A Winnipeg city councillor says he won’t apologize and did nothing wrong, after an integrity commissioner found he made comments that amounted to harassment.
In a report, City of Edmonton ethics commissioner Jamie Pytel shared the results of her investigation into a complaint Winnipeg’s former chief administrative officer Michael Jack filed over comments Transcona councillor Russ Wyatt made in an Aug. 3, 2023 media report.
“The comments were offensive, disrespectful, threatening and amount to harassment,” wrote Pytel.
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Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) was found to have made offensive comments about the City of Winnipeg’s former chief administrative officer in an ethics commissioner’s report.
Wyatt’s remarks followed a judge’s ruling that two city officials deliberately stalled the major Fulton Grove housing development on the former Parker Lands, and ordered the city to pay $5 million in damages.
At the time, Wyatt criticized Jack for not firing a staff member named in the judgment and suggested Jack be replaced. Wyatt also said the CAO was considering an appeal.
“I think this is an indication where we have the most important position in the public service, being the CAO, not acting,” the councillor said at the time. “We need a change. We need a new CAO and we need to start removing some of the dead wood that exists in senior management.”
Through the comments, Pytel found Wyatt attempted to use his authority “for the purpose of intimidating, coercing or influencing the complainant,” with an intent to interfere with his duties.
Pytel noted city council will decide what sanctions the finding should trigger, though she recommended council call on Wyatt to publicly apologize.
If that happens and he doesn’t apologize, Wyatt should be publicly reprimanded, she wrote.
Wyatt said he stands by his comments “100 per cent.”
“I’m not wrong on this, so I refuse to apologize,” he said Thursday.
“At no point did I ever harass or coerce Michael Jack, absolutely not…. Basically what we’re seeing here now is the power of the cancel culture and political correctness to try to shut down open debate and discussion, and that is very, very dangerous.”
Wyatt said his remarks were a demand for accountability on an issue that threatens to cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
“We had a lawsuit that came down against the city,” he said. “Any other private employer out there, where they have a situation where an employee directly causes them a $5-million loss, I would suggest to you that that person would be put on administrative leave at the very least or, at the worst, probably let go.
“In the City of Winnipeg, neither occurs.”
The city has since appealed the $5-million ruling and is awaiting a judgment.
Jack’s complaint also accused Wyatt of breaching confidentiality rules in council’s code of conduct by sharing information from an email that noted work was underway to determine if the city should appeal the decision.
Pytel found the comments were not significant enough to amount to a breach of confidentiality.
“However, this should be taken as a warning to (Wyatt) to not disclose this category of information in the future or risk being found to be in breach of the code,” wrote Pytel.
Jack declined comment Thursday.
According to the report, his complaint included concerns about the councillor’s comments negatively affecting his job and creating a “chill factor” on staff sharing information with councillors.
Wyatt said he followed the city’s charter rules on confidentiality.
The complaint was not investigated by city integrity commissioner Sherri Walsh, since colleagues in her law firm at the time participated in the Parker Lands lawsuit.
Wyatt alleges that connection creates a broader conflict of interest for Walsh in her role investigating code of conduct complaints against council members.
Walsh rejected that allegation.
“Any time a conflict of interest has arisen, I have referred the matter elsewhere,” she said.
In her 2023 annual report, Walsh noted she referred four formal complaints that arose out of litigation involving her firm’s lawyers to Edmonton’s integrity commissioner.
“My annual report speaks for itself and, otherwise, council… will tell you that whenever a conflict has arisen, I have referred the matter elsewhere,” she said.
A request to interview current interim CAO Sherwood Armbruster was not granted Thursday.
In an email, city communications director Felicia Wiltshire noted the integrity commissioner is an independent position appointed by council, and referred questions to city council or the commissioner.
Mayor Scott Gillingham declined comment. His office referred questions about whether council will direct Wyatt to apologize to Coun. Devi Sharma, chairwoman of the governance committee.
Sharma (Old Kildonan) declined comment, stating she has not yet seen the report.
Wyatt said he expects the report to be released Friday.
Jack resigned as the city’s CAO in June and was named deputy minister of business, mining, trade and job creation for the Manitoba government Thursday.
The city is now seeking a consultant to help search for a permanent CAO.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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