Winnipeg mayor eager to compete for federal dollars
Brian Bowman OK with 'Smart Cities' challenge that will make municipalities compete for cash
Winnipeg's mayor says he's eager to take part in what may seem like a game-show aspect of the federal budget.
Canada's spending plan for the year, handed down by Justin Trudeau's Liberal government Wednesday includes something called the Smart Cities challenge, where municipalities compete for $300 million worth of funding over the next 11 years.
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The catch is in order to qualify, cities have to prove they're doing something innovative.
Mayor Brian Bowman said he believes Winnipeg is in a good position to qualify.
"Smart cities, innovation — this is the direction that we're going here in the City of Winnipeg and if we're seeing similar priorities in Ottawa, that's obviously welcomed," Bowman said at city hall on Wednesday evening, following the conclusion of the March meeting of city council.
"We've moved forward with creating an innovation agenda, from creating a full standing committee on innovation to hiring Winnipeg's first chief innovation officer. So I'll be looking forward to looking into the details of those funds."
City council has a game-show like competition of its own. Once a year, council's innovation committee has invited city departments to present proposals for saving money or achieving efficiencies through technology, with $1 million available to be disbursed.
Bowman said he was also pleased to see federal funding for housing and Indigenous communities.
CAO investigating Waverley land purchase
Also on Wednesday, the mayor said he's asked Winnipeg chief administrative officer Doug McNeil to find out how city officials lost track of one of the pieces of property they needed to acquire in order to build the Waverley underpass.
Last week, council's property committee approved what the city calls a motivated purchase of a small piece of Fort Garry land above market rates. The city paid $491,000 for less than a third of an acre because the land is needed to relocate the CN Rail mainline this summer.
Bowman said he personally brought the issue to McNeil.
"Our CAO has been certainly apprised by many of us, who have recently learned at a high level of this matter, of our concerns, and I understand he's taking it very seriously from a human-resource perspective," Bowman said.
Preliminary work on the $155-million Waverley underpass project has begun.
Mayor reacts to CBC investigation
A CBC News investigation into an Arizona land deal involving Winnipeg's former mayor has the current mayor restating the need for a provincial inquiry into capital procurement and real-estate scandals at city hall.
On Wednesday, CBC News reported Arizona real-estate experts said they can't make sense of the price police-headquarters contractor Armik Babakhanians paid former mayor Sam Katz and former chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl for land in the Phoenix-area suburb of Tartesso, an area hard hit by the U.S. housing crisis.
The RCMP say Sheegl shared the payment with Katz, but have not alleged any criminal wrongdoing against the former mayor.
No charges have been laid and none of the allegations have been proven in court.
"It underscores the need for us to obtain a commitment from the provincial government to a public inquiry," Bowman said Wednesday. "I just remind you our council request did not dictate when that inquiry must be called."
Bowman said he and Premier Brian Pallister have yet to discuss city council's request for a provincial inquiry.
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