Election theme: Only Bowman can keep away dark forces who want to control city hall

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/11/2017 (2952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brian Bowman is refusing to say if he plans to seek a second term as mayor, but comments he made this week reveal he already has his campaign re-election theme worked out.

When asked for reaction to a local think tank’s report calling for reform of the Winnipeg governance model, Bowman dismissed it as simply another attack from those special interests that he chased out of city hall three years ago.

The report from the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives didn’t go after Bowman personally but — because it had been funded by the largest union at city hall and it called to weaken the powers of the mayor’s office he has wielded with much success in the past three years — the mayor portrayed himself as the target of dark forces.

Bowman’s campaign theme for October 2018: only Brian can protect you from those who seek to regain control of city hall.

“Let’s be honest with Winnipeggers with what’s really going on here: there are very powerful special interests, unions and certain wealthy developers who used to call the shots at Winnipeg city hall, and they are highly motivated to go back to the way things were run in the past. There is a reason why they’re going to be attacking me, because they’re not calling the shots any more,” he said.

“I was elected and this council was elected to look after the best interests of Winnipeggers. While some are very focused on me, I’m very focused on looking out for the best interests of Winnipeggers.

“We can’t go back to those days where special interests really called the shots at city hall. Whether it’s a particular union or a particular wealthy developer that are highly motivated to go back to the days where they called the shots.

“And you can expect to see more of this in the coming year. We can expect to see those wanting to call the shots, highly motivated, to come after me and attack me.

“I’m going to be standing up for Winnipeggers and I’ve been doing that every day since I’ve been elected to the best of my ability.”

It’s not certain why Bowman threw “unions” and “certain wealthy developers” into the same pool — no “wealthy developers” were involved in funding or writing the CCPA report.

And why only “certain” wealthy developers? From my simple neighbourhood in North Kildonan, all wealthy developers look the same to me.

Who are those “certain wealthy developers” who want to take back city hall?

Well, Bowman didn’t name them, but certainly the list does not include Mark Chipman, whose $400-million downtown redevelopment project Bowman continues to praise, with words and taxpayer dollars.

Neither is he likely referring to be any of the developers who own the business towers on the corners of Portage Avenue and Main Street (one of whom is Chipman’s partner in the True North Square project).

All of them support Bowman’s plan to reopen the iconic intersection to pedestrians — in exchange for more taxpayer dollars.

So it appears, at least to the mayor, one can distinguish between “wealthy developers” who are your friends, and “wealthy developers” who are out to get you.

In the latter category, Bowman must be including the development firms that joined the court fight against city hall over how it arbitrarily imposed new fees on home construction in the suburbs.

(Memo: just because you keep saying you did consultations, doesn’t mean you did any consultations.)

And, for God’s sake, why attack the City of Winnipeg’s largest union: the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500?

In June, Bowman praised CUPE 500 for a contract settlement he said was fair and sustainable for taxpayers.

It’s certainly puzzling to say CUPE 500 had been running city hall — its wage increases have consistently trailed behind those of other civic unions and the current deal effectively imposed a two-year wage freeze on the lowest-paid employees and added another year-long wage freeze at the end of the deal.

So, which unions does Bowman think had been running city hall? Perhaps the better question is: which ones still have a hand in running city hall?

(How about the one where its president recently took over the city’s largest fire station for a photo op with the prime minister without getting approval from the administration? The mayor thought that was a good idea, so that must be a good union.)

Bowman increasingly has taken to calling anyone who criticizes him a “special interest” — someone whose motives are at cross-purposes with Winnipeggers and a force who he is determined to defeat.

So, in Bowman-think: if you criticize Brian Bowman, you must have ulterior motives that will only benefit yourself personally at the expense of all other Winnipeggers.

Only Brian Bowman stands between catastrophe and Winnipeg becoming the Shangri-La of the Prairies.

Ironically, the CCPA report concluded the only one controlling city hall for the past 20 years is the person who sits in the office of the mayor — and Bowman, for good or bad, has controlled city hall pretty well during his first term.

Bowman often says council has the final say, but when you’ve consistently locked up nine votes on the 16-member council, things generally go your way — for good or bad for the rest of us.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca