Fort Rouge - East For Garry Town Hall Meeting at Earl Grey Community Centre September 16, 2018

I attended the first hour of the All Candidates meeting for the upcoming civic election for the Ward of Fort Rouge - East Fort Garry this afternoon.

Full disclosure.  I am friends with one of the candidates, Michael Thompson so I may be biased.  But, actually I am close friends with Michael so we both are free to give each other honest, constructive feedback and still have it not damage our friendship.  

Full disclosure.  I don't live in the Ward and won't be voting for any of the candidates. I would have attended the meeting even if Michael wasn't running.  You see, it has taken me 12 years, but, I have finally fallen in love with Winnipeg.  It's true.  Not only have I not been a fan but I have been known to denigrate Winnipeg.  Something just happened to me over the last 12 months and now I love Winnipeg.  A few of my favorite spots are in this Ward so I am particularly interested.  Also, this is the most contested Ward in the City so I wanted to get to know the candidates and their vision.  Also, I am passionate about an issue in my Ward and I wanted to know if this may come up in discussion.  Finally, I am dismayed by the apathy in general about the election.  I am sure the candidates were disappointed by the lack of media attendance.  I am not media but I am a blogger and am pretty opinionated, so here is my free analysis.  

I always am early for everything so when I arrived it was just the meeting organizers in attendance.  The town hall was sponsored by the Earl Grey Neighbourhood Safety Association, the Corydon-Osborne Community Voice Members; and the Earl Grey Community Centre Staff.  

I was greeted by a bunch of people wearing white shirts.  Oh dear.  Does every Ward have "White People"?  It turns out these "white people" are volunteers with the Neighbourhood Safety Association.  They do nothing but positive and practical work in the community such as banding trees and making sure street markers are visible as well as address numbers.  Ok, positive "white people".

There were lots of refreshments available.  Unfortunately, they were all Tim' Horton's products so I couldn't consume them.  If you want the links to my blog entries where I bash Tim's, I would be happy to send them to you.  

In the opening remarks, the EGNSA President indicated that there was child care available for those who required it.  Very classy.  The President got the biggest laugh when he indicated that there was a proviso for using the child care.  You would have to pick up your child after the meeting was over.  

I am sure I wasn't the only one disappointed with the 30 or so turnout.  Hopefully, as the days progress, people will be more excited about the election.  

The meeting was structured so that each candidate would have an opening 3 minute statement and then prepared city wide questions, then prepared local questions, and then questions from the audience.  I left after an hour but it looked like they would be going through the same order with each question.  They should have alternated so the last candidate wouldn't get the benefit of time and hearing the other candidates answers.  

The first speaker was Jeff Palmer.  Quite frankly, I was expecting to be awed.  His credentials and his social media are impressive.  I don't know if he was nervous but he speaks very quickly.  He knows it and says he comes by it honestly as his grand-father was an auctioneer.  Not only does he speak very quickly, he uses many crutch words and ums and ahs.  It was very distracting and frankly, I missed a great deal of what content he was saying.  I only caught about every 3rd word in his opening statement and I am sorry but I heard even less of his answer to the first question.  One shouldn't have to listen so hard to hear content.  He really needs a speech coach and I can recommend a few.  If he can polish his orating skills, I am sure I would be wowed.  

The next candidate was Peter Koroma.  I had an opportunity to talk to this man 1:1 before the meeting started and in the few minutes we spent, I was impressed with his humanity, his passion, his common sense, and his belief in people.  Compassion just naturally exudes from him.  Hearing his resume of the service he has provided to people, especially newcomers, is impressive.  He is truly authentic.  Unfortunately, he has few specifics.  He is passionate about ending homelessness which is laudable but lacks a plan to accomplish this.  

The third candidate was Michael Thompson.  He was up on his feet before the microphone was passed to him, an eager beaver.  He had a funny opening joke which fell flat just because it is hard to use humour in a small crowd.  He was the most polished speaker of the candidates and I didn't hear a single um or ah.  He was easy to listen to and I was impressed with the amount of research he had done.  He said the feedback he is getting from constituents in that infill is a huge issue as well as a sense of urgency regarding trees.  Trees are an important part of the Ward and they don't want to lose any more.  His ability to do homework was also demonstrated on the first question.  He had a short practical answer and a longer bigger picture answer.  I appreciate vision and someone articulating a vision.  Of course, he is my friend.  

The fourth candidate was Bryanna Spina who I also had the opportunity to meet before the meeting.  She is a young mom and business owner who is trying to make her community better.  She was very engaging 1:1 but it didn't translate well in a large group.  Of the candidates, she was the one who relied on her notes the most and didn't deviate too much off script.  She could also benefit from a speech coach and her team needs to help her to more research so that she is not relying so much on anecdotal information.  

The fifth candidate was Steph Meilleur.  She is an impressive speaker with a great deal of passion.  I was really interested in hearing what she had to say as the Executive Director of Osbourne Village Biz.  I love Osbourne Village but lately, I am thinking that I really love the Osbourne Village of the past.  In 1999, my nephew had a business in the Village called Undy World and despite his passion, he was unable to make it profitable.  Still, I loved strolling through the Village and taking in the character.  Businesses are leaving and the character is eroding.  I wanted to hear some thoughts on that.  I really believe in looking at the world through rose coloured glasses, but she was quite over the top and she certainly took credit for a lot of things that I don't know if credit was due.  I was walking through the Village recently and noticed waist high weeds that were in a planter.  That is not beautification.  She also said a comment about people who have mental illness and how dangerous that might be combined with addiction.  I live with mental illness and I am not dangerous.  I'm sure I must have heard that wrong.  In the answer to the first question, she made some statements that she didn't cite her sources.  I'm not really sure that public transit in the number one mode of travel in other Canadian cities.  She also mentioned seniors living in Nursing homes.  I don't think we have had Nursing homes for a long time in Winnipeg.  I believe we have 39 Personal Care Homes in the City.  Yes, there is a big difference.  

The sixth candidate was Sherri Rollins.  I know I was a little tired after listening to five other candidates, but I am not running for Council.  If you just listening to her voice, you would think she was tired.  Her voice was quiet and didn't have a lot of confidence.  She is heavily relying on her experience as Chair of the Winnipeg School Board.  I know that is a complex position but I think saying that she is responsible for a $400 M budget and all the staff and school children in Winnipeg.  That might be a little over-sell.  While her opening statement was weak, she recovered in time for the first question and gave a powerful argument with her skills as a negotiator and a mediator.  

The final candidate was Harry Wolbert.  He has extensive experience as an advocate particularly in the areas of poverty and disability..  He is very passionate and not a typical politician.  He believes that a Winnipeg without poverty is possible.  Again, that is a great vision but it would be nice to hear some specifics.  My hometown of Dauphin tried an experiment in the laste 60s and early 70s where every family was provided with a living wage.  It was extensively studied throughout the world and I still see articles about this experiment and its effectiveness.  I confess I don't know any specifics, but,, then again, I'm not running for Council.  However, he did know some facts about transit including that our fleet is 623 strong and an electric bus costs $850,000.  He is against the cost of converting our fleet to electric buses.  I don't know if that was ever the plan.  This will shock you, but I have also blogged about the electric bus.  

All in all, a worthwhile hour.  I can hardly wait for the opportunity to attend an all candidates meeting in St. James/Brooklands.