'They're focused on me. I'm focused on Winnipeggers,' mayor says as council divide deepens
Rift between Team Bowman and council's opposition grows despite promise of city hall culture change
During most of the 10 years Sam Katz served as Winnipeg's mayor, city council was divided into two unofficial, but very visible, parties.
Katz commanded a centre-right majority of 10 to 12 members of council, depending on the term in question. On the other side of the chamber sat four to six left-of-centre councillors, who functioned very much like an opposition party, even though party politics have no official role at city hall.
When Brian Bowman succeeded Katz as mayor, he won a landslide victory on a promise to change the culture at city hall. He labelled practices from the Katz era as "old-school politics" during the 2014 mayoral race and continues to use that label today.
The problem is, the unofficial party system that rendered council so divisive during the Sam Katz era is back in earnest under Bowman, especially since October, when he shuffled two troublesome colleagues out of executive policy committee and created the unofficial governing party known informally as EPC+2.
This came to a head Wednesday, when councillors were forced to attend four separate meetings just to pass a police-union contract no member of council would likely vote against if it were not for the lack of trust at city council.
Team Bowman 9, opposition 6
Council now has a mayoral party of nine on one side, an opposition party of six on the other and a lone policy independent in the form of council speaker Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan), who doesn't always vote against Bowman but cannot be counted to vote along with him.
EPC+2 consists of all seven members of executive policy committee, plus deputy mayor Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) and acting deputy mayor Matt Allard (St. Boniface).
The latter two attend the closed-door briefing sessions that used to be known as IEPC meetings — internal EPC gatherings — when Katz was around.
It includes fiscal conservatives such as the card-carrying Conservative Scott Gillingham (St. James-Brooklands-Weston) and Marty Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge); Liberal affiliates in Mike Pagtakhan (Point Douglas), Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre), John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) and Allard; and two NDPers, Brian Mayes (St. Vital) and Gerbasi.
A leaderless opposition
Likewise, council's opposition boasts a mixed bag of political affiliations, as its members are united primarily because they don't go along with Bowman, aren't trusted with sensitive information or both.
There is no opposition leader on council, the way Gerbasi fulfilled the role during the Katz era, mainly because all six opposition members have different political agendas.
Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, the political chameleon who's been affiliated with all three major political parties at some point, has a track record of voting against any mayor who does not appoint him to EPC.
Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie is a labour-affiliated NDPer who falls offside with Bowman for ideological reasons. Elmwood-East Kildonan Coun. Jason Schreyer is similar, if managing to somehow be less outspoken and more verbose at the same time.
On the other side of the spectrum, North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty is a Tory who serves as a populist foil for Bowman's progressive tendencies, most notably the mayor's support for rapid transit and reopening Portage and Main to pedestrians.
Finally, St. Charles Coun. Shawn Dobson's primary beef with Bowman is being left in the dark about pretty much everything.
While this 9-6 dynamic has been a facet of council since Bowman punted Browaty and Lukes out of EPC, the divisions have steadily become more visible.
There's now a familiar cycle where one of the council dissidents complains they've been left out of some crucial policy discussion, the mayor or a surrogate responds by complaining about party politics, and both sides descend into a morass of mutual accusations.
4-meeting day
Which brings us to Wednesday and that wacky four-meeting day at city hall.
To recap, a special EPC meeting held in the morning to approve the police deal was declared null and void after Browaty pointed out it occurred without proper notice. So a regular meeting of council was recessed to allow a second special EPC meeting to take place.
But due to fears opposition councillors would prevent the contract from making it on to the regular council agenda, Bowman called a special council meeting in the middle of the regular meeting to ensure the deal would pass.
"Old-school politics is one that's more divisive and is [about] trying to outmaneuver each other," Bowman said on Thursday, blaming the procedural shenanigans on Browaty.
"The sooner that we got that contract ratified, the better," the mayor said. "Once the union ratifies, there typically is a sense of time that you don't want to let it go longer, because that does provide an opportunity, in our case, for political games to be played, and that's not a risk we were willing to take."
'Trying to amplify perceived divisions'
The mayor also claimed the opposition is trying to exaggerate the divisions on city council, insisting he has done his best to accommodate Wyatt, Browaty and others.
"Each member of council is responsible for the style of politics they bring to city hall. The style that I have brought is seeking to improve the culture at city hall," he said.
"You're seeing some that are really focusing in on those political games and are trying to amplify perceived divisions at city hall."
The divisions, however, are not simply the result of opposition behavior. Members of EPC+2 can, and do, behave like members of a governing provincial or federal party at times.
Gerbasi, the former council dissident, has been thrust into the role perfected by former councillor Justin Swandel — the pitbull who supports the mayor and lashes out at his critics.
To the mayor, however, only council's opposition is playing games. Bowman says they make it all about him.
"You saw at least two members of council [Wednesday] who are part of the regular opposition and they were holding my platform," he said. "They're very focused on me. I'm focused on Winnipeggers. So that's the culture and the dynamic we're dealing with."
In other words, city council today is functioning like city council did a decade ago, albeit with different players, different issues and different stakes.
It's one thing to promise change within an institution. Effecting that change is the difficult part.
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