Wyatt’s opponent up for the challenge
Engineer a lifelong Transcona resident
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2010 (5506 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
At first, it looked like maverick Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt would cakewalk his way into a third term on council.
Then, engineer and Day Street activist Vlad Kowalyk stepped up. He’s Wyatt’s only challenger, and a credible one.
Kowalyk, a lifelong Transconian, jumped into the race in part over frustration with truck traffic that’s been funnelled onto Day Street now that other north-south routes like Plessis Road have truck restrictions.
“Working with residents in the area, I’ve also heard concerns about the accessibility of our councillor,” said Kowalyk. “There’s frustration with the lack of timely responses.”
Kowalyk said he is also hearing concern over a plan to build an indoor recreation and leisure centre to replace Roland Michener Arena, Transcona Stadium and Centennial Pool.
Green space, including a soccer pitch and a baseball diamond might get sacrificed, and Kowalyk said it’s worth exploring another location.
Kowalyk is running to win, but Wyatt will be tough to beat. In 2006, he hoovered up 7,880 votes, 10 times that of his nearest competitor, and he finagled private and public funding for the big Buhler Recreation Park in South Transcona. Wyatt has always been one of council’s most reliable headline-grabbers, taking on Mayor Sam Katz and even the entire provincial NDP establishment. Just last week, he made waves by proposing a city-wide plebiscite on a new municipal sales tax to help fund road and sewer repairs — not the move of a man worried about re-election.
On the door-knocking circuit, Wyatt has been asking his residents about the idea, and it’s earned a mixed response.
But he said he gets good reviews for being an independent-minded councillor and doesn’t mind facing a challenge for his council seat.
“I prefer to have an election,” he said. “It’s a good time to get out and meet folks and talk to people.”
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
Councillor Q&A
Q: The city’s new long-term plan says a rapid transit line ought to connect downtown with Kildonan Place. What kind of rapid transit line do your favour — BRT or LRT — and how would you pay for it?
Vlad Kowalyk: “I think going with the buses would provide the most flexibility and the least need to purchase new buses. Light rail would require all the infrastructure and the purchase of the cars… The benefit is getting people to and from the downtown core so I would think downtown businesses and facilities — the ballpark, the MTS Centre, Manitoba Hydro — have a stake in it. I would try to get those companies or facilities to join in by some mechanism.” That could include asking businesses who subsidize staff parking to instead help pay for bus passes, said Kowalyk.
Russ Wyatt: “Rapid transit, yes. I am not hung up on the BRT versus LRT issue as long as we do something. The question is going to be, ‘how do we pay for our share?’ The one-third-one-third-one-third funding is becoming unrealistic because cities don’t have one third. We’re also at the limit of financing for public-private partnerships. Unless we have alternative revenues (like a share of PST), I can’t see us doing anything.”
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