Mayor reaches out to Winnipeg MLAs

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This article was published 07/04/2019 (1992 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayor Brian Bowman has stepped up his fight with Premier Brian Pallister by appealing to Winnipeg MLAs from all parties to pressure the province into paying $40 million the city says it’s owed for road repairs.

Bowman made the appeal on Friday in a letter emailed to all MLAs who represent Winnipeg ridings.

In the letter, Bowman repeated his charge that the province has broken its commitment to pay out the final year of a five-year, $250-million commitment to the city.

Bowman said the city went ahead and approved road repairs for 2018 without knowing the province wouldn’t pony up. That’s left Winnipeg taxpayers with a $40 million hole to cover with their property taxes.

“As Winnipeg members of the legislative assembly, I am requesting your assistance concerning this matter by speaking up for Winnipeg residents and your constituents,” Bowman said in the letter.

“I fully support the province of Manitoba’s efforts to eliminate its budget deficit, but this should not be achieved on the backs of Winnipeg property taxpayers.”

The province would not comment on Sunday except to forward a letter Municipal Relations Minister Jeff Wharton sent Bowman on March 18.

The sharply worded missive accused Bowman of making “inaccurate and misleading public pronouncements on provincial capital funding support.”

“Each of us has responsibilities to the people we jointly serve, and it is time you took responsibility for your own budgetary choices by publicly clearing the record,” Wharton said.

Wharton maintained there is no “legal agreement” for the province to forward the $40 million for city roads. “Rather there was a political commitment by the prior provincial government — late in its fourth and final mandate — to provide funding at a particular level for a period of time.”

A successor government, he maintained, is not “bound” by that commitment.

But Bowman said the city only found out it wouldn’t receive the funding this year — versus other years under the Pallister government when it did receive the funding — until after it passes its 2018 budget and made the road renewals.

Chris Adams, a political scientist at the University of Manitoba, said he has not seen a war of words like this between a Winnipeg mayor and Manitoba premier in his four decades of following politics.

He suggested it may be time the provincial auditor general give an independent opinion on which side is being honest.

Typically, the less you hear about an issue in public the better because it means the two sides are working out their differences, Adams said.

The fact that Bowman has gone so public suggests he’s given up on the normal channels settling the issue. “The more it becomes public, the more it signals something’s not working,” Adams said.

He called this issue dangerous for both sides and compared it to the PST issue where people are reminded of the PST going up or down every time they make a purchase.

“It’s the same with potholes. Every time you bang your wheels into a pothole, you get reminded of this problem,” he said. “Probably what’s really needed is to be able to look at the books. There seem to be different interpretations.”

Royce Koop, University of Manitoba political scientist, doesn’t see Bowman’s letter doing anything more than an attempt to embarrass the Pallister government.

“What’s the point? Does Bowman think Pallister’s MLAs will stage a mutiny because Bowman’s letter tells them to?” Koop said. “I think everyone in this province knows this isn’t the way to get through to Pallister. If anything, he’s going to dig in.”

Bowman’s office did not return messages on Sunday.

However, Bowman, in his letter, challenged the province to back up its claim with documented proof that it has fulfilled its financial commitment.

“The City of Winnipeg has requested the provincial government respond to these requests but has not received any response to date,” he said.

The city will have to cut back on road repairs this year and beyond as a consequence, he said.

“It will also mean less local roadwork in Winnipeg constituencies in the future,” he said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca