Disraeli is civic issue

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/03/2009 (6410 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the 1950s, Winnipeg mayor Steve Juba cam­paigned against a law that made it illegal to add colour to margarine so that it would have an appetizing butter-yellow appearance, instead of the unattractive look of lard.

It was strictly a provincial matter, having nothing to do with civic powers what­soever, but it was a good issue for the creative Mr.
  Juba because it was something urban voters wanted.

The future of the Disraeli Freeway is starting to look like the Great Margarine Debate, albeit with a lot less substance.

The bridge could be closed to traffic for 16 months during reconstruction, a possibility that has sent provincial politicians into a frenzy because a complete closure would force voters in northeast Winnipeg, including the NDP-rich territories of Elmwood and Transcona, to make a five- to 10-minute detour. (Oh, the humanity!) The city has vowed to find a way to speed up construction, or to keep two lanes of traffic open, but there has been no definitive word on the subject, which is taking on a life-and-death importance for some political types.

The issue even reached the floor of the annual meeting of the provincial NDP on the weekend, when Premier Gary Doer said he was "willing to work with all ideas with the city" to ensure the entire bridge is not shut down, almost as if there has never been a traffic disruption in the city. In fact, major construction always frustrates traffic patterns and can be a terrible blow to business. Construction of the Provencher Bridge and related roadwork in St. Boniface eight years ago, for example, was blamed for the closure of Le Beaujolais, one of the city’s finest restaurants. A popular bookstore on Main Street closed its doors several years ago, blaming road work that took too long and scared away customers.

The fact is, every city experiences similar woes when it proceeds to build a new bridge, tears up its main streets, or replaces its water and sewer mains. It’s called life in the big city. And in some cities, the interruptions are catastrophic, particularly when new monorail systems, interchanges and major freeway connections cut through established communities and neighbourhoods. Cities have learned to mitigate the effects, but inevitably there are delays and disruptions.

The question of disruptions caused by the Disraeli project would not normally be a major provincial issue, except for the fact voters in Elmwood go to the polls in a byelection on March 29. The NDP’s Bill Blaikie, who represented the area federally, is the favoured candidate, but other political parties have made the bridge an issue.

Like the margarine debate of the 1950s, however, politicians are seizing on the Disraeli for purely political reasons. Mr. Juba had no authority over the regulation of margarine, but it was too tasty a controversy to ignore. Determining how the Disraeli is built and over what period of time is purely a matter for the city to decide, particularly since Mr. Doer has said he has no extra money to bring to the table. In that case, any verbal morsels can safely be ignored.