It has been a year to remember in Winnipeg for so many reasons, but one very large fly has appeared in the champagne.

Although the city has been toasting the rebirth of professional hockey’s Winnipeg Jets, the return to glory of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers football team and more than $2 billion in megaprojects at various stages of construction, the annual murder rate has not so quietly hit a record high.

By late November, 35 murders had been committed in Winnipeg this year, up from just 22 last year.

What gives? Why is it that Calgary can get through 11 months of the year without breaking into the double digits when it comes to the city’s murder rate? Toronto, with several times the population of Winnipeg, has barely two-thirds the homicide total, with less than 25 by mid-November.

It’s not as if the Manitoba capital has yet to recover from the 2008 financial meltdown and normal people are taking to the streets in a murderous rage.

Quite the contrary, in fact. The diversity of the local economy has been widely credited for helping the province swim upstream and avoid a single quarter of negative growth during the downturn.

Still, this new record is not something that can be built into a tourism slogan or a clever civic nickname. Homicide-peg, anyone?

Some observers are happy to employ a “not in my backyard” mentality and have brushed off the murders because they have occurred predominantly in a pair of neighbourhoods that will never be mistaken for Beverly Hills.

The bigger problem for a city that many people believe is on the cusp of some great things, however, is that the murders have started breaking into new territory. A couple of this year’s victims have been felled on Carlton Street, a stone’s throw from the MTS Centre, where 15,000 people gather for every home game to watch the Jets play.

The downtown development agency, CentreVenture, is spearheading a revitalization plan for 11 blocks in Winnipeg’s central business district that will see more than $600 million spent on the SHED (sports, hospitality and entertainment district) over the next five years.

Old, dilapidated buildings are about to meet with the wrecking ball and in their place will rise one or more new hotels, new office space, new retail space, a new parkade and a central meeting place.

The idea is to breathe new life into Winnipeg’s downtown while making it a source of civic pride and an economic engine. That life, virtually everyone agrees, is going to come only once a critical mass of people decide to live downtown, too.

But condo developers will have a tough time if their sales pitches include the number of consecutive days the neighbourhood has gone without a murder.

The Winnipeg Police Service recently unveiled its plan to reduce violent crime in the city. Let’s hope the service can meet and exceed its goals. The future safety and prosperity of the city, and hundreds of millions of dollars — maybe even billions — of investment are riding on it.  IE