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This article was published 15/10/2010 (4617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG’S two leading mayoral candidates continued to accuse each other of endangering low-income homeowners at the second televised debate of the 2010 civic election campaign.

Mayor Sam Katz and challenger Judy Wasylycia-Leis traded more barbs about each other’s revenue policies Thursday at a CBC News/Winnipeg Free Press mayoral forum broadcast live on CBC Television and winnipegfreepress.com.

All four candidates — Katz, Wasylycia-Leis, Brad Gross and Rav Gill — took part in the hour-long forum.

During a segment when the candidates asked each other questions, Wasylycia-Leis criticized Katz for allowing property-tax bills to rise in the inner city as a result of the reassessment of Winnipeg properties in 2008.

“Where were you, back then, when low-income folks and seniors were struggling?” asked Wasylycia-Leis.

Last weekend, Katz sent tens of thousands of Winnipeg households automated phone messages, warning that people on fixed incomes could lose their homes if Wasylycia-Leis is elected and follows through on a plan to raise property taxes.

Katz then used Wednesday’s Chamber of Commerce forum to accuse the Canadian Union of Public Employees of trying to scare retired city workers into voting for Wasylycia-Leis.

At Thursday’s debate, Katz again criticized the proposed tax hike even as he wriggled out of moderator Janet Stewart’s direct question about whether he would rule out a tax increase of his own.

“What I’d rather do is create an environment where people want to invest in our city and broaden our tax base,” Katz told Wasylycia-Leis.

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Katz said the IKEA development alone would raise $8 million in new taxes for Winnipeg. According to city reports, however, the Seasons of Tuxedo project will only bring in $3.7 million worth of combined municipal property and business taxes every year — once it’s completely built out in eight years.

The biggest policy announcement of the forum, however, came from Gross, who promised to expropriate the Winnipeg Square Parkade if he’s elected mayor.

The real-estate agent said it was foolish for the city to sell the money-making asset. The city sold the parkade for $24 million in 2009.

Gill made his mark by asking Wasylycia-Leis to name a time and date for a meeting with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which has been asking to go through her expense records from her 13-year stint as an MP in Ottawa.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca