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This article was published 30/1/2015 (2059 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Editorial

City council on Wednesday acted like the proverbial three monkeys. They didn't want to hear, see or speak about a controversial development plan Mayor Brian Bowman has characterized as bordering on evil. In the end, the real scandal in this unholy mess was completely ignored.

Not a word or question was uttered or asked, lest any of them be perceived as challenging the mayor's moral crusade.

BARTLEY KIVES / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Three monkeys at city hall.

Some members of council who sat on former mayor Sam Katz's executive policy committee were fully aware CentreVenture was wrongly portrayed as a sinister entity that conducted deals behind the city's back under cover of night. They said nothing.

Others worried the resolution passed Wednesday might scuttle the potential for a major redevelopment on vacant land between the RBC Convention Centre and the MTS Centre. They also remained mute.

Instead, a resolution was unanimously passed that formally terminates a contractor's obligation to build a hotel near the convention centre, while CentreVenture was censured like the bad boy in the entire affair.

It was ordered to look for expressions of interest for the site of the former Carlton Inn, located near the convention centre.

CentreVenture was created in 1999 to operate under the principles of private-sector confidentiality, as opposed to the open standards of civic government.

The mayor does not seem to understand this, even though, as a privacy lawyer, he should. Instead, he lambasted the development agency, which is managed by some of the city's leading citizens, as secretive and unaccountable. He was aware the city itself invited CentreVenture to help solve its problems around the convention centre, but the facts were obviously inconvenient.

The only real scandal in this entire affair is there has never been a legal agreement between the convention centre and the contractor, Stuart Olson. And that's why the city was obliged to accept Stuart Olson's offer of $3.75 million against a $16-million obligation to build a hotel.

The city and convention centre simply had no other option, but it had absolutely nothing to do with any action by CentreVenture.

Instead of asking hard questions about why there was no legal agreement between Stuart Olson and the convention centre, however, the mayor merely said after council's meeting he hoped such a deal would be signed soon.

This, after more than $100 million has been spent without a written contract.

Mayor Bowman finds it easier to continue his uninformed campaign against CentreVenture, wrongly claiming there were two deals on the table for the site of the former Carlton Inn. In fact, Stuart Olson had only promised to build a hotel somewhere in the area. In any event, there was no legal agreement.

CentreVenture was invited to help market the property after the contractor asked last year to be freed from its responsibilities.

The agency then persuaded the owners of the MTS Centre, who were already planning to develop an adjacent surface-parking lot, to sign an option to do something with the site of the Carlton Inn, which was entirely within its mandate.

Now, as a result of the mayor's rash and thoughtless action, helped by a compliant council, the city is at risk of a lawsuit that could tie up development on the site for years. True North's other option is to abandon the deal and leave the city to its own resources.

It's a shambles, but one directly attributable to the mayor's self-appointment as the sheriff of city hall.

It's too late to repair the damage, but Mr. Bowman should remove his badge and take a deep breath before someone else gets hurt in his campaign to rid city hall of the ghosts of the past.