Mayor

Update on #Wpg14 Mayor Candidates – June 29, 2014

So we have had a great time getting our stuff organized with BRAIN STORMS at Neechi Commons for candidates for mayor. We began this past Saturday with Paula Havixbeck (click here for a link to info on her visit with us) and have dates upcoming with Judy, Brian and Robert. We are following up with the other candidates to see if they can commit to an upcoming event. In other news the Winnipeg Labour Council has endorsed Judy, Mark Chipman has endorsed Brian for mayor. The WLC has also interestingly endorsed the 10 candidates for city council…which is wierd since candidates cannot even begin to declare this until tomorrow! There have been a few announcements and we are working on getting these organized in an easy to access way for everyone.

POSTER - june 29 2014

We did a check on the internet engagement of these particular candidates. Brian Bowman seems to be the most active on his social media accounts, his website is a great place to get that information. Paula Havixbeck is doing better in recent days, though we gave her a gentle nudge at our BS seeing a 5 day gap in her campaign twitter account, you can see her new purple website here, its is very nice on the eyes. Judy Wasylycia-Leis does have a website (click here), but at the time of this article has a 3 day twitter dormancy period – over a weekend, potentially a long weekend and the latest news on her site was June 18th. We cannot find any information on candidate Michel Fillon, not even a really recent photograph. Candidate Michael Vogiatzakis has come alive on social media with twitter and an official website now available. Robert Falcon Oulette who wins the award for coolest website URL (falcon2014.com) and is very active, being the only candidate so far to to a reddit AMA. Finally, Gord Steeves’ website is now finished its construction period and is live, and he also tweeted 11 hours before the time this article was written.

BRAIN STORM SCHEDULE – Saturdays @ 12 noon @ Neechi Commons

July 5th: Judy Wasylycia-Leis
July 12th: Brian Bowman
July 26th: Robert Falcon-Oulette

If you are interested in getting involved simply come on down to Neechi Commons, or check this link about becoming a contributor for this blog!

Candidates for Mayor of Winnipeg (So Far) #wpg14 – June 8 2014

mayor candidates june 8 2014

The race for mayor of Winnipeg continues, this week with a 7th individual adding their name to the campaign – former 2010 mayoral contender Judy W-L! Her addition adds another female to the campaign and a strong North End voice. Judy was also one of the forces behind our POLITIX initiative forming in 2010.

Candidates as of this week:

– Brian Bowman

– Michael Fillion

– Paula Havixbeck

– Robert Falcon-Oulette

– Gord Steeves

– Michael Vogiatzakis

– Judy Wasylycia-Leis

AYO bumped into Robert Falcon Oulette at our 1181 Meet Me @ the Bell Tower event last week and is officially the first of mayoral candidates to have rung the bell. He also attended one of the POLITIX events we have had so far this year at Neechi Commons, discussing Municipal politics (Judy also came by, and Paula sent her regrets).

We have begun our Twitter outreach to individual candidates as well, asking if they are interested in hosting a COFFEE HOUSE or a BRAIN STORM with our crew via twitter. So far, Judy, Brian and Paula have responded, although, to be fair we have not been able top find twitter handles for either of the Michaels who are running.

LAST WEEKS RECAP HERE:

Candidate’s for Mayor of #wpg14 So Far – May 30, 2014

CITY WEBSITE HERE: 

http://winnipeg.ca/clerks/election/election2014/InformationAboutCandidates

CANDIDATES WITH WEBSITES SO FAR:

The Rob Ford Effect

Has the Rob Ford saga helped or hurt Canadian politics? Many people are quick to say that Toronto’s current mayor has negatively affected politics; but what if the drug use, the rude remarks, and the general chaos that has been the Rob Ford saga has had a positive effect on younger voters? What if the “Rob Ford Effect” has actually helped impact voter apathy in a positive way and re-engage young people into municipal politics?

I wanna be a big mayor

In my experiences in the past year, listening to young people talk about the state of politics….they are disappointed. They are disappointed not only in Rob Ford,  but also in the behaviours in the House of Commons, the lack of connection to the provincial legislative assemblies and behaviours at City Halls. The way media reports only reports negative politics is also adding to the disappointment. Our expectations can only drop so low before we citizens must begin work on making new and different kinds of systems to run our cities. While alternative models of governing are in the works from a variety of places, it also seems more young people than ever are looking at the behaviour of politicians and elected officials and are saying “I can demonstrate a more positive example than that!” This is what I call the ROB FORD EFFECT: a trend in behaviours where elected officials demonstrate increasingly questionable decision making, while young people demonstrate a willingness to sacrifice themselves to elected politics.

Politics: an immature joke (that isn’t even funny)

Rob Ford’s recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel was also a low point for politicians in Canadian Municipal politics. The punchline of every joke Rob Ford put many of his scandals and videos on display for all to see responding in an incoherent and embarrassing way. Looking locally, things are not any better; recent fire hall fiasco and petty rule enforcement around the upcoming election prove we are locally suffering from the ailment of having a mayor that is so disengaged from the young people in my neighbourhood that he believes we won’t notice. Meanwhile, it has inspired many of our young people to think seriously about running for the mayors chair.  A 21 year old community volunteer from  my hood has expressed his intentions to run, understanding there are many people vying for Sam Katz’s job. The end result of the R.F.E. is having more young people entering politics and helping raise the bar  to help improve conditions in their community & set a positive example for their communities.

image

Federally, in a question period video clip, Winnipeg North MP Kevin Lamoureux asked the Justice Minister WHEN he would table these reports the govt had commissioned for Missing & Murdered Women – he responded by throwing the documents on the floor of the house of commons. This is only one recent example of where other politicians are bringing the standard of what youth can expect out of politics even lower  (if possible). Also the optics around arresting 4 Mohawk blockaders (including Shawn Brent) on International Women’s Day for attempting to force action by the Canadian federal government on the life or death issue of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women.

#PolitixBS (Brain Storm)

On Monday March 10th @ 4pm, we saw what the Rob Ford Effect looks like from the North End of Winnipeg’s perspective at Neechi Commons 865 Main Street. This Brain Storm Cafe (the first in the 2014 Municipal election season) saw several members of AYO Leadership and a handful of community members meet for casual discussion. The young people in attendance talked about the issues important to them: how can the next Mayor work with young people, supporting their current efforts in creating a safe place to go 24 hours a day and seven days a week? More than one individual in attendance expressed an interest in running for Mayor of Winnipeg. The main question we posed to those who said they were interested in running: what have you done in your past that we can tangibly see the results of today? What is your commitment going forward, that you are willing to stand by whether you are successful in winning or not? More importantly let’s move past the controversy and drama, let’s figure out what comes next in our local politics.

The Rob Ford Effect is sinking in in Winnipeg, and along with Morgan Baskin in Toronto, it appears that young people are more prepared than ever to engage in Municipal politics. If you are with us, and you believe we as young people can set positive examples for our neighbors and communities join the Brain Storm. On Facebook we are at http://www.Facebook.com/AYOpolitixBS, on twitter share links with the #PolitixBS hashtag & most importantly,  come out to our Politics Cafes & GET REAL Youth Candidate Forums in coming months. We are willing send AYO! Reps to share the Get Real Youth Forum Process with other youth led groups across Winnipeg in advance of the upcoming Winnipeg municipal election. Join the Brain Storm.

MC

Tuesday Debate Day – Mayors

We’re back again, to give you an opportunity to share your input on political issues.

Yesterday Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford was found guilty of violating provincial conflict of interest rules and was forced to vacate the Toronto mayoralty. Earlier this month Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay resigned in the face of conflict of interest violations alleged in the Charbonneau Commission.  This coming April, Winnipeg’s Mayor, Sam Katz, will be in court over a conflict of interest lawsuit.

These three cases are alike yet different all at the same time. This week we’ll take a brief look at each circumstance and discuss whether they should all be treated the same or not.

Starting in Montreal, Gérald Tremblay’s resignation stems from allegations that he and his administration were involved in, or aware of, large illegal cash contributions to unions and governments from corporations bidding on construction contracts. This scandal is so massive in scale it required Provincial Officials to call for a a public inquiry known as the Charbonneau Commission. It is like something you would expect to see in the movies complete with corruption at the highest levels, exclusive clubs of the powerful elite of Montreal, and even ties to the notorious mafia crime family of Vito Rizzuto. This mayoral vacancy is high drama and comes without actual formal charges against the mayor, at least not yet. If it were found to be true that Tremblay received, or was aware of, funds being exchanged for construction contracts, it would be a pretty clear case of conflict of interest. From there, losing his job as mayor would only be the start of his concerns.

In Toronto, Rob Ford was forced out of office because he, as a city councilor in 2010 and before he was elected mayor, violated fundraising rules while soliciting donations for his football club’s charity. As a result he was expected to pay back a little over $3000. From my understanding, Ford ignored the fact he was expected to pay the donors back and a year later was elected mayor. This year he, along with other city council members, voted to rescind the previous decision that he would have to pay back the money and they would not pursue the matter any further. Because he didn’t pay back the donations, which relatively speaking is a small amount, and because spoke at and participated in the council vote the court found him guilty of conflict of interest charges resulting in removing him as Mayor of Toronto.

Now here in Winnipeg, Mayor Sam Katz will be in court this April over allegations he spent city money on a council Christmas party at a restaurant he used to own. The allegation is that Katz is in conflict because he is using city funds  without a fair bidding process and that the money was used with someone he had previously had business dealings with.

As we can see these a three very different circumstances with varying degrees of severity. What do you think? Is conflict of interest a simple matter where no-matter the incident in question people should lose their jobs?

Add your comment and join the conversation!