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This article was published 1/11/2017 (1053 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Proponents of an overhaul of city council’s governance model found support from a local think-thank whose latest report says Winnipeg’s "strong-mayor" model is part of a decades-long attack on local democracy.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba released its report — Winnipeg Free for All: Towards Democracy at City Hall — from the courtyard at city hall Wednesday morning.

The report’s author, Owen Toews, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Alberta, said a series of legislative reforms 20 years ago transformed Winnipeg's mayor into the most powerful in the country, with the ability to dominate city hall like no other through the power to appoint the executive policy committee and control over the chief administrative officer, who wields absolute power over the administration.

Toews found that many aspects of city hall’s governance structure — the strong-mayor model, executive policy committee, the role of the chief administrative officer — are the result of a decades-long reactionary movement to gut local democracy.

Toews urges a series of reforms at city hall, including removing the mayor’s power to appoint members of executive policy committee and abolishing the post of CAO or weakening the CAO's power over the administration.

Mayor Brian Bowman dismissed Toews' report, noting it had been funded by CUPE 500. Bowman said the report is part of the ongoing attack against him from special interests who no longer carry influence at city hall since the 2014 election.

"Let’s be honest with Winnipeggers with what’s really going on here: there are very powerful special interest, unions and certain wealthy developers who used to call the shots at Winnipeg city hall and they are highly motivated to go back to the way things were run in the past," Bowman said. "There is a reason why they’re going to be attacking me because they’re not calling the shots any more."

CUPE 500 president Gord Delbridge said he found Bowman's comments to be "disturbing," adding that while the union did fund the report, it did not have any input into its writing.

Delbridge said the union supports efforts by councillors Russ Wyatt and Janice Lukes, who are calling for a governance review.

"We commissioned the report because we think a governance review is overdue," Delbridge said. "We wanted to know what other governance models are operating across the country and we think it’s time changes were made here."

Born and raised in Crescentwood, Toews got his undergraduate degree at the University of Winnipeg, focusing on urban planning and social justice, and his PhD in human geography at City University of New York. He now lives in the West End.

Toews looked at governance structures at other municipalities and found that only in Winnipeg does the mayor have such a dominating influence. He said he doubts Bowman will support any genuine reform that would undermine the power he now wields over council.

Among Toews' recommendations:

— Create smaller wards, providing for more councillors.

— Give more power to people where they live, restoring residents advisory groups and giving those organizations and community committees more power over local decision making and control of how budgets are spent in their neighbourhoods.

— Replace executive policy committee with all of council.

— Weaken the absolute power the CAO has over the administration.

— Impose term limits for mayor.

— Create recall votes on the mayor and councillors between elections.

— Shorten council terms back to two or three years.

— Require council majorities of two-thirds or three-quarters for passage of bylaws and resolutions.

Toews said he recognizes that giving power to the community complicates decision making.

"What we should look at is ways to bring everyday people closer to the levers of power. The thing about democracy is it takes a lot more time to come to a decision than dictatorships or authoritarian regimes," he said.

Delbridge said the report is not an attack on any individual and he hoped Bowman takes the time to read it.

"You would think that a report on governance review would be pretty boring, but once I got into it I couldn’t put it down," he said. "There are a lot of ideas and recommendations, which is what we wanted to see. I don’t agree with everything (Toews) says but it’s a starting point for a discussion this city needs."

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca