Katz and Doer chat it up at mysterious Sals Summit

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Jonathan Toews with Monika Carswell, who paid $1,600 for his autographed sweater. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

SO, SHOULD WE BE SURPRISED?. . . Received a call from a chap named Jeffrey Kraemer who had something intriguing to report. He saw the mayor and premier meeting.

At Salisbury House.

Kraemer said it was early last week, June 9 to be specific.

It was around 8 a.m.

The 44-year-old financial adviser had just dropped off his 13-year-old daughter, Julia, at a dentist's office in the Tuxedo Village Shopping Centre and decided to get a coffee.

Which is how he happened upon Mayor Sam Katz lined up to order breakfast and Premier Gary Doer already at a table waiting for him.

Who called the meeting? Why? And what did they talk about? Those were my questions when I called the offices of the premier and the mayor. Doer's spokesman, Jonathan Hildebrand, confirmed the meeting. But neither he nor Carmen Barnett, the mayor's press secretary, answered specific questions.

Barnett said the mayor is currently attending a wedding in Israel, but she advised he usually doesn't discuss the content of private meetings.

But curiously, this "private" meeting between the province's two most powerful politicians was held in public.

And not only was the venue intriguing, so was the timing. Katz had made it a rule not to get into public spats with the province and hence the premier. But mere days before the Sals Summit, the mayor abruptly became openly critical of the Doer government.

First, it was the feeling the province hadn't consulted the city on the construction zone photo-radar controversy. And then Katz was affronted by the spectre of an NDP bill that would restrict election campaign donations to individuals and toughen conflict of interest rules.

In any event, both press secretaries said the mayor and premier meet regularly. "Or semi-regularly," Hildebrand said.

Sometimes in the premier's office, he added. Sometimes in restaurants.

That's reassuring.

But that's not the impression I had, given the perceived coolness between Doer and Katz.

What impressed my tipster Jeffrey Kraemer, though, was how meeting at such a typical Winnipeg gathering spot seemed to send a message about how connected Doer and Katz are with the common person.

If it were Toronto, Kraemer suggested, the mayor and premier would be meeting at a fancy restaurant.

Not a bacon-and-eggs place.

True enough.

But it's the public nature of the "private" meeting that intrigues me. It's as if it was chosen because it's a casual setting on neutral ground.

And to make sure the conversation never got hotter than the coffee.

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WHAT WOULD YOU PAY FOR TWO SUPER BOWL TICKETS? . . . Some of the 1,600 people who paid big bucks -- single tickets were $195 -- to see and hear NFL quarterback Peyton Manning spent even bigger bucks on juicy auction items.

Especially at the live auction.

For instance, there was the $1,600 that Monika Carswell paid for Winnipeg boy Jonathan Toews' Chicago Blackhawks sweater. She bought it for her 15-year-old son Stephan. The bonus was that Toews was at the dinner, so Monika got to have her picture taken with the Blackhawks captain.

There were a couple of other items that got my attention.

A Toronto Maple Leafs package with gold tickets, airfare and two nights at a "top" downtown hotel included.

That went for $3,700.

And the biggest bucks item -- a Super Bowl package with two tickets to the next Super Bowl and the pre-game NFL Tailgate party.

That went for a whopping $10,000.

Travel and hotel NOT included.

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THE LAST LAUGH. . . A woman called the other day because she needed someone to talk to, as readers sometimes do. She explained that her marriage is over -- her decision -- and that their jointly owned business is also dissolving. So she's dealing with the conflicting emotions of relief about the end of the marriage, but concern about beginning a new job in a new place. Lately, though, she's starting to feel more hopeful. Sort of. She explained this way:

"I'm cautiously pessimistic."

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 18, 2009 B1