A not-so-peaceful holiday: Brian Bowman emerges from winter break to put out city hall brush fires
'I'm not here today to defend issues that defy common sense,' mayor says of his political new year hangover
If you measure the holiday season through the lens of a normal human being, Brian Bowman had a decent late December and early January.
He watched his son play hockey. He watched the Manitoba Moose play as well. He spent New Year's Eve at The Forks and returned to the site a few days later check out the Ice Castles exhibit.
But under the metrics of a mayor entering an election year, Brian Bowman endured a holiday season that bordered on the disastrous.
The usually somnolent solstice at city hall was neither silent nor calm this time, as 510 Main St. kept feeding stories to a news cycle that usually subsides upon kittens stuck in trees, holiday-travel nightmares and unfortunately timed house fires.
"I must say many of the stories that I was seeing made my head shake," Bowman told reporters Tuesday during his first city hall media room appearance of 2018.
The 47-minute question-and-answer session was unusual in length as well as subject matter, as city hall has been embroiled in no fewer than five separate controversies at a time when no political creature ought to have been stirring.
There was the Saturday parking fiasco that blew up just before Christmas.
There was the loan of a Winnipeg Police Service helicopter to a movie shoot.
There was the revelation taxpayers have been forking over money to United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest.
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There were additional allegations about the manner in which chief administrative officer Doug McNeil handled the Sterling Lyon Parkway extension — and additional calls for the CAO's suspension.
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Bowman said it wasn't easy to take it all in at the hockey rink, with a cup of Tim Hortons in his hand.
"I'm not here today to defend issues that defy common sense. I'm here to underscore the fundamental need for more common sense at city hall," he said, reiterating his nearly four-year-old pledge to effect change at city hall.
But when it comes to the responsibility for that change, the mayor appears willing to pass the proverbial loonie to public servants.
The Saturday-parking snafu was addressed by the Winnipeg Parking Authority. Bowman expressed concerns about the film industry use of the Winnipeg Police Service helicopter, but would not commit to offering any policy direction to either the Winnipeg Police Service or the Winnipeg Police Board, which oversees Chief Danny Smyth and the rest of his officers.
The renegotiation of Forrest's contract with the city ought to be left to the next round of labour negotiations, the mayor said. Questions about the discipline of any Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service officials following an unauthorized Justin Trudeau visit to Station No. 4 were diverted to Chief John Lane.
And questions about CAO Doug McNeil were met, as they usually are, with a talking point about the need for change at city hall.
'You're the mayor': Lukes
Brian Bowman's critics on city council characterize this as an abdication of responsibility.
"I see a lot of 'Well, that's the administration's responsibility. It's their responsibility.' Well, you're the mayor! It's your responsibility. You have the power! I have to say, I'm disappointed," said South Winnipeg-St. Norbert Coun. Janice Lukes, a former executive policy committee member who is no longer a Bowman ally.
The mayor insists he does accept responsibility for what happens at city hall.
"I've tried to deal with the accountability that you and other Winnipeggers rightfully demand of me and members of council, while also acting respectfully for valued employees, including the CAO," Bowman told reporters Tuesday.
On one front, he most definitively is accountable: Few political leaders would offer up 47 minutes of their time to reporters just to ensure they have a chance to answer questions.
But the mayor's willingness to speak to media on the second Tuesday of the year was not an altruistic act.
The mayor's staff would not be doing their jobs if they were not eager to put out as many municipal brush fires as they could at once in an effort to change the political narrative in time for a re-election announcement that is most likely to arrive some time between the end of March and the middle of June.
The mayor is still talking about effecting change at city hall. He has yet to elucidate a vision of the future of Winnipeg that would justify the re-election of an incumbent mayor.
Right now, that appears to be a very safe bet, both because no incumbent mayor has lost an election in Winnipeg since 1956 and no credible opponent is gearing up to run against him.
But as the past two weeks have demonstrated, a lot of unpleasant things can materialize in very little time, even during supposed lulls in the news cycle.
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