Food fight: Neechi Commons resents Bokhari plan for downtown market

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This article was published 01/04/2016 (3484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Neechi Commons is outraged by Liberal leader Rana Bokhari’s plan to spend $20 million to create a Crown corporation’s fresh-food market downtown.

A fresh-food market is exactly what the Aboriginal community grocery store, restaurant, and art gallery already offers the inner city and Manitoba producers at 865 Main St. — without the help of $20 million in public money, Neechi president Louise Champagne said Friday.

“Really? That’s pretty insulting. That’s pretty outrageous,” said Champagne, who found it “amazing” that Bokhari would claim her government-run market would not compete with Neechi Commons or the St. Norbert Market.

“We could take that $20 million and put it to good use. We’ve got a pretty heavy debt load we’re carrying,” Champagne said. “We’re pretty invisible, I think. When they talk about a food desert, they ignore us.”

Bokhari had earlier told reporters the Liberals would get the government into the grocery business — she’d open a $20 million fresh-food market downtown.

“We’re thinking (in) a warehouse,” Bokhari said.

If she couldn’t interest the private sector, Bokhari said it would run as a Crown corporation and open the space to local producers.

There’d be no packaged or canned goods, but lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, along with meat and eggs. The Liberals would have an inspector on site.

“In no way is this going to replace farmers’ markets,” nor would it compete with other community food enterprises such as Neechi Commons, but it will help attract people to live downtown while boosting her farm-to-table campaign promise to help local producers, Bokhari said.

She said the Liberals would finance the project with the money from privatizing the Liquor and Lottery Corporation, whose building could also potentially be a market site.

Ideally, the private sector would operate the market in future, Bokhari said, though, “We’ve been trying to get people to come in here. It just doesn’t work.”

But Champagne pointed out that Neechi Commons already offers everything that Bokhari envisions for the government-run market.

“We’ve got our Three Sisters fresh produce market here. We see ourselves as a fresh fruit regional centre” that also has a wide variety of meat, fish, baked goods, jams, wild rice, all local. In season, there’s a farmer’s market, and Neechi Commons buys what’s left from the producers at day’s end: “We see ourselves as the allies of the producers,” Champagne said.

Meanwhile, while it might be counterintuitive and be a denial of the political stereotype, the NDP declared Friday that they’d prefer working with the private sector to creating an expensive Crown corporation.

Said the NDP: “Another day, another confusing policy announcement from the Bokhari Liberals—and this one is no April Fool’s joke.

“The Bokhari Liberals would sink $20 million into a government-run grocery store, but they want to privatize liquor sales and cancel the new Liquor and Lotteries headquarters that would bring hundreds of people downtown and help create the critical mass needed to sustain a grocery store,” the NDP said. “That just doesn’t make sense and doesn’t add up.

 “The NDP is supporting downtown development through new housing, the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Inuit Art Centre, the new headquarters for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries and key projects like True North Square. With more people living, working and visiting downtown, it’s becoming a more and more attractive spot for a grocery store, and we are working with private partners to make it happen,” the NDP said.

Also,  Bokhari lashed out at the media Friday for continuing to raise questions about Billy Moore, the Brandon West Liberal candidate who proposed closing hospitals.

“There is no fairness here,” Bokhari lectured reporters Friday in old Market Square. 

“Greg Selinger lies every single day,” yet the media accept that, said Bokhari. She said the media are OK with Fort Rouge NDP candidate Wab Kinew’s having posted sexist and homophobic tweets in the past and having used sexist and homophobic language in the music he performed in the past.

Bokhari said the media are OK with the alleged activities of St. Vital Conservative candidate Colleen Mayer — the Winnipeg Free Press broke the story about allegations that Mayer used her St. Vital BIZ office for political purposes.

Earlier in the campaign, Bokhari had said she shares the belief of “lots of people” that the media ignore stories because they need money from government ads. She would not cite any stories the media allegedly ignored.

Bokhari said she first met Moore about a week ago. “I don’t vet candidates,” she declared.

The Brandon Sun reported that Moore is a 76-year-old resident of Portage la Prairie who registered as the Brandon West candidate barely two hours before the nomination deadline.

On Thursday, Bokhari said, “I had a conversation with him — I can assure you it was a very stern conversation,” she said. “We’ll keep an eye on him,” said Bokhari. Moore will come to Winnipeg for “aggressive media training”, Bokhari said, but, “I’m not Brian Pallister, I don’t believe in putting a muzzle on my candidates.”

Bokhari said it’s well past time that the media let the story go. “Let’s have boundaries on how far we’re going to take this,” she said.

Bokhari demanded that the media stop giving her grief about Moore, who now says he suggested closing hospitals only as a way to get publicity for his campaign.

“This isn’t a four-day story,” Bokhari said. “He didn’t misuse anyone’s money. He didn’t say anything sexist, racist, or homophobic.”

Bokhari appeared ready to continue letting reporters have it, but Liberal communications director Mike Brown persuaded her to leave.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca