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This article was published 04/05/2010 (4779 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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WINNIPEG – Judy Wasylycia-Leis said she wants to be the mayor of "a safer, better, greener, fairer Winnipeg" at a campaign launch that was heavy on enthusiasm but short on specific promises.

Speaking in front of several hundred people in the atrium at The Forks Market just before noon, the former NDP MP for Winnipeg North said she wants to replace Mayor Sam Katz because this city is "falling behind" and has no "coherent plan."

In a short address before an audience that included former mayor Bill Norrie, former mayoral candidate Kaj Hasselriis, opposition Couns. Harvey Smith (Daniel McIntyre) and Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge) and Liberal Sen. Sharon Carstairs, Wasylycia-Leis accused Katz of not being mayor for all of Winnipeg and suggested he was not a full-time mayor.

"All Winnipeggers should have a stake in the business of city hall, but city hall shouldn’t just be open for business," she said, adding Katz has done things to make her "very, very angry."

Speaking to reporters afterward, she declined to say what those things are.

She also refused to say whether she will raise property taxes, refused to say whether she prefers bus rapid transit to light rail transit and refused to offer her opinion on the stadium deal.

She said she will consult with people during the campaign before she makes specific promises.

Carstairs, her campaign co-chair, led her away from reporters to end the scrum.

During her speech, she also railed against "hidden costs" and increased fees that have materialized while Katz has been in office.

She identified those fees as including the proposed fees attached to home sales – and the cost of repairing vehicles damaged by Winnipeg’s roads.