Submitted
New provincial legislation enables Selkirk to restore local planning autonomy and ensure municipal service decisions are made by the locally-elected council.
The City of Selkirk has formally requested withdrawal from the Capital Planning Region (CPR), following Bill 4 – The Planning Amendment Act, which enables municipalities to request withdrawal from the planning region, receiving Royal Assent on June 3rd.
At the council meeting of June 9th, Selkirk Council unanimously adopted a resolution to invoke clause 10(2) of the new legislation, and request that Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Glen Simard remove Selkirk from the Capital Planning Region, which operates as the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region.
The request has been submitted to the Minister of Municipal and Northern Relations in accordance with provisions in the Act that require the Minister to act “as soon as practicable” on such resolutions received before the 2026 municipal election.
Requests for removal received before the 2026 election must be granted
Clauses 10(2) and 10(3) from Bill 4 state that requests for removal from the CPR received prior to the next municipal election must be granted.
By withdrawing from the CPR, Selkirk would restore its autonomy to make land-use and other municipal decisions consistent with the authority of other cities in Manitoba. Regaining control of land-use planning autonomy, utility & transportation investments, and economic development activities ensures that decisions about Selkirk’s economic, environmental, and social development are made by a locally-elected Council and held accountable directly to the citizens of Selkirk.
“We have spent years trying to explain how poorly thought-out Bill 37 was and how damaging Selkirk’s inclusion into the CPR would be for our community.”Selkirk Mayor, Larry Johannson
Mayor Larry Johannson said that Selkirk Council appreciates the leadership shown by Premier Wab Kinew, Minister Glen Simard, and the new provincial government on this file.
“We have spent years trying to explain how poorly thought-out Bill 37 was and how damaging Selkirk’s inclusion into the CPR would be for our community.
Thankfully, Premier Kinew has listened and has demonstrated this government’s willingness to respect the role that local councils play in the development of their communities.”
Johannson pointed out that the City of Selkirk is already demonstrating strong leadership in the areas of infrastructure asset management, climate change adaptation, GHG reduction, environmental stewardship, public transit, active transportation, and smart land-use planning.
“We are nationally recognized as leaders in these areas. Being part of the CPR would only put up roadblocks to our work and would cost us development and would transfer local decision-making authority to Winnipeg. We have long said this was bad for the citizens of Selkirk. Our community is on a different path, one with sustainability as our north star. Bill 4 restores our ability to continue on that path. We are thankful to the provincial government for this opportunity.”
Selkirk never belonged in the Capital Planning Region
A key element to the city’s argument for not being part of the CPR is that no social or economic evaluations were done to support the drawing of the boundaries for the region.
Selkirk CAO Duane Nicol said that despite asking since 2020 for the rationale for Selkirk’s inclusion, the province has refused to provide any.
“Selkirk has never belonged. The boundaries were arbitrarily drawn without any research and firmly rooted in ‘perimeteritis’ thinking. A quick look at actual data from Statistics Canada shows that the majority of Selkirk residents work in Selkirk and that more Winnipeggers drive to Selkirk for work than the other way around. Double the amount in fact.”
Nicol said that according to Statistics Canada, Selkirk provides between 23-29% of the residents of the neighbouring RMs of St Andrews and St. Clements with employment.
“we are thankful for Bill 4 and for the fact that we now have the opportunity to correct this”Selkirk CAO, Duane Nicol
“Our daytime population increases by over 20 percent during the workday. We have our own commuter shed. Selkirk isn’t even in the census metropolitan area for Winnipeg, which is the recognized measure for showing social and economic links between urban centers and their neighbours. It simply wasn’t good public policy and we are thankful for Bill 4 and for the fact that we now have this opportunity to correct this,” said Nicol.
While there are no fixed timelines for Selkirk’s removal from the region now that the request has been made, the legislation does mandate the Minister to remove the city from the region by regulation as soon as practicable.
Municipalities need to act quickly
Councillor John Buffie, the city’s current representative on the CPR board of directors, said Council wanted to submit its request as soon as possible to move on and to ensure it could get out.
“We were concerned that if we did not leave before the next municipal election, we would not have a legislated option to make that choice independently and would be locked in for the next ten years. After the municipal election, the Minister regains the discretion to approve requests or not, and with how the legislation is written, we don’t think municipalities will be able to even request removal for a decade after the election,” said Buffie.
“we want to move past this so that we can focus our time and resources on building our city according to our citizen-informed community strategic plan and on working collaboratively within our true region – the Triple S region”Selkirk Councillor, John Buffie
“Frankly, we want to move past this so that we can focus our time and resources on building our city according to our citizen-informed community strategic plan and on working collaboratively within our true region – the Triple S region, which includes Selkirk, St. Andrews, and St. Clements – where we are already sharing infrastructure, services, and have strong economic, social, and cultural connections.”
Backgrounder
Selkirk was added to the Capital Planning Region without consultation through legislation that replaced the previously voluntary Partnership of the Manitoba Capital Region. Since that time, the city has consistently voiced its opposition to the mandatory structure and lack of meaningful local input. City representatives lobbied the previous provincial government via meetings and discussions with senior bureaucrats and the various ministers who held the municipal portfolio, but no changes were made.
The CPR, operating as the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region, proceeded to implement the legislation working to develop their first regional plan, Plan 20-50.
Preparation of Plan 20-50 provided limited opportunities for effective involvement from the full elected and administrative leadership of the member municipalities and failed to provide meaningful public engagement. When Plan 20-50 was subjected to the required public hearing process in 2024, there was significant public opposition as well as opposition from member municipalities.
In August 2024, Premier Wab Kinew announced that legislation would be introduced to make membership in the CPR voluntary.
The new legislation became law on June 3, 2025, and finally provides the opportunity to restore municipal decision-making authority and removal from the CPR.
