Canadian Politics

[Noeller]

Glad to see this... 

 

 

[Bomberforlife]

56% votes counted with Murray leading by 812 votes and CTV calls it … then when they interview Gillingham (who ultimately won by nearly 4000 votes an hour and a half later) the camera battery 🪫 low light was flashing on the live broadcast LOL 😂 

[Noeller]

5 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

A couple of snippets I’ve read from past websites say that he was a Pentecostal pastor for 12 years before entering politics. Counsellor for St. James, ran for the Provincial PC party in 2011, was declared “anti-dog” because he did not vote for dog parks in his area, also had no position on bike paths. Will raise property taxes by 3.5% annually for the next 3 years to finance his agenda which includes widening Kenaston Blvd. and other road repairs. Was a past Chair of the Winnipeg Police Board, and a board member of the Silver Heights C. C. and Assiniboia 55+ Centre, was on the Airport Advisory Board, and initiated a Winnipeg Harvest Food Bank in the city. 

Out of all this the thing that concerns me most is "pentacostal minister".... 

[Brandon]

35 minutes ago, Noeller said:

So I'm an outsider who knows nothing about Gillingham.... Anyone wanna give me the Coles Notes on this guy? Seems like a big finance guy.... Where does he fall in terms of the antivaxxer/freedoms crowd? 

Gillingham was the only candidate that came to my door,  spoke with him for ten minutes.   Seemed like a normal human being,  I know that seems lame but I've encountered Sam Katz several times and he was odd and full of BS.  I've seen Bowman a few times and he seemed not slimey but kind of a dreamer and a bit of a phony (my opinion).  I asked Gillingham a bunch of questions and he had normal reasonable answers.  Didn't promise unrealistic goals that the city could never afford and actually has relevant decent plans for the short term.    I'm not expecting a miracle from the guy but he at least won't tank the city. 

Had Murray won it would of been a complete **** show and as much of a gong show as Motkaluk but for different reasons.    The city doesn't need any weird controversies with a mayor being drunk and being super inappropriate.  

[bigg jay]

14 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Out of all this the thing that concerns me most is "pentacostal minister".... 

Yeah there was an article about it this past week about some of his former views and how they changed over time (aka once he was running for office).  Not saying he hasn't changed but the timing is mighty suspect.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/gillingham-mayor-pastor-pentecostal-distance-homophobia-1.6626840

 

[bustamente]

Politicians will tell you what you want to here and when they get in do what they want or can afford to do. It all comes down to dollars and cents and atm the moment the City of Winnipeg doesn't have any. You want better roads, better transit, safer streets be prepared to pay. Oh and winter is coming and they have to find money for that too.

[iHeart]

well I voted for Klein no point in complaining about something I can't change (I thought for sure he would have been Mayor but then Gillingham came out of nowhere)

 

Both TMZ and CTV screwed up yesterday 

Edited October 27, 2022 by iHeart

[GCn20]

9 hours ago, Noeller said:

So I'm an outsider who knows nothing about Gillingham.... Anyone wanna give me the Coles Notes on this guy? Seems like a big finance guy.... Where does he fall in terms of the antivaxxer/freedoms crowd? 

Gillingham is a small c conservative, and a guy I wish would have run for the PC leadership. He will make a fine mayor. He is well spoken, not controversial, and isn't a whack a doodle.

[Wideleft]

11 hours ago, Noeller said:

So I'm an outsider who knows nothing about Gillingham.... Anyone wanna give me the Coles Notes on this guy? Seems like a big finance guy.... Where does he fall in terms of the antivaxxer/freedoms crowd? 

I'm pretty familiar with him as he was my councilor, ran our mixed curling league for a number of years and also lives a couple blocks away and often walks down our street with his wife.  When he first ran for councilor, I took his call and we talked for about 20-30 minutes.  We had some agreements (impact fees on new developments) and disagreements (he was against opening Portage and Main).  He is a very considerate conversationalist.  He is the one Conservative that I know that isn't a full-blown idiot - probably not even quarter-blown.

Our street rehabilitation went horribly wrong.  We were under the understanding (due to his communications) that our 70 year old street would get the full treatment (dug up, new sewers, curb installs with curb drains), but all we got was a grind and refill which does not fix our street drainage problems.  He took the complaints like a man, but did nothing to help.  I'm kind of concerned that our street "renewal" is going to reflect his approach to the city - half-ass it so we can cut business taxes.

He is after all a fiscal conservative first.  Socially, he has changed his opinion on LGBT rights publicly and I believe him to be a genuine kind of guy.  He's not my cup of tea politically, but I don't think he's going to break things.  It will be more of the Brian Bowman approach: no vision - fix streets, and be polite to those that disagree with you.

[Noeller]

appreciate all the input. This guy seems about as good as could be expected. Has experience on council and in other endeavours in life (I like that he's a curler) and isn't a whack-a-doodle. I'm a fan and look forward to seeing what he does during his time. 

[Wideleft]

2 minutes ago, Noeller said:

appreciate all the input. This guy seems about as good as could be expected. Has experience on council and in other endeavours in life (I like that he's a curler) and isn't a whack-a-doodle. I'm a fan and look forward to seeing what he does during his time. 

Not sure if you subscribe to the Freep, but Dan Lett pretty much nailed it:

Winnipeg — meet the mechanic.

It would be hard to call Scott Gillingham a visionary. He’s not a bold or risky political leader. His campaign was a mash-up of tried-and-true municipal campaign planks. Heck, his biggest idea is building bigger roads.

But in capturing the mayoral election Wednesday night, he demonstrated a grasp on how to take the city he has helped run for the last eight years as a city councillor and make it better.

Think of him as that really solid auto mechanic you love to tell other people about. He’s not going to turn your car into an F1 race car, or trick it out to compete with the Sunday-night cruisers. He’s the guy who will keep your car safely and reliably on the road.

With only 27.5 per cent of the popular vote, Gillingham had the smallest vote total and slimmest share of total turnout of any winning mayoral candidate since 1971. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

The big question for Gillingham — and for the citizens of Winnipeg — is whether fixing what we have is enough to get us to where we, as a community, need to go.

In fact, the strongest message we might take from this election is that seven in 10 voters in the mayoral election were not convinced Gillingham was the right person for the job.

A win is a win in politics, but Gillingham is, no doubt, aware that this is the closest, thinnest mayoral victory in Winnipeg history.

With only 27.5 per cent of the popular vote — roughly 54,000 total votes — Gillingham had the smallest vote total and slimmest share of total turnout of any winning mayoral candidate since 1971, when Unicity (the amalgamation of the old City of Winnipeg and 11 smaller surrounding municipalities) was created.

Prior to this year’s vote, the fewest votes ever registered by a winning mayoral candidate was Robert Steen (69,818) in 1977. With a roughly 4,000-vote advantage over Glen Murray, Gillingham registered the second-smallest winning margin of all time.

How exactly did this election get so tight? Gillingham and Murray were the true front-runners in the campaign, with Murray holding a commanding lead in pre-election polling over the summer. With the race now concluded, the narrative of this election will be largely told by the strength of the other, non-winning candidates.

Kevin Klein and Shaun Loney may not have come close to winning, but they each won about 15 per cent of the total vote, and together pulled more than 57,000 votes, a remarkably strong total that exceeded that accumulated by Gillingham.

Candidates that showed well in past elections, including Robert-Falcon Ouellette (2014) and Jenny Motkaluk (2018), could not capture their past magic. Still, together they earned the support of about 25,000 Winnipeggers.

Low voter turnout was another factor contributing to how tight the final tally was.

Although the official counts will not be available for several days, the unofficial numbers from Wednesday night showed that roughly 194,000 of the 521,000 registered voters in the city cast a ballot for mayor. That is a woeful 37.4 per cent turnout, the lowest ever in the Unicity era.

An exceedingly tight margin of victory in an election with historically low turnout is not the kind of backstory that Gillingham wants to carry through his first four years as mayor. He will need quick wins, projects and policies that show progress. Lamentably, his campaign doesn’t contain a lot of potential for those kinds of wins.

His biggest and boldest idea was a four-year dedicated tax increase to help pay for the extension of Chief Peguis Trail and widening of Kenaston Boulevard. Although his honesty about the need to generate additional revenue is noble, his single-minded fixation on the city’s roads budget is old and outdated thinking. Both of his road mega-projects are unqualified losers that have — to date — failed to attract matching funds from the federal and provincial budgets.

On most of the other high-profile challenges facing the mayor, Gillingham’s campaign is a triumph in understatement and pragmatism. On things such as public safety, downtown redevelopment and affordable housing, Gillingham is mostly supportive, with no real plans to make any significant changes.

Gillingham wants to turn more downtown and Exchange District alleys into arts and culture attractions, and will fund more active-transportation routes to help link existing bike paths and low-speed arteries together for a more seamless experience. But on just about everything else, it’s commitments to study, consult and devise solutions that will arrive sometime in the non-specific future.

In so many ways, Gillingham is exactly the kind of mayor that Winnipeg deserves. Voters here eschew bold ideas, as witnessed by the decision four years ago by suburban Winnipeggers with no skin in the game to smite a proposal to open Portage and Main to pedestrians. How afraid were the 2022 mayoral candidates of this ultimately modest proposal? Of all the candidates, only Rana Bokhari waded into that minefield.

Ultimately, a risk-averse city will end up with risk-averse mayor. It’s as inevitable as icy ruts on residential streets in February.

One can only hope that once Gillingham begins to fix the city we have, he finds opportunities to turn it into the city it needs to be.

Time to grab those wrenches and get to work.

dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com

[JCon]

He's not Murray, which is a start. 

But, yes, we're in for another 8 years of mediocrity and not revamping city hall. 

Mediocrity is better than anything Murray would have brought. 

And, god forbid, Klein. Empty suit, trash. 

[GCn20]

5 minutes ago, JCon said:

He's not Murray, which is a start. 

But, yes, we're in for another 8 years of mediocrity and not revamping city hall. 

Mediocrity is better than anything Murray would have brought. 

And, god forbid, Klein. Empty suit, trash. 

I doubt he is mayor for 8 years. From insiders I know in the Manitoba PC party they are fairly convinced that if/when Stefanson gets dumped he will be a strong contender and wants the job. Given that Stefanson is likely leading the party to get routed in the next election, she will likely be pressured out of the leadership. I could see Gillingham taking a run at that time.

Edited October 27, 2022 by GCn20

[Wideleft]

8 minutes ago, JCon said:

He's not Murray, which is a start. 

But, yes, we're in for another 8 years of mediocrity and not revamping city hall. 

Mediocrity is better than anything Murray would have brought. 

And, god forbid, Klein. Empty suit, trash. 

Say what you will about Murray, but no other mayor moved Winnipeg forward as much as he did in my 35 years here.  I wouldn't have been as upset as many if he had won.

Agree about Klein.

[JCon]

Just now, Wideleft said:

Say what you will about Murray, but no other mayor moved Winnipeg forward as much as he did in my 35 years here.  I wouldn't have been as upset as many if he had won.

Agree about Klein.

Murray landed at the perfect time. Mayor Sue did all the hard lifting, changing City Hall to allow for more power as the mayor. Murray did a ton because he could. 

And, we'll just ignore his horrible time as MPP and all the complaints about him. 

[Wideleft]

1 minute ago, JCon said:

Murray landed at the perfect time. Mayor Sue did all the hard lifting, changing City Hall to allow for more power as the mayor. Murray did a ton because he could. 

And, we'll just ignore his horrible time as MPP and all the complaints about him. 

Contrast and compare with his subsequent mayors Katz and Bowman.  

[JCon]

44 minutes ago, Wideleft said:

Contrast and compare with his subsequent mayors Katz and Bowman.  

Katz did tons too, though. He just did it the most crooked way possible. Katz and Bowman have tapped us out for financing, which makes Gillingham's promises to spend big on infrastructure sus. He won't be able to service the debt, even with an increase in property taxes. 

Plus, our services are so depleted for funds now, we need a tax increase just to get back to where we were. 

[FrostyWinnipeg]

1 hour ago, JCon said:

Katz did tons too, though. He just did it the most crooked way possible.

 No one made more money off a dollar then Sam.

[Jpan85]

I would hope in seeing that he only had 27% of the vote that he would be open to listening and implementing the ideas of the other candidates.

[bigg jay]

4 hours ago, GCn20 said:

I doubt he is mayor for 8 years. From insiders I know in the Manitoba PC party they are fairly convinced that if/when Stefanson gets dumped he will be a strong contender and wants the job. Given that Stefanson is likely leading the party to get routed in the next election, she will likely be pressured out of the leadership. I could see Gillingham taking a run at that time.

He seriously considered a run at the MB PC leadership after Pallister left but he abandoned that plan when he saw how it was rigged for Stefanson to win.  I'm sure he will try again, it's a just a matter of when. 

[Tracker]

2 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

He seriously considered a run at the MB PC leadership after Pallister left but he abandoned that plan when he saw how it was rigged for Stefanson to win.  I'm sure he will try again, it's a just a matter of when. 

Stefanson is a sacrificial gesture. Anyone assuming the leadership of the provincial PC party now is akin to being named captain of the Titanic.

[WildPath]

21 hours ago, GCn20 said:

Gillingham is a small c conservative, and a guy I wish would have run for the PC leadership. He will make a fine mayor. He is well spoken, not controversial, and isn't a whack a doodle.

Agreed. I assume we would be in a better place now if Gillingham took over from Pallister. I was disappointed with the mayoral results, but not as disappointed as I would have been with Murray winning and all his promises resting on getting the province to fork over 1% of PST. I didn't live in Winnipeg, but I don't remember Murray being that bad last time around. This time I can't imagine his platform would have got him into the top 5 had he not been the big name. His debate debacle should have set him back more as well.

I had a hard time personally Gillingham as a legitimate option due to his flirtations with a dumpster fire of a PC party, but with that incredibly low bar, we could have done a lot worse. Raising funds needed to be done - prioritizing more road construction is unfortunate when we had other options with some progressive ideas that would have left the city in a better place long term.

Edited October 28, 2022 by WildPath

[GCn20]

16 hours ago, Tracker said:

Stefanson is a sacrificial gesture. Anyone assuming the leadership of the provincial PC party now is akin to being named captain of the Titanic.

It is right now for sure, but I don't see Wab Kinew having a long reign as premier. 

16 hours ago, bigg jay said:

He seriously considered a run at the MB PC leadership after Pallister left but he abandoned that plan when he saw how it was rigged for Stefanson to win.  I'm sure he will try again, it's a just a matter of when. 

From what I have heard people in the party asked him to step away from the race and wait for a later time. The PCs wanted to throw Stefanson out as the sacrificial lamb first. Anyone taking over from Pallister was going to be starting way behind the 8 ball because the pandemic was a tough road for all governments and especially in Manitoba where our health care problems really had a light shined on them,

Edited October 28, 2022 by GCn20

[blue_gold_84]

7 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

From what I have heard people in the party asked him to step away from the race and wait for a later time. The PCs wanted to throw Stefanson out as the sacrificial lamb first.

Why would he be asked to step away, though? All the PCs have done is harmed themselves by putting Stefanson in charge since Pallister stepped down last year.

[GCn20]

4 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Why would he be asked to step away, though? All the PCs have done is harmed themselves by putting Stefanson in charge since Pallister stepped down last year.

It was a no win situation for anyone coming in after Pallister and the pandemic. Stefanson is a place holder, and imo knew she was coming in as one. This is just my opinion, based on talking with people associated with the party, that they felt the tide had moved too far in Winnipeg to be able to recover in time for the next election. They did not want to tarnish a new long term leader with what is surely going to be a big defeat next year.

I think the party felt the only person who could smooth things out with the electorate and stop the seat bleed in Winnipeg would be Heather but the best she could do is make it a close election. They were dead wrong because she just isn't a particularly good leader. 

Edited October 28, 2022 by GCn20