Winnipeg city councillor says statements made about him in court ruling on Parker lands development 'false'

A Winnipeg city councillor says a Manitoba's court's contention he directed city planners to place obstacles in the way of a Fort Garry residential development is false, and he's considering steps he can take to clear his name.

In a decision issued July 6, Court of King's Bench Justice Shauna McCarthy said two city planners slowed the progress of the 1,900-unit Fulton Grove development planned for the Parker lands at the behest of River Heights-Fort Garry Coun. John Orlikow.

"The impetus and motivation for this deliberate interference with the plaintiffs' applications were primarily the wishes and demands of the area councillor, and the desire of some public servants to accommodate those wishes," McCarthy's decision stated.

One week later, Orlikow denies he directed anyone at the public service to get in the way of the development.

"I believe that's false. That's a false statement," Orlikow said Thursday during a break in the July council meeting, speaking to reporters for the first time since the ruling was published.

"I do know in my heart that I did not try to stymie this application."

In her decision, McCarthy found former chief city planner Braden Smith and city planner Michael Robinson liable for misfeasance for slowing progress on Fulton Grove. The judge awarded developer Andrew Marquess $5 million from the city.

Winnipeg chief administrative officer Michael Jack said the city has yet to decide whether to appeal the decision and award.

Orlikow was not a defendant the lawsuit. As a result, he said he wasn't asked to testify or defend himself in court.

"I also wasn't aware of some of the comments that the administration made until [the decision] was released," the councillor said Thursday.

"Somebody should have said, 'You know, this is the stuff they're saying about you in the courthouse.' I could have had my own lawyer there. I may have been able to contest some of those things, but that was never done.

"I learned about all this at the same time everybody else did."

Orlikow said he's going to search records going back to 2013, when Marquess first started working on the Fulton Grove application, but cautioned he only has one assistant and this will take time.

"This has been very hard for me. I do believe in ethics. And so [I'm] getting some pretty horrible emails from people," he said.

"All of a sudden I'm being accused of doing things that I never did. But I had no voice. I'm kind of left out on my own right now. I don't have a lawyer. The city's lawyer never told me, the city never told me, the court never told me."

Mayor Scott Gillingham, who said earlier this week he was concerned by the legal decision, was asked whether he believes Orlikow, who sits alongside the mayor on council's executive policy committee.

Gillingham did not answer directly.

"Coun. Orlikow does really good work. He's dedicated to his residents and he's dedicated to the community," the mayor said, repeating that Orlikow was not a defendant in the lawsuit.

Marquess said in a statement he won't comment on Orlikow's denial of the statements made about him in the legal decision, other than to note the lawyers hired by the city chose not to call him as a witness.

Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, meanwhile, repeated his call for information about the fate of Robinson, who still works for the city.

"I'd like to know if there are going to be any kind of consequences for staff who chose to ignore core planning principles, as is the standard for all professional planners," Wyatt said.

"If planners can ignore planning principles and policies on one decision, they can do it on others, and that means we could have future liabilities like this if things do not change around here."