Mayor renews call for public inquiry after RCMP investigation into Winnipeg police HQ ends

The end of the RCMP investigation into the construction of Winnipeg's police headquarters has led Mayor Brian Bowman to renew his call for a public inquiry.

The provincial prosecutions service announced Friday a five-year investigation into fraud and forgery allegations has ended without charges.

City council asked the province to call a public inquiry into the police HQ and other city issues in 2017. Premier Brian Pallister had said that would not happen as long as the Mounties were still investigating.

Bowman said Friday he does not want the decision-making behind the police HQ project to be swept under the rug.

"We know that we don't have all of the answer to the questions Winnipeggers have about how the police headquarters fiasco could happen in the first place. And we know we can only get the answers to those questions by compelling witnesses to come in under oath in a public inquiry," Bowman said.

"I think the risks of something like this happening again are going to remain as long as we don't have a public inquiry."

• No charges laid after 5-year investigation into Winnipeg police HQ construction

The police headquarters project, which involved the purchase of the former Canada Post complex in downtown Winnipeg and the conversion of its warehouse component into a new home for the Winnipeg Police Service, was completed in 2016 at a cost of $214 million.

Council was told the project would cost $135 million when it approved the project in 2009. The report to council that included that figure did not reveal that a report by consulting firm Handscomb pegged the cost of the project at closer to $180 million — or that it would cost roughly the same amount of money to renovate the existing Public Safety Building, knock down the Civic Centre Parkade and expand the PSB over the footprint of the old parkade.

The police headquarters has been saddled with construction deficiencies that remain the subject of a lawsuit between the city and its contractors.

The city also took possession of the adjoining former Canada Post tower, which remains largely empty.

The city also is servicing $155-million worth of debt incurred to pay for the police headquarters project.

Bowman said Winnipeggers deserve to know how the city proceeded with the project.

"There are so many unanswered questions by people whose testimony we can only get with the power of a public inquiry, that can help us provide additional assurances to people that we can't right now," Bowman said. 

"I can't provide assurances to Winnipeggers to the extent that I'd like that this won't happen again unless we have a public inquiry.…

"They were waiting while the RCMP investigation was underway. It's over now. Let's call a public inquiry and let's not be afraid to have some of the discussions in public that, quite frankly, we should've been having over the last number of years."

Shrug your shoulders or call inquiry: watchdog

The government watchdog whose work helped trigger the RCMP investigation agreed there remain too many unanswered questions about the project.

Colin Craig was the Prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation when he forwarded whistleblower complaints about the police headquarters project to the provincial justice minister.

While he is pleased the Mounties conducted a thorough investigation, those complaints remain unaddressed, he said Friday.

"Now Winnipeg is in a situation where they either pull the plug on this and just kind of shrug their shoulders, or the provincial government calls an inquiry so that taxpayers can get answers to a lot of the remaining questions," Craig said in a telephone interview from Calgary.

Manitoba Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said Friday there will be no inquiry. The city can continue with its civil action against police HQ contractor Caspian construction, he said.

"We're moving forward. Certainly when it comes to doing business in Manitoba … we're trying to, again, engage Manitobans in building the province."

The justice minister would not say why the province is not interested in an inquiry. He repeatedly stated the Crown saw no reason to proceed with charges in the case of the police headquarters.

Council wanted broad inquiry

Winnipeg City Council's call for an inquiry did not just pertain to the police headquarters construction.

Council voted in February 2017 to ask the province to call a public inquiry into "any and all matters" related to the real-estate transactions and capital-procurement problems that plagued the city during previous administrations.

The call for an inquiry, crafted by Bowman, also asked the provincial government "to conduct a broad systemic examination of all processes and procedures affecting the conduct of business between elected officials and senior public service members employed by the city and parties with whom the city may conduct business."

• Council makes it official, asks province for public inquiry

Bowman said at the time an inquiry would require people to testify under oath, but would not draw any conclusions about civil or criminal liability, duplicate the work of previous audits or hamper the RCMP investigation.

The intention was to shine a broader light on the decision-making behind issues identified by a 2013 audit into the construction of four new fire-paramedic stations in Winnipeg, the 2014 audit of the construction of the police HQ and a separate 2014 audit of major city real-estate transactions.

The latter audit went into depth about five major transactions: the purchase of the former Canada Post building, the Parker land swap, the sale of the Winnipeg Square Parkade, the sale of the former Canad Inns Stadium site and the aborted sale of the downtown surface parking lot known as Parcel Four.