Civic campaign fails to inspire

When will politicians stop treating me as a child?

In a moment of idleness, I decided to research the mayoral campaign. After a soporific start, the campaign now shows some signs of life, not so much with animated political exchanges, but with candidates trading barbs and accusations of bribes to quit.

So, I turned to my trusty AI assistant (a phrase perilously close to an oxymoron nowadays) to sort out what was on offer from various candidates. Boy, was that a mistake!

Using Perplexity Enterprise, I learned there are 12 aspirants (candidates): 11 men and one woman. Aside from the incumbent, a few have run for mayor in prior years and several have previous council experience. Most lack significant political or management experience.

Presenting a table summarizing each candidate’s position would be easy, but pointless. These pretenders treat me like a baby chick in a nest, straining for worms dangled before me. One promises over a billion dollars for roads, bridges and back lanes. Another vows to make Winnipeg the safest city in Canada, while a third wants to get rid of photo radar. The birthday wish list goes on, with promises of free transit, restoring old routes, hiring dozens and even hundreds of new police, finishing the North End sewage plant (as if letting it languish were ever an option), and keeping property taxes the lowest among Canada’s large cities.

Just to illustrate the vacuity of the campaign, the promise to spend $1.1 billion on roads, bridges, and back lanes insults the voter. This amount is in the capital plan and any mayor elected would spend that amount.

All the candidates assume they have more fiscal power than they do. Each seems to believe voters will contract amnesia the day after the election and forget these promises. No one talks about where the money will come from.

This is what I wish the candidates would discuss.

Our property taxes need to rise. Land offers the ideal tax base. It is fixed and, for urban properties, reflects government investments in services and amenities such as parks. When viewed as a percentage of income, property taxes appear regressive — low-income homeowners pay proportionally more than more affluent homeowners. However, as a share of capital invested, regressivity disappears.

I wish candidates would discuss how property taxes are essential to funding their promises … or, alternatively, tell us how they will fund their many projects. Making promises without showing where the money will come from is patronizing, and vague allusions to “finding efficiencies” are nonsense, especially when uttered by someone with little or no experience with the complex web of interest groups that petition government or the bureaucratic tangle of a modern civil service.

One core question that needs answering is … are we getting value for money for our spending? During construction season, it seems particularly relevant. Does the way we tender, award and execute road repairs reflect best practice? What is the cost-benefit trade-off between repairing to last 10 years versus 25 years?

It may be favourable, but without independent technical analysis, I have nothing but an uninformed opinion. By independent technical analysis, I mean out-of-province expertise from firms that have not bid on city work and agree not to bid for five years.

Candidates I could respect would propose “out-of-the-box” ideas for study, such as selling all 12 city-owned golf courses. This could free between 1,000 and 1,500 acres, which, if zoned at R1 (lowest density), could have an assessed value of around $3 billion. Allowing for streets and the fact that some of the land might not be suitable for residential development, the city could realize up to $25 million in property tax revenue. Against an annual city budget of over $2 billion, this seems negligible, but government efficiency is all about staunching the thousand shaving nicks that drain our fiscal resources.

And $3 billion from sale of the golf courses could fund the North End Sewage Treatment Plant.

Municipal governments are low on the political hierarchy, dependent on provincial and federal governments for funding and legislative authority. A mayor must have the political acumen to make a compelling case for funding. One approach might be to create an urban political council comprising the 40 or so MPs and MLAs whose ridings are located mostly within the City of Winnipeg boundaries.

This informal council would advocate for the city and, while each of these MLAs and MPs answers to the premier or prime minister, a forceful majority could create another channel of influence to advance the city’s interests. Failure of any of the MPs and MLAs to participate in this council could signal their indifference to Winnipeg’s issues and be raised when they seek the voters’ support.

Any of the suggestions I have offered has flaws. That is not my point — I just want candidates for public office to offer more than placebo policy and stop treating me as a child.

Gregory Mason is an associate professor of economics at the University of Manitoba.