The year the mayor cracked open his political piggybank

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman entered 2016 sitting on a mountain of political capital. He wasn't afraid to whittle it down before the end of the year.

The first-term mayor's push to institute development fees incurred the wrath of property developers and construction company leaders, two powerful and politically active constituencies widely believed to have supported his campaign for office in 2014.

Bowman's relatively eventless first year in office was marred only by a public feud with True North Sports and Entertainment chair Mark Chipman. The mayor's popularity remained at 77 per cent toward the end of that year, a September 2015 Probe Research poll suggested.

Another Probe poll suggested Bowman's popularity was down to 69 per cent in July 2016. That was before the city revenue-generating mechanism variously known as growth, development or impact fees created a rift between the mayor and developers.

They complained about being left in the dark, ignored and betrayed by the mayor before finally vowing to sue the city over the plan approved by council in October.

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"Was it a heated debate? Absolutely, it was. If it was easy, it would have been done decades ago. It was talked about decades ago. It wasn't done because it was difficult work," Bowman said on Dec. 20 in a year-end interview at city hall.

Growth-fee battle defined year

The specific mechanism approved by council — a fee of $500 for every 100 square feet of new residential space, to be charged in selected areas at the fringes of the city after May 1 — emerged over the course of seven weeks.

On Sept. 1, the city released a copy of a growth-fee study undertaken by Hemson, a planning consultant. Before that was complete, corporate finance officials worked on a growth-fee report that was presented to the public on Sept. 16. An amended version of that report was approved by council on Oct. 26. 

Bowman rejected the notion this constituted an abbreviated time frame for developing the new measure.

He said he plans to mend fences with developers and construction company owners by encouraging leaders in those industries to take part in a growth-fee working group that's supposed to shepherd in new phases of the fee. The city plans to expand it to more areas of the city as well as other types of developments.

"We're going to continue to have an open door. We're going to continue to have a conversation with those that want to be engaged and want that dialogue," the mayor said.

Friendly mayor gains foes

The public rift with developers places Bowman in a new position. When he ran for office in 2014, the political outsider was supported by a broad coalition of conservative and progressive voters.

Now, he's incurred the ire of part of his base, and it's not just the developers and construction-company presidents who make campaign contributions to multiple candidates at election time.

When Bowman tabled budgets for 2015 and 2016, Chris Lorenc of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association stood before reporters and praised the mayor's spending plans.

This budget season, Lorenc offered criticism — and was blasted by the mayor in a email copied to every member of council.

The mayor also incurred the wrath of labour this budget season by referring to Winnipeg Police Association president Moe Sabourin as a "union boss," a derogatory term in the eyes of the movement.

Bowman also made the unusual move of publicly contradicting a high-ranking public servant when he said public works director Lester Deane was wrong about the timelines for reopening the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians, a project that was left out of next year's budget.

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The mayor shrugged off these conflicts, which didn't jibe with his tendency to be gracious and polite, even under fire. His nascent prickliness is just a facet of our political system, he said.

"Democracy is the best system you have and you know, in any democratic institution, like a legislature or a parliament or a city hall. you're going to have a vigorous debate. It's the best system that we have," he said.

Next year will be tougher

If this budget season was tough, next year's is likely to be more difficult. Based on current revenue, Winnipeg faces the prospect of simultaneous tax hikes and service cuts going into 2018, an election year.

"It's going to be a difficult budget," said the mayor, adding it was tough to balance the city's books this budget season.

"How are we going to do that next year? Great question. That's going to be for the will of council and a lot of hard work, and we're going to invite Winnipeggers to be part of that discussion."

Bowman was coy about the prospect of the city's next budget hampering his re-election chances.

"You're presuming I'm going to run again. I mean, we'll see," he said.

"You know, I'll make that decision with Tracy and our family in 2018. I am feeling energized. I'm enjoying myself. I think we're getting good results done for Winnipeggers, so I'm feeling really good about being in office and I'm certainly honoured and humbled to be here. But I'll make that decision in '18."

If Bowman chooses to run again, history will be on his side. The last time a sitting mayor was defeated in a Winnipeg election campaign was in 1956, when Stephen Juba knocked off incumbent George Sharpe.

Brian Bowman, however, insisted he isn't governing with election campaigns in mind.

"What I've been trying to do is position the city for long-term growth, not just look at election cycles or any one year. We've delivered results that are focused on the future, well beyond 2018," he said.

Bringing in growth fees was part of that strategy.

What remains to be seen is whether those fees motivate developers and construction companies to support a different candidate in 2018.

Brian Bowman looks back at 2016

On Winnipeg's "year of reconciliation," which was supposed to combat the Canada's-most-racist tag bestowed on the city in 2015: "We're not going to end racism. We didn't end it this year. We're not going to end it next year, but we can all do our part and everybody has a role to play."​

​On how Winnipeggers can further reconciliation efforts in 2017 and beyond: "We need to continue to make sure education is happening throughout the community and not just at city hall. We're talking about in classrooms, in boardrooms, around kitchen tables, in curling rinks and coffee shops. People need to be talking about the legacy of residential schools."

On his so-far fruitless attempt to reopen Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians: "The critics that don't want to see it open will say, 'Oh, traffic is going to be slowed.' It will be slowed. That's a given. The question is, how do we do it in a way that's respectful of drivers, pedestrians and the vision of a downtown that's a more connected downtown."

On prying more money out of Ottawa: "One of the first things I did was re-engage with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and we effectively lobbied the previous government to build a $1-billion dedicated transit fund. That's the first time that happened."

On whether he still believes he can meet his campaign pledge to complete six rapid-transit corridors by 2030: "I'm still committed to those timelines. You're right, it is going to be difficult work and we've got a lot of work ahead."

On his role as booster-in-chief: "One thing you can expect to see is more travel to promote Winnipeg. So I've been travelling to other major cities and some in the U.S. to promote investment and trade. I'm really going to be amping that up in the new year."