SMART | city


ideas. Why not suggest a new transatlantic transportation alternative by moving bulk goods cross polar by airship, using Manitoban Barry Prentice’s expertise?


remier Brian Pallister is showing bold leadership in declaring the province’s intent to seek the Amazon headquarters. Tis isn’t as far fetched as some would


Bringing Amazon to Winnipeg P


Te chairman and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, likes cheeky


have us believe. We measure up favourably in a whole lot of categories and exceed expec- tations in others. Ana Ziprick, a former site selector for high tech international firms, says she sees Winnipeg as the perfect match for what Amazon needs. Amazon is looking for a total site


Bold Ideas Dorothy Dobbie


space of about 8 million square feet (183 acres) within 30 miles of a city and 45 miles of an international airport. Tey would prefer an ex- isting building of at least 500,000 square feet (the total square feet of the Bay downtown) and/or the ability to begin construction on such a facility immediately. We can accommodate this through the CentrePort infrastructure. Ideally, Amazon would like to locate in a metro area of over one


million. While we are not quite there, Colleen Sklar, Executive Director of Manitoba’s Capital Region (soon to be renamed the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region), says our regional population is just under 900,000 – close enough to be taken seriously. Amazon requires a skilled labour force and will be hiring


50,000 skilled workers. While we don’t have 50,000 people with all the required skills lined up waiting for a job, neither does anyone else, and we do have the advantage of being able to supply affordable housing and a capable home builders’ network able to add to the supply. We have great schools, a reasonable, but high-standard, cost of living, and plenty of wonderful recreational opportunities, not to mention nearby access to our famous lakes and cottage regions. We have a strong university and college system with four


As Jeff Bezos continues to grow Amazon, he is seeking a place to locate a second headquarters - so why not Winnipeg?


fully accredited universities, three university colleges, two colleges of applied arts and sciences and a handful of pri- vate and specialty post secondary educational institutions. According to the Capital Region, 32.9 percent of our metro- politan population has a university education (Canadian average is 25.9%), and 19.2 % have a college degree (Canadian average 21.3%). According to the Manitoba Government Labour Market Information, 10.6% of Manitobans have an apprenticeship, trades certificate or diploma. High on its list of must-haves is expertise in logistics and


transportation and this is where Manitoba surely has an edge. Winnipeg has been a transportation hub for all of its history and CentrePort was designed to capitalize on this fact. It offers rail, air and road access all within the parameters dictated by Amazon’s wish list. Not only that, but its duty free status as Canada’s only inland port with Foreign Trade Zone benefits seems tailor made for the Amazon bid. Amazon is concerned about traffic congestion during peak


hours. Winnipeg’s insignificant “rush hour” would surely be a matter of amusement to their planners. Amazon wants direct flights to Seattle, New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C., all destinations that would


Restoring trust in City Hall H


ello and welcome to this month's issue of Smart Biz! When I ran to be your Mayor,


I committed to work toward restoring trust in government and finding ways for City Hall to be more open and transpar- ent. In short, I wanted a City


Hall that worked better - for residents, businesses, and families across all our diverse neighbourhoods. To restore trust and build


a City Hall that works better, I believe it's essent ial that members of Council put public interests ahead of private and self-interest. I also believe this principle


from certain employment and lobbying activities for a period of time following their leave of office.


Tis restriction, commonly


referred to as a cooling-off period, is already in place pro- vincially. Provincial legislation re-


should continue immediately following our departure from public office in order to guard against conflict of interest or the perception of conflict of interest. Tis is why I was pleased to have recently


introduced a motion requesting that the Province of Manitoba amend Te City of Winnipeg Charter to restrict departing members of Council, as well as the Mayor,


State of the City Brian Bowman


stricts outgoing Cabinet min- isters, deputy ministers, as- sistant deputy ministers, as well as senior officers of Crown agencies from certain employ- ment and activities for a pe- riod of one year following their leave of office. It makes sense that restrictions in place at the Province of Manitoba should also apply to the members of Council, including the Mayor. This is another important


step we can take towards re- storing trust in City Hall. And


it complements other changes I have been making together with my Council col- leagues. Te hiring of City Hall's first Integrity


Commissioner, for example, will provide a transparent, accessible, and open process through which Councillors and members


be on the support list of the Winnipeg Airport Authority, who would be only too glad to work with the company to make this happen. As for the cultural community, Winnipeg is an arts and


culture leader in Canada and for many miles south of the bor- der. We have a deeply embedded, diverse population (think of Folklorama) that works in harmony together. Amazon is looking for a place where people want to live.


Testimony to this is the fact that Winnipeg is the hardest place to get people to leave once they are here. Te City is clean, beautiful and friendly. Te surrounding communities offer a way of life that many folks from more populated regions can only dream of – safe places to raise families. And this is available in the City too. As Abigail Mickelthwate, wife of WSO Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate declared, “It’s like living in Leave-it-to-Beaver-land!” Finally, a key requisite is that our local government is “eager


and willing to work with the company”. Tis is certainly true of our political leaders at the provincial, civic and municipal levels. I am sure our administrations would be more than eager to get on board if given the directive to do so. We will supply the necessary incentives as a matter of course. Who wouldn’t? Kevin Klein of MyToba has had personal experience with


Jeff Bezos, the chairman and CEO of Amazon. Kevin says the Amazon decision may very well be based on Bezos’ own opinions and impressions. Bezos, who has been described as a super geek, is a leader


who takes a profound personal interest in the details of his company. This is a guy with diverse concerns including aerospace (hmmm, we can fit in there), who is inspired by creative thinking. With these facts in mind, perhaps the two Brians should


be personally involved in making the bid. Te combo of our intelligent and imposing Premier and our warm, friendly mayor can’t help but make a very strong impression. And if they do this, I hope they will go with a pocket full of cheeky ideas. (What if the pitch added a new component: cross po- lar transport of bulk goods using airships? Our friend Barry Prentice at the University of Manitoba would have a lot to teach him.) Whatever happens, we Manitoba Possibilitarians need to get behind our province and our city in this exciting bid!


of the public may report or receive infor- mation on conflicts of interest relating to a sitting member of Council. Currently, the Integrity Commissioner


is in the process of drafting a new Code of Conduct for Council members, and has been meeting with Council members to receive input on ways each member feels the Code of Conduct could be revised and strengthened. I was pleased to have recently recom-


mended to the Integrity Commissioner that the Code of Conduct should be amended to require that all gifts provided to Council- lors be reported publicly, no matter their value. Currently, the minimum value for Councillors to publicly report gifts from a single source is $250. Tis is another small step we can take


to help rebuild trust at City Hall while also increasing openness and transparency. A new Integrity Commissioner, a cooling-


off period for elected officials, and increased transparency and reporting of gifts all contribute to making City Hall work better. But that's not all we've done. Earlier this year, the City's first lobbyist


registry was established. Lobbyist registries are an accountability tool widely used across Canada at federal,


 Te disappointing story of Wab Kinew Continued from page 1 Te recidivism rate is very high – of those


who are arrested, about 65 per cent are ar- rested again for the same thing, even after being forced to go to therapy. Te number is probably understated as experts say that data about recidivism is “complicated”. David Adams, a psychologist and co-direc-


tor of a Boston-based abusers' education and intervention program called Emerge, says, “I think one of the biggest misunderstandings about abusers is that they don't often come across as an abuser. They can sometimes come across as more 'likeable' than their victims." According to Harry Fletcher, the assistant


secretary general of a British union of proba- tion and family courts, in a 2012 report by the Guardian, "Tese men are often highly ma- nipulative and have no real desire to change." Tis is borne out by David Adams. “One of


4 Smart Biz


the ways that abusers manipulate is to put on a big show of remorse. A lot of perpetrators cry more than their victims do. Clergy often see this as a signal that things are changing; changing; they’re overly impressed by that. But for narcissistic abusers, they aren't cry- ing about their victims. Tey are crying about what happens to them(selves).” He continues by saying that the problem


is often identified as anger, when really the problem is about control. In Wab’s case, it may be both. Firstly, he seems conf licted about the


seriousness of his abusive action toward his former girlfriend, at first denying that it ever happened and then apologizing for the “pain” he had caused her and her family. Tat he can be violent is borne out by court records of an incident that involved punching a taxi driver in the face after throwing a racial slur at


him. “Ten Kinew walked to the driver’s side window and punched the driver in the face, court heard, and pushed him to the ground and kicked him after he exited the vehicle.” It is not that Wab Kinew was the product


of a dysfunctional family. His father was a respected leader in the Indigenous com- munity, both here and abroad. Wab himself had a privileged upbringing, attending the University of Winnipeg Collegiate, an excel- lent private school, as well as receiving a BA in economics from the University of Manitoba. Most recently, a Winnipeg Free Press re-


port indicates that Wab was less than fully forthcoming about the authorship of his bi- ography, Te Reason You Walk, letting it be understood that he was the sole author when a ghostwriter was largely responsible for the work. Tis raises questions about his ethics. Most of all, these reports raise deep con-


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cern about the message being sent to young men of all backgrounds. I am saddened by all this because I believe


that the Indigenous community has many fine people who would make wonderful leaders of our province. Tat the one who stepped forward is so flawed is extremely disappointing. Like Brian Bowman, I want to believe in


redemption for Wab. After all, a government is only as good as its opposition. We need this young man to be strong and straight and unflinching in his beliefs. And those of the opposite point of view need to be able to respect him in order to thrust back strongly in critical policy debates. Te self-inflicted focus on Wab Kinew’s


personal issues can only obscure issues that are more important. And that makes us all losers.


November 2017


provincial, and municipal levels, and allow the public to see who is attempting to influ- ence government decision makers and the reasons behind their efforts. A tool like this has been missing from City


Hall for too long, and I am pleased that by working together as a Council we have been able to introduce it here in Winnipeg. We also continue to live-stream all Coun-


cil and Committee meetings allowing the public to watch meetings in real time, the City proactively posts Freedom of Informa- tion and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) responses on their website, and information on City of Winnipeg capital project expen- ditures are publicly released in machine- readable format. And, I continue to publish on my website


records of who meets with me and my senior staff in the Mayor's Office. Te City of Winnipeg was recently recog-


nized as Canada's 3rd most open city, ac- cording to the Public Sector Digest's annual Open Cities Index ranking. Tis represents a significant increase from a ranking of 20th just two years ago. There is certainly more work to do to


restore trust and build a more open and transparent City Hall, but I believe we are on the right track toward positive change!


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