CUPE ripped as golf-course leases die

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This article was published 30/05/2013 (4576 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg’s largest union is trying to take control of city hall, deputy mayor Russ Wyatt charged as a plan to lease four city-owned golf courses died Wednesday.

A divided council voted 8-7 to reject a deal that would have seen Ontario’s GolfNorth Properties maintain and operate links at Kildonan Park, Crescent Park, Harbour View and Windsor Park for 20 years.

Although the defeat was expected, an angry Wyatt lashed out at the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500, claiming the union controls the votes of six members of council and will attempt to seize a majority in 2014 when Winnipeggers next go to the polls.

The Transcona councillor said his colleagues should be more concerned with taxpayers who support money-losing golf courses than they are with the union that provides support on election day. For the past 15 days, he’s maintained the cost of unionized labour has hamstrung the city’s 12 golf courses, citing a 2011 city audit that also identified dramatically declining golf rounds as a factor in annual losses at the city’s Golf Services special operating agency.

After the meeting, Wyatt said CUPE has control of the provincial legislature and wants to exert influence over Main Street.

“It’s pretty clear that’s their goal, with their conduct over the past month on this issue,” he said, referring to a mail-out campaign against some members of council. “They have six now and they need three more and that would be a pretty scary thing for the ratepayers of Winnipeg.”

CUPE spokesman David Jacks called Wyatt’s comments “absolutely ridiculous.” He said CUPE lobbied against the golf-course lease because the union objects to the contracting out of city services, a move that cuts CUPE jobs.

Wyatt’s statement is reminiscent of Mayor Sam Katz’s state of the city speech in 2010, when he accused the Manitoba New Democratic Party of trying to take over city hall. On Wednesday, the mayor declined to draw any parallels between his and Wyatt’s comments, but repeated his assertion he did not expect CUPE-supported councillors to support the GolfNorth Properties lease.

Council approved the other component of the city’s latest golf-course plan, voting 9-6 to declare Headingley’s John Blumberg Golf Course surplus to the city’s needs. That paves the way for a marketing effort for the 81-hectare piece of riverfront property, but any future sale would require approval from a two-thirds majority of council. St. Norbert Coun. Justin Swandel, who supported the move, said he doubted the city will be presented with a good offer.

Wednesday’s meeting also saw several councillors express frustration over the amount of time the city has spent on the golf-course file — and the $69,600 tab for the Responsible Winnipeg ad campaign, which tried to sell the golf-course proposal to Winnipeggers.

Charleswood-Tuxedo Coun. Paula Havixbeck tore into Wyatt and Katz, accusing the former of being reckless with taxpayers’ money and the latter of failing to lead.

Havixbeck also accused Wyatt of trying to distract the public from his own poor performance as deputy mayor. “The whole thing about a CUPE campaign and they control six of us is hogwash,” the council conservative said. “I voted on the basis of the report, which was not thorough.”

Winnipeggers go to the polls in 17 months. That’s soon enough to lead councillors to exhibit more extreme ideology, said Swandel, condemning both the left and right for polarizing the golf issue.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca