertisement The changes are part of an ongoing plan to further develop the street in future to make it even more community- and pedestrian-friendly. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Today is an opportunity to envision the short and long-term vision for a reimagined Graham Avenue,' said Rochelle Squires of CentreVenture Development Corp. 'Where we see empty storefronts, surface parking lots, and underutilized street spaces, we are collaborating with our many downtown partners to create vibrant activity and opportunities for Winnipeg's premier pedestrian street.' The new amenities set to be installed as part of the pilot projects include street furniture built by students at Tec-Voc High School, benches, lighting, art installations, access ramps, picnic tables, ping-pong tables and new landscaping. Street murals painted by local artists, through Cool Streets Winnipeg, are also part of the pilot project, thanks to a $100,000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies Asphalt Art Initiative — making Winnipeg one of only two Canadian cities and one of 10 in North America to receive the funding.
CBC
22-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Former PC minister hopes party learns from conflict-of-interest ruling on 'egregious actions'
An ex-Manitoba cabinet minister welcomes an ethics commissioner's findings that former Tory colleagues, including the one-time party leader and premier, violated the province's conflict-of-interest law and should be fined. "I thank the ethics commissioner for his thorough investigation and report. I hope lessons are heeded from his wise counsel, and the egregious actions outlined in his report are never repeated," Rochelle Squires told CBC News in an email. "Politicians are rightfully held to higher moral and ethical standards; everyone loses when our elected officials don't adhere to these principles." Squires, who held several cabinet portfolios during her time as Progressive Conservative MLA for the south Winnipeg riding of Riel from 2016 to 2023 — including a brief tenure as deputy premier — lost her seat in the October 2023 election when the NDP regained power in Manitoba and formed a majority government. She previously decried her former party's actions as "unconventional and unconscionable." In a 100-page report released Wednesday, ethics commissioner Jeffrey Schnoor said then-premier Heather Stefanson, deputy premier Cliff Cullen and economic development minister Jeff Wharton acted improperly by pushing for the approval of a mining project after the Tories lost the 2023 election. Sio Silica had, when Stefanson's party was still in power, proposed to drill as many as 7,200 wells in southeastern Manitoba over 24 years in an effort to extract up to 33 million tonnes of ultra-pure silica sand. Days after the PCs' loss and before the new NDP government was sworn in, the three Tories tried to get the Alberta mining company's project approved, Schnoor wrote. Their actions violated the Conflict of Interest Act and contravened the caretaker convention, a long-standing parliamentary principle that forbids outgoing governments from making major decisions, Schnoor wrote. The conflict first came to light after Squires and Kevin Klein, another PC cabinet minister who lost his seat in October 2023, said they were called by Wharton after the election and pressured to award the project an environmental licence. They both said they refused because of the caretaker convention. The NDP government rejected the project in February 2024, citing the potential impact on drinking water, among other concerns. Cullen and Stefanson have both since left politics, but Wharton is still a PC MLA for Red River North. He denied trying to push the project through in December 2023, saying he was simply gathering information about the mining project to pass on to the incoming government. On Wednesday, in a written statement, Wharton apologized for any conduct that "was found to fall short of my parliamentary obligations or personal standard of ethics." In her email to CBC News, Squires said she has not spoken to Wharton but is pleased that he apologized. "Change begins with accountability," she wrote. Current PC Leader Obby Khan, who was a cabinet minister under Stefanson, accepted Schnoor's findings but said there needs to be more clarity on what can be done under the caretaker convention. Brandon University political science Prof. Kelly Saunders said the rules are clear and Stefanson, Cullen and Wharton knew them. "These are seasoned politicians. The caretaker convention is straightforward," she said. "I explain it to my second-year students and they understand it. It's not that complicated. It's a straightforward issue that makes sense." It's also not something new for which a minister could be excused for not being aware. "The caretaker convention is a really well-established, well-respected, long-standing principle of the Westminster parliamentary system and has been with us ever since Canada officially became a country," Saunders said. PC leader 'missing an opportunity' Stefanson, in a written statement from her lawyer on Wednesday, said she reached out to the incoming NDP government and fully considered their views before deciding what to do, and ultimately, no licence was issued to Sio Silica. Schnoor thought differently, Saunders said. "If we go by his findings or his conclusions, certainly the former premier did way more than simply reach out to the NDP," she said. "She along with two former high-profile MLAs and cabinet ministers … not only were talking to the NDP, but they were also pressuring, it appears, some of their own caucus members." Saunders is not only disappointed with Stefanson's response; she feels Khan's also fell short. "There was a moment there where he could have really owned the issue as the new leader. He has to take responsibility for actions of his party, even though he was not the premier at the time," she said. "People are human and make mistakes, but it's the lack of accountability and taking responsibility from politicians, I think, that really frustrates voters. "With the PC party really trying to reboot themselves with the new leader … they're really missing an opportunity here to show Manitobans that they are new and different and moving forward. This is just going to continue to dog them, I think."
