Bowman to focus on four themes while transforming Winnipeg

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This article was published 20/03/2015 (3946 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brian Bowman told the city’s business leaders today that his mayoralty will transform Winnipeg into a community everyone will be proud to call home.

Making his inaugural State of the City speech at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Bowman said Winnipeggers need to embrace change.

“The Winnipeg we all love is stuck,” Bowman said, as he delved into the substance of his speech with the need for change.

Bowman said Winnipeggers changed their destiny when he was elected mayor.

“Change is a choice and it’s much harder than it looks,” he said. “The time for change is now.”

Bowman took an informal approach to the event, speaking without notes and without his trademark sports jacket.

Oddly, Bowman began his speech recognizing every individual councillor by name and praising each of them.

Bowman touted the highlights of his budget, which goes to council Monday for approval, and repeated his call for an alternative to property taxes to finance civic services.

Not surprisingly, Bowman peppered his speech with many of his campaign promises and how he’ll use them to transform the city.

“We’re standing on the edge of bigger dreams for Winnipeg,” Bowman said, promising to ignore his critics who say he can’t succeed.

Bowman initially offered a vision of Winnipeg thirty years in the future: smooth traffic flows, families living downtown, a city with a population over one million, and a glut of new jobs.

“Lofty and ambitious, of course, but achievable.”

He then focused on what the city will be like in three years — a prosperous city, a functioning rapid transit system, and a dog park downtown.

Bowman said the changes will come as he concentrates on four themes: creating an open and transparent city hall; restoring pride in Winnipeg; creating a thriving city; and, ending the city’s reliance on property taxes.

Bowman promised he would lead the city in tackling racism and announced he was creating the mayor’s indigenous circle, headed by local broadcaster, artist and activist Wab Kinew.

Bowman also announced that former city CAO Annita Stenning would lead his Build Winnipeg task force, a campaign promise to solve the city’s infrastructure problems.

Bowman received a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

 

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca