Public inquiry gailing

Re: Developer ‘aggressively’ pursued HQ contract (Feb. 20)

As I read the coverage on the public inquiry regarding the police headquarters project, I am increasingly concerned that the inquiry will not achieve its stated objective. The goal is to determine what went wrong, which processes failed, why the project went so far over budget and what should be done to prevent this from happening again.

We have heard a lot over the years, and again so far during this inquiry, about former Winnipeg CAO Phil Sheegl’s and former mayor Sam Katz’s potential misconduct. While that may explain why Caspian Construction was able to get on to the bidders list, it does not explain how they became the successful bidder. The mayor and CAO do not make the final decision on who wins the contract.

City must reject bylaw

Re: “Bylaw goes too far” (Letters, Feb. 12)

Kudos to Mr. Kohan for his convincing letter in opposition to the City of Winnipeg’s proposed “Safe Access to Vulnerable Infrastructure” bylaw.

As president of the Green Party of Manitoba, having read the draft bylaw multiple times, I’m horrified by the precedent and affront to democracy this bylaw represents. Pure and simple, this is a broad suppression of our collective right to dissent and civic engagement.