Much To Ponder And More To Celebrate in City Election
Well, another civic election season has come and gone, and I have to say it was a doozy.
The most surprising event being the steady climb of mayoral candidate, Noah Redden, who
started out with just 4% public support in September, but reached a solid 14% support by
October.
Finally, on election day he almost came in second, with 19.8% of the vote, just a smidge
behind lifer politician, Kevin Klein.
Indeed, 27-year-old Noah Redden’s accomplishment is nothing short of astonishing.
Particularly given that his shoestring campaign received very little coverage in the legacy
press, largely – according to one pundit - because he didn’t send out any press releases.
This when Redden’s unwritten press releases were there for everyone to view on Instagram,
and Tic Toc as he popped up in locations across the city, posting videos about what he
hoped to achieve as mayor.
It was an unconventional, social media-driven campaign, to be sure, but it was also a hugely effective one. In fact, one can only imagine where Redden might have placed in the final election results had he been included in CBC’s mayoral debate on October 21st.
Instead, Redden wasn’t seen as a serious progressive challenger to frontrunners
Gillingham, Klein and Vogiatzakis and was excluded from the debate.
Then came the shock, just a few days later, when a new poll showed him running at 14%,
putting him in a third place tie with Vogiatzakis. That was followed a few days later with an
endorsement from former mayoral candidate, Shaun Loney and – you got it - a press
release from former Winnipeg mayor, Glen Murray, also backing Redden.
So what are we to make of all of this?
Well, if you look at who was elected to council you begin to see a bit of a pattern. And that
pattern clearly demonstrates just how fed up Winnipeggers are with a status quo right of
center civic government.
They’re angry that their property and water and waste tax increases aren’t being spent to
maintain their inner city neighbourhood pools, libraries or potholed residential roads, but
are instead being spent on new and wider roads to the suburbs, one of which doesn’t even
exist.
They’re also fed up with a council that spends more than $370 million on our police
services and just $2 to $3 million on targeted social services for the homeless and
addicted.
Not to mention the fact that a lot of Winnipeggers are completely fed up with a new transit system that was launched without hiring sufficient drivers or buying a sufficient number of buses to actually make it work.
Indeed, contrary to what some politicians and pundits may believe, Winnipeggers aren’t as
dumb as they think. And they showed that on October 28th by unseating four incumbents
and voting in one of the most progressive councils we’ve seen in some years. One that
includes an unprecedented seven women councillors.
Not all incumbent seats were taken by progressives, but two of them were, including
Transcona’s Lora Meseman, who defeated not one, but two former councillors, and Natalie
Smith’s win over longtime Mynarski incumbent, Ross Eadie.
An environmentalist and community organizer Smith, like Redden, ran on a more community based, compassionate approach to public safety, homelessness and addiction.
The same is true for Lora Meseman , who advocates for evidence-based, collaborative
solutions to homelessness and supports community centre youth programs as a way to
fight crime. A strategy that’s had significant success in key American cities.
Both candidates are also in line with a majority of Winnipeggers, who believe that the current police-centred, encampment-clearing approach to homelessness and addiction simply isn’t working.
Smith and Meseman are joined on council by progressive incumbents like Cindy Gilroy and
Emma Durand Wood, along with urban planners, Sara MacArthur and Jeff Palmer, two
newcomers to council, who bring years of combined experience to the table on community
livability, active transportation and low cost housing.
The only question is how our second term mayor - a man who has been primarily focused
on policing, new roads and the needs of developers - responds to this new, more
progressive council.
So, will Gillingham and his staunchest supporters, Jeff Browaty and Evan Duncan, continue to champion what has, for far too long, been the Winnipeg status quo?
And where will incumbents like Vivian Santos and Matt Allard, as well as newcomers Kelly
Rybeck, Ray Dubois, Jasmine Brar, Greg MacFarlane and Chris Sigurdson position
themselves, in what may well become a struggle, between a profoundly conservative
executive and a progressive council?
Well, as the saying goes – only time will tell. I can only hope that listening and balanced
compromise will rule that day, and that we ultimately wind up with a greener, safer, more
compassionate and resilient city.
Erna Buffie is a writer and environmental activist. Read more @
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