Bowman’s failure to communicate

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/12/2016 (2969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s pretty unusual to see the members of Winnipeg city council going after the president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce for his remarks regarding the 2017 budget. Yet, that’s the state of city politics right now. And it once again highlights the inability of embattled Mayor Brian Bowman to build consensus and communicate effectively.

The fracas began earlier this week, when chamber president Loren Remillard and Manitoba Heavy Construction president Chris Lorenc challenged the city’s executive policy committee members and the mayor about how the spending on roads was communicated to the public. It became a bit of a free-for-all, with some members of EPC alleging that Mr. Remillard and Mr. Lorenc were acting on behalf of council curmudgeon Russ Wyatt. That ended up in a screaming match between Mr. Wyatt and Marty Morentz (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge), who was the past chairman of the city’s finance committee. Talk about your holiday spirit.

This is somewhat reminiscent of Rebel Media’s Ezra Levant accusing the Raging Grannies (a satirical singing group of women of a certain age) of being NDP plants when they recently showed up at one of his protest rallies against carbon taxing in Calgary. Conspiracy theories appear to abound in politics, no matter what level.

Things degenerated so much, that the normally mild-mannered Shawn Dobson (St. Charles) erupted, declaring: “This secrecy crap has got to stop,” in reference to the limited access council members outside of EPC had to the budget numbers as they were being determined.

Mr. Bowman was elected mayor two years ago with limited political experience. That appealed to many Winnipeggers, who were unhappy with the previous council and its role in a number of somewhat poorly thought-out decisions and scandals. At the time, he ran against two former city councillors and a former MLA and MP with lots of experience.

But two years in, Mr. Bowman still has not been able to grasp the basic politics of his job — and the implicit silo building under which each city councillor operates. Each of the 15 councillors elected wants to be able to go back into their ward and explain policy decisions without fearing an electoral backlash. What Mr. Bowman needs to do is get those councillors onside before problematic issues become public.

Mr. Bowman should have learned this with the growth-fees fiasco, which riled well-organized and well-heeled lobby groups such as the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association. In the end, changing the name of it to an “impact” fee didn’t make the charge any more palatable.

Those on the inside say Mr. Bowman seems to be following bad advice in terms of his communication with councillors and other stakeholders. Couple that with the ongoing concern that city administrators — those responsible for providing information to councillors as decisions are made at both the committee level and at general council — do not provide information in a timely manner and the city is left in a mess or one hot mess, as columnist Dan Lett has already suggested.

But when it all devolves into a screaming match between the city’s biggest booster and those elected to represent it, it’s obvious something’s going to give. Despite the fact that incumbent mayors rarely lose in a re-election bid, Mayor Bowman may have to look beyond city hall to determine his future in two years.