Eadie backs up mayor in spat with province

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This article was published 22/04/2019 (1977 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman has a received a letter of support from an unlikely ally in the ongoing feud with the Pallister government.

Coun. Ross Eadie, a frequent Bowman critic, sent Bowman a letter Monday, defending city hall’s fiscal record and labelling the province’s offer last week to help the City of Winnipeg find efficiencies as a veiled attack on civic services.

“My advice would be to offer to work with (the Pallister government) when they start to tell the truth to the public,” Eadie (Mynarski) said in the letter.

On April 18, Premier Brian Pallister made a surprise announcement on what he said would be an independent review of how construction and development is approved, permitted and inspected across the province, with a focus on city hall.

The same day, Municipal Relations Minister Jeff Wharton sent a letter to Bowman, also offering to help city hall identify cost-saving measures.

Bowman dismissed the announcement and the offer as being politically motivated, a view shared by Eadie.

Eadie, who copied his letter to all members of council and to Pallister and members of his cabinet, said Wharton’s message was unsubstantiated and politically self-serving, and added that while city hall continues to approve balanced budgets, the Pallister government has reduced funding to the city.

“This Conservative government is using distorted information to further their cause,” Eadie wrote. “The minister and his government don’t want to tell the truth around meeting their political commitments. They would rather spread false information that the city should get our spending under control whenever we point out their cuts to the city.”

Eadie told the Free Press that while he has disagreed with many of Bowman’s policies, the mayor needs support from council to protect civic services and push back against the Pallister government.

“I’ve got to support the mayor — he’s in a battle,” Eadie said. “There are some members of council who are pushing the province’s agenda. I think all councillors should be concerned when the province is essentially saying they’re going to be taking over many of the city’s operations, and they weren’t elected to do that.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca