Brian Bowman

Brian Thomas Douglas Bowman (born August 18, 1971) is a Canadian politician who was the 43rd mayor of Winnipeg from 2014 to 2022.

He was first elected in the 2014 municipal election and was re-elected mayor for a second term in October 2018, increasing his plurality from 47% in the last election to a majority of 53%.

Bowman is a self-identified Métis, and is the first mayor of aboriginal descent in the city's history.

Bowman attended Shaftesbury High School in Winnipeg.

He worked as a privacy lawyer prior to entering the municipal election in 2014.

Bowman was a partner with Pitblado Law for 11 years.

During his time with Pitblado, he became a recognized leader in the emerging fields of social media, access to information, and privacy law.

He also served Winnipeg in other leadership capacities including chair of the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce boards of directors.

He has been involved in the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, although he has never held elected office prior to his election to the mayoralty.

Bowman publicly campaigned in 2014 on opening Portage and Main to pedestrians, and instead put the decision to a referendum in 2018 where it was defeated.

Brian Bowman was sworn in on November 4, 2014 as the 43rd Mayor of the City of Winnipeg.

Since becoming Mayor, Brian Bowman has overseen steady and strong population and economic growth in Winnipeg.

Population growth in Winnipeg is projected to grow steadily and strongly over the next 25 years toward a population of one million people.

Bowman has cited the importance of positioning and preparing the city for this level of growth to ensure services are available to residents when they’re needed.

He also made this a key part of this first election campaign.

Coming into office in his first term, Bowman committed to various city building activities that were neglected in previous years.

In January 2015 shortly after being elected, Bowman with Council approved the City’s Asset Management Policy, followed by the development of the City of Winnipeg’s first ever Asset Management Plan which was released in 2018.

This ongoing program helps the City of Winnipeg accurately manage its various holdings including roads, parks, water and sewer utilities, information technology and many more.

A report is published annually summarizing the current state of the City of Winnipeg’s assets to provide direction for investment in the future.

The mayor has also overseen a reduction of the City of Winnipeg’s infrastructure deficit through strategic investments such as increased funding to road construction and rehabilitation on local and regional roads to record levels every year in office.

His first year in office saw a funding increase of 22.7% over the previous year to $103 million.

Subsequent years saw further increases in the roads budget.

These investments have been supported by an increase in property taxes by 2.33% each year since 2015.

The City of Winnipeg municipal residential property taxes continue to be the lowest compared to other large Canadian cities.

Other significant projects include the Empress Street and Overpass Reconstruction and Rehabilitation, the Fermor Avenue Reconstruction & Widening Project, the Pembina Highway Rehabilitation and Buffered Bike Lane Project and the Taché Promenade project.

Infrastructure projects within new developments in Winnipeg were being supported by the Impact Fee, initiated by Bowman and approved by Council on October 26, 2016.

The purpose of this fee was to support the costs of growth within the City of Winnipeg.

A portion of the revenue collected was promised by Bowman to be directed towards the construction of a new community center in the Waverly West neighborhood of Winnipeg.

The Impact Fee in its form as passed by Council was deemed to exceed the City of Winnipeg’s authority.

Despite this, the judge ruled that suburban growth did not pay for the increased load on City infrastructure and services.

The Judge also found that "the city had the power or authority to enact" the impact fee by-law though just not in its current form.

The result of this case was that the approximately $30 million collected by the City of Winnipeg would have to be returned to residents.

As a means to find more durable solutions for municipal infrastructure construction in the City, Bowman initiated the creation of a Municipal Infrastructure Chair at the University of Manitoba.

This position will focus research on road building and road construction materials.

The City of Winnipeg contributed $250 000 over a span of five years to fund this program.

Bowman also supported the City of Winnipeg’s Library Facility Redevelopment Strategy that saw the renovation and renewal of the St. Vital, St. John’s Library, Cornish Library.

This plan also further put in motion the construction of the now open Windsor Park Library and Transcona Library with construction underway on the Bill and Helen Norrie Library.

While in office, Bowman has supported various Transit related projects in Winnipeg.

Citizen satisfaction has increased in regards to the condition of major streets and residential streets since 2017.

One of the major road infrastructure projects supported by the increase of investment in road infrastructure was the Waverley Underpass project, which was completed under budget and ahead of schedule in August 2019.