KLEIN: Winnipegger’s will miss Mayes’ voice in mayor’s inner circle

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Mayor Gillingham removed Councillor Brian Mayes from his inner circle, the executive policy committee.

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I believe the removal of Councillor Mayes is a negative for the City of Winnipeg. I worked closely with Councillor Mayes as a city councillor, although we have different political views, we managed to get a lot done for the city. We were able to have intelligent conversations about the issues and discuss solutions.

He has served residents well on EPC as a person of reason and understanding. He stood with residents of Glenwood who fought many times with the city over infill. He represents the will of the people he works for, not that of political favour.

Mayes, as always, showed class in his press release after learning he was fired. But I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Brian. In a statement, Mayes said, “While I am proud of my accomplishments on EPC, and especially as Water and Waste chair, I must admit that I am frustrated that I will not be able to see through my work in modernizing our sewage treatment systems. We owe it to today’s residents and tomorrow’s children for doing our part to clean our water and our lakes. With a supportive provincial partner, I am hopeful that the Mayor and new committee chairperson will take action on this important file. Frankly, we’ve waited too long to take action, and we need to show that we’re up to the job.”

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The mayor said in a statement that his priorities for EPC over the next year include enhancing customer service, improving the City’s budget position, and accelerating the construction of new housing to address the homelessness crisis and to qualify for significant federal infrastructure and transit funding opportunities. Then why not specifically change the Councillors who chair departments that are not achieving those objectives?

Mayes was not the chair of any of the departments the mayor mentioned, but Mayes has recently been opposed to some of the mayor’s ideas. Is that the reason he was removed? I contacted some city councillors for their thoughts.

Councillor Jason Shryer said, “The decision precipitates immediately from Councillor Mayes’s attempt to bring financial accountability to Winnipeg’s garbage and recycling. Winnipeg is the only city in Canada that does not have at least one quadrant where city workers pick up the garbage and recycling. We are the only city where it is completely privatized. In order to bring fiscal accountability to the taxpayers, Brian Mayes had brought in a motion to have 1/5 of the city done in-house. The motion lost on a tie vote; 8 to 8 in a council vote. I suspected that Brian would be in trouble with the mayor for this and that he would be replaced by someone who voted against this fiscally prudent and moderate motion. I am not surprised. Hats off to Brian Mayes for his fiscal responsibility and his willingness to try for true accountability to the taxpayer.”

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Councillor Ross Eadie said, “Councillor Mayes’ recent refusal to compromise on a practical effort to prevent the escalating cost of delivering solid waste collection finally led to Mayor Gillingham’s and EPC’s faulty ideology on publicly delivered services being exposed through Counsellor Mayes’s dismissal — welcome to the opposition Brian Mayes!”

Councillor Cindy Gilroy, a member of the Governance Committee, expressed her thoughts on the decision, saying, “He will be missed; he did a lot of great things as Chair of Water and Waste.”

Although Gilroy is not a member of the EPC, when asked if she felt the EPC model was beneficial to the City of Winnipeg, she responded, “No, unfortunately, that is how it is. I am hoping that we (the Governance Committee) will be asking the province to look at our governance model and make some changes to the strong mayor mode. It is up to the province, and I hope they will listen to us.”

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Gilroy said she is seeing less interaction with EPC and even the budget working group, and it is concerning that we are not moving in the right direction.

Councillor Devi Sharma didn’t want to comment, and we did not receive a reply from Councillor Janice Lukes. Councillor Lukes was opposed to the EPC model after she was removed by Mayor Brian Bowman. However, Lukes had a change of heart and now holds two roles in the Mayor’s inner circle and has had a change of heart about the EPC, Chair of Infrastructure and Deputy Mayor.

What is the actual value of the Mayor’s inner circle? For decades, people have opposed Winnipeg’s “Big Mayor” model — as I did as a city councillor — and it has always been a losing battle. Those in power were never willing to give it up.

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I was vocal in my opposition to the power of the EPC. I was criticized and ostracized for being opposed and calling the model into question. Cities all across Canada govern without the EPC model successfully.

What value is a committee that doesn’t want members who question policy? I appreciate that Councillor Mayes asked questions based on the city’s benefit. We didn’t always agree, but I respected the fact that we could discuss and respectfully debate policy and solutions.

The removal of a person who offers different opinions is not leadership. Democracy is based on the ability to disagree. Strong democracy and leadership welcome differing opinions and strong leaders know how important it is to have people who will question decisions or strategies respectfully.

Like him or not, Brian Mayes was the prime example of that person. He was always respectful, even in his comments about being removed. We need more leaders like Brian Mayes who are not afraid to question those in power. He did so respectfully.

— Kevin Klein is a former Tory cabinet minister, a former city councillor and is the President & CEO of Klein Group Ltd.

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