The Black Rod

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz says there's no need for an audit of the latest city mega-million-dollar boondoggle---the project to convert the downtown post office into a new police headquarters. Everything you need to know about the reason for the huge cost overruns was explained in a report to his executive policy committee in December, he says. Russ Wyatt, chairman of city council's finance committee, says there's no need for an audit of the latest city mega-million-dollar boondoggle. It's too expensive, he says, and for what ? It will only say exactly what the audit of the project to build four new firehalls said---that the city's chief administrative officer (since departed) was incompetent. Councillor Brian Mayes, a member of EPC, says there's no need for an audit of the latest city mega-million-dollar boondoggle because it's much ado about nothing.  "What we're really looking at here is 12 or 13 percent overrun ... most of it ...

That's some audit you've got there, Mr. Whiteside. It hasn't been released to the public yet and already the city's Fire Chief has been fired and Winnipeg's most powerful administrator has resigned, the mayor's re-election chances have evaporated, and reporters are circling like buzzards over a dying donkey in anticipation of what's between the pages. On Monday, City auditor Brian Whiteside will give a committee of city council the first look at his audit (conducted by an out-of-Winnipeg firm on his behalf) of the convoluted, controversial and extremely fishy deals behind the construction of four new firehalls for Winnipeg. Former Fire Chief Reid Douglas and former Chief Administrative Officer Phil Sheegl got their own peeks at what the audit said about their roles in the scandal, and both are now gone. Coincidence,shouts Sheegl's close friend, Mayor Sam Katz. Neither man's departure had anything to do with the audit, ...

Sam Katz, Mayor of Winnipeg, made the worst mistake of his political life last week. Instead of stifling suspicions over the odd circumstances of his purchase of a house in Phoenix, Arizona, Katz managed, with a disingenuous answer to a simple question, to stoke the mystery to new heights. Ooooh, so not good. Confronted by aggressive reporters, Katz was peppered with questions about how he came to be buying a house at a discount from the sister of the Chief Finance Officer of Shindico Realty, the company at the heart of not one, but two, audits of how the city conducts its real estate business and whether Shindico gets preferential treatment. Visibly nervous, he dismissed any suggestions of impropriety, often with a prepackaged answer: "I purchased a home in Arizona. I paid fair market value." The scrum running out of steam, one reporter threw out a softball question. When did the mayor buy the house? "I purchased a home in Arizona. ...

At Wednesday's city council meeting, Mayor Sam Katz must have been auditioning for Dancing With The Stars because you've never seen such tapdancing in your life. Mr. "I Can Take It" looked on the edge of a nervous breakdown as he spewed out a string of unconvincing excuses to justify his giveaway plan to return $3.6 million of property taxes to the Gail Asper-driven Canadian Museum for Human Rights. In fact, Katz said the museum WON'T PAY ANY TAXES to the City of Winnipeg for FIFTEEN YEARS . Yes, he said that. For the first 11 or 12 years (he wasn't sure) the City will take the payments-in-lieu-of-taxes they get from the CMHR (which, as a federal institution doesn't pay taxes directly) and give it to the Province. The money is to pay off an $11.1 million secret loan that was given to Winnipeg so we could pretend we were making a significant donation to the museum to dupe the federal government into kicking in money to match contribution...

We fell for it hook, line and sinker. The Disraeli Bridge Deception is a textbook example of everything that's wrong with city hall in Winnipeg. But this is an election year, and Mayor Sam Katz may find it one doublecross too many for people to stomach. It was April, 2008, when city hall announced that the aging Disraeli Bridge needed to be replaced expeditiously. The bridge had reached the end of its lifespan, we were told, and it was literally beginning to fall apart. But, in keeping with the modern mode of democracy, the public would be consulted about its preferences in a new bridge. So a series of public meetings were held where taxpayers could give their opinions on three bridge proposals which were variations of a four-lane refurbished Disraeli bridge with a new bicycle lane and a pedestrian walkway or two. The best-received, carrying a cost of $140 million, was duly announced. Twenty months later, City Hall is signing contracts for two bridges instead of on...