Former mayor Katz, ex-CAO Sheegl expected to testify at upcoming police HQ inquiry

Two major figures in the Winnipeg police headquarters construction scandal are expected to testify at a public inquiry set to begin in February.

Former Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz and former city chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl were granted standing Wednesday at the probe ordered by the NDP provincial government.

The City of Winnipeg’s redevelopment of the former Canada Post building into the new police headquarters was completed in 2016 at a cost of $214 million — $79 million over budget and two years behind schedule. An external audit found the project had been severely mismanaged.

Prominent criminal defence lawyers Richard Wolson and Robert Tapper appeared on behalf of Sheegl and Katz, respectively, at Wednesday’s hearing at the Public Utilities Board’s downtown offices.

Standing allows them to review submissions, give evidence and cross-examine witnesses.

The inquiry, scheduled for 44 days from Feb. 10 to June 18 with an estimated 30 witnesses, will examine the city’s ability to implement large-scale construction projects while protecting the public interest.

The inquiry will be broken up into five phases, with deep dives into the redevelopment project, city policies and practices — “then and now,” — recommendations for change, submissions and “the money trail,” commissioner Garth Smorang said.

A civil suit filed by the city found Sheegl, who started in 2008 as director of planning, property and development before being promoted to deputy chief administrative officer and then CAO, accepted a $327,000 bribe from Caspian Construction, which he favoured in the city’s tendering process.

In 2022, the court ordered Sheegl to pay back the City of Winnipeg $1.1 million to cover the bribe, the severance he received when he left his city position, court costs and interest penalties and damages.

The city also filed suits against Caspian Projects, structural engineering consultants Adjeleian Allen Rubeli and dozens of other defendants alleging deficiencies and negligent work, as well as a fraudulent scheme that inflated the price of the project. The suits resulted in a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement for the city. Those companies were also granted standing Wednesday, along with the city and the Winnipeg Police Service.

Commission counsel Heather Leonoff said she is expecting testimony from Sheegl and Katz, who was Winnipeg’s mayor from 2004 to 2014 and good friends with Sheegl.

Smorang said he cannot compel witnesses outside Manitoba to testify, and both Sheegl and Katz have been known to winter in Arizona. They could appear at the hearing by video link, said Leonoff, who has worked with the Justice Department for 25 years, leading the constitutional law branch.

“I know my way around. I was Manitoba’s chief counsel on the the missing and murdered women’s inquiry,” Leonoff said. “That was sort of a similar scope.”

She’ll have her work cut out for her.

A political expert who’s seen Sheegl’s lawyer in action at a national inquiry called Wolson a “legal luminary.”

“Probably Sheegl could not be better represented,” said University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus Paul Thomas.

Wolson has been involved in several inquiries that focused on the intersection of law and politics, Thomas said.

“The terms of reference for the (WPS) headquarters inquiry are broad, involving legal, political and organizational matters. Wolson’s talents and experiences mean he has expertise in all three of these domains,” he said.

Wolson was lead commission counsel in the national 2008 Commission of Inquiry into Certain Allegations Respecting Business and Financial Dealings Between Karlheinz Schreiber and the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney.

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That probe was called into the so-called Airbus Affair, alleging the then-prime minster and other Conservatives took payments in exchange for the purchase by Air Canada — then a Crown corporation — of European Airbus jets over planes manufactured by Boeing. It looked into the corrupt lobbying activities of Schreiber, the German-Canadian businessman.

“In that case, Wolson was asking the questions of witnesses,” said Thomas, who conducted research for the commission. “Needless to say, he was well-prepared, asked probing questions and posed intelligent followup questions.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.