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Orlikow wins council seat

Demurs on notion of joining left-leaning opposition to mayor

By: Bartley Kives

18/03/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 9

John Orlikow arrives at Mona Lisa Ristorante, where the party for his city council seat win was held.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

John Orlikow arrives at Mona Lisa Ristorante, where the party for his city council seat win was held.

Winnipeggers will wake up this morning to a slightly more left-leaning city council, as John Orlikow is the new councillor for River Heights-Fort Garry.

The former school trustee defeated broadcaster Geoff Currier by almost 1,100 votes in a St. Patrick's Day byelection that saw NDP orange and Liberal red team up to defeat Tory blue on a night when the rest of the city was more concerned with being green.

Geoff Currier: low voter turnout

Enlarge Image

Geoff Currier: low voter turnout (JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)

With every poll reporting, the unofficial vote count was 4,392 for Orlikow and 3,299 for Currier.

The 39-year-old Orlikow, a 10-year school board veteran who was backed by Liberal and NDP-affiliated politicians and supporters, will fill a city council seat that's sat vacant since the December death of Brenda Leipsic, a Progressive Conservative who was one of Mayor Sam Katz's closest allies.

Federal and provincial Tories were among Currier's most prominent supporters.

Although Orlikow's election does little to threaten the mayor's control of Winnipeg's 16-member city council, the mere presence of a self-described progressive politician at city hall increases the size of the unofficial opposition to five councillors.

Orlikow, however, does not consider himself left of centre.

"It depends on how you define 'left,'" he said as he walked up to his victory party at Corydon Avenue's Mona Lisa Ristorante, explaining his main concerns are improving community centres, public transit and active transportation.

 

Flanked by his wife and two young daughters, Orlikow thanked his campaign team for beating the bushes for votes during a byelection that saw River Heights-Fort Garry voters "too busy" to bother to vote.

Only 7,691 of 35,015 eligible voters bothered to vote, which translates into a voter turnout of 22 per cent, city election official Marc Lemoine said.

Only three blocks to the north, Geoff Currier stood inside his Academy Road campaign headquarters and said he regretted more people in the ward were not engaged by the byelection.

If more people knew the difference between the candidates -- especially in conservative but election-apathetic Linden Woods -- the result may have been different, said Currier, who will return to the air on CJOB on Monday night and will not seek election to public office ever again.

"The biggest disappointment is (almost) 80 per cent of River Heights-Fort Gary voters don't care who their city councillor is," he said during an impassioned concession speech that also saw him remind Orlikow he was not elected "to become a member of the unofficial opposition" at city hall.

"That's fine," Orlikow said in response. "There's no opposition for me. There's just the River Heights-Fort Garry ward."

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz said he will not lump Orlikow in with council critics such as Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi and St. Boniface's Dan Vandal, especially since the former school trustee took the time to contact Katz at the outset of the hard-fought battle with Currier.

"I would have hoped when individuals worked as hard as those two did, you would have had a better voter turnout," Katz said after congratulating Orlikow.

Brenda Leipsic's daughter Tracy Leipsic -- a lifelong friend of Orlikow's -- said she believes the new councillor will do a good job filling her late mother's shoes, despite the ideological differences between the two politicians.

"I find the day somewhat bittersweet," she said. "I know he'll put his heart and soul into this."

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 18, 2009 A3

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9 Commentscomment icon

Guess all the City Fire Fighters couldn't pull off a victory for Currier after all... The Fire union is 0 and ??? for getting their people elected in elections.

Mr. Currier's post-election remarks were extremely ungracious, those of the classic poor loser. Regardless of his personal feelings, his remarks were surprising for someone who had political ambitions. Given his lack of political smarts, it's good to know that he won't seek political office again.

With all due respect to Mr. Currier, he lost by over 14.2% - twice the margin of victory posted in Obama's landslide over McCain.

There was more going on here than apathy. Mr. Currier's remarks concerning global warming in particular revealed spectacular ignorance of a subject vital to my childrens' future. The CJOB audio vault further confirms that the Mayor - inexplicably - decided to endorse a good old-fashioned redneck. I for one did not want such a person anywhere near the process of charting a course for my city's future.

It would seem I wasn't alone.

Get real people!! Socialist is backwards. We are not living back in the eighties anymore.

Good job Mr Orlikow.

I believe Orlikow, when he says he will represent what is best for his River Heights area.
I do not follow much of what goes on at City hall, but I am always suspect if the same councillors are always against the Mayor, if only for the reason that I believe that the mayor was elected by the majority of Winnipegers to do what He believes to be in the best interest of Winnipeg.

"It depends on how you define left?" C'mon Councillor, give the FP readers some credit and give your head a shake!
If your supporters are Liberal & NDP affiliated politicans, you're LEFT. If your background includes a stint on a school board, your LEFT...need I go on?
Sad commentary on the state of city politics with 22% turnout, byelection or not.
People have simply given up believing that their voice matters on Main Street.

Hopefully Mr. Orlikow will will avoid the temptation to slide into the negative rhetoric that dominates the positions of Dan Vandal, Jenny Gerbasi and Lillian Thomas. He can represent his ward well, even with a left-of-centre bent, without being automatically opposed to what the Mayor and his allied Councillors propose. If he models himself after Transcona Councillor Russ Wyatt, he can be both an ally and opposition to the Mayor without it becoming petty polar politics. Good luck to Councillor Orlikow

well good one for john orlikow! now if we could only get rid of katz!

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