Winnipeg’s firefighters are backing Judy Wasylycia-Leis

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This article was published 22/09/2014 (4087 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Winnipeg’s firefighters union has endorsed mayoral candidate Judy Wasylycia-Leis, while describing her opponents as surrounded by narrow-minded, right-wing extremists.

Alex Forrest, president of United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, said endorsing Wasylycia-Leis is like returning home for firefighters, who have supported her previous federal and provincial campaigns.

“Judy is the right candidate for the right time,” Forrest said as he and Wasylycia-Leis stood in the firefighters historical museum late Monday morning surrounded by dozens of firefighters wearing yellow Judy t-shirts.

The endorsement is a reversal for the firefighters’ union, which four years ago rejected Wasylycia-Leis’ overtures and backed Sam Katz.

Forrest said the union didn’t so much oppose Wasylycia-Leis four years ago; rather they opted to side with Katz because he had supported them and they were returning the favour.

Forrest said Wasylycia-Leis is the candidate best able to reach out to all Winnipeggers and councillors of all political leanings to reach consensus at city hall, adding he was concerned Brian Bowman and Gord Steeves had surrounded themselves with extreme right wingers concerned more with budget cuts than service delivery.

“It’s not that I dislike (Bowman and Steeves) personally,” Forrest said. “What scares the heck out of me is the people they’ve surrounded themselves with – very right-wing individuals who I believe will hurt the city…

“The mayor who is going to be leader after the election is going to have to…be non-partisan and I really don’t believe (Bowman and Steeves) really have that ability.”

Forrest said he was also concerned with the transformation of Steeves from the moderate, centrist politician he was during 11 years as a councillor to the campaign’s hardened right-winger.

Katz said securing the firefighters union endorsement is “a big feather” in Wasylycia-Leis’ cap.

“It comes with workers, which is probably the hardest thing to acquire in an election,” Katz said. “Raising money is easy. Knocking on doors is fun. Burmashaving is a riot. Finding people to actually do the work that has to be done is the biggest challenge of all, so there’s no question that’s extremely valuable to any candidate running.”

While Forrest said it’s important for firefighters to be politically active to ensure their jobs and fire halls are protected in budget deliberations, Wasylycia-Leis said she made no promises to Forrest in exchange for the union’s support except to ensure all of the city’s emergency services are protected and exempt from budget cuts.

“The reason we do this (political endorsements) is because our jobs are on the line when decisions are made,” Forrest said.

Forrest said the union can bring a team of 250 firefighters to work on Wasylycia-Leis’ campaign, adding they also expect to help with strategy in the remaining month of the campaign.

With files from Bartley Kives

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca