Emma Durand-Wood voted in as new city councillor

Winnipeg officially has a new city councillor, as Emma Durand-Wood won Saturday’s by-election in the Elmwood-East Kildonan ward.

“We’ve worked really hard, we’ve knocked on virtually every door in the ward, over 17,000, to really get a sense of what the issues are,” said Durand-Wood.

“You know, as a city councillor, you’re one of a team, you don’t get anything done yourself, so you have to leverage those partnerships but you also have to be willing to work with council, and the way to do that is to be collaborative and respectful and look for common ground wherever it is, so that will be my approach.”

Durand-Wood will now take the place of Jason Schreyer, who died this past April, noting the legacy he left in the community.

“He really cared, especially about the little guy, you know, quality, fairness, and lifting people up was always very important to him, and those are my values too so, I hope to continue on with the good work he was going, being responsive to the community.”

Durand-Wood finished with over 30 per cent of the total vote, with 1,567 people casting a ballot for her. Able Gutierrez came second with 887 votes.

CityNews caught up with her leading up to the results on Saturday, where she said none of it would have been possible without her supporters throughout the campaign. 

“Really, it’s just been terrific to have the support of so many of my neighbours and you know, fellow folks in the community that I’ve worked alongside with in a volunteer capacity for so many years, and it’s just really nice, people find that out positive, optimistic, solutions-based campaign is really resonating with them,” said Durand-Wood.

Griffin Janzen says he supported Durand-Wood because, “I’m somebody who believes a lot in coming together as a community, and trying to work together with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and not creating more division than we already have in today’s political climate.”

Angie, a local resident, said, “She’s well spoken, and she is very honest, hard working, and I think that she will do the best job that we can ask for.”