LOCAL EVENTS WINNIPEG:

GRANDMOTHERS AGAINST VIOLENCE:

After yesterday's March Against Violence in Winnipeg's West End another event is coming hard on its heels. Winnipeg has long held first place amongst Canada's cities over half a million as the "gang capital of Canada". Last week this became national news as two different shootings (only one death) occurred. The victims in one case were two young girls who mercifully survived. In response people in one neighbourhood most affected- the West End- have organized to try and put an end to this violence. Here is the report of an event coming up tomorrow, organized by native elder women. It should be noted that their intent to "go into the jails" is "direct action" in the truest sense of the word.

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Grandmothers Protecting our Children Council Pray for Peace
Date: Thursday, June 3, 2010
Time: 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: Directly across 542 Victor St. (the location of one of the shootings-Molly )

Description.WINNIPEG — The Kookum Gaa Na Dam Ma Waad Abinoojiig (Grandmothers Protecting our Children Council) — together with Grandmothers Protecting our Children Council Pray for Peace Ka Ni Kanichihk, Southern Chiefs’ Organization and Onashowewin, are calling upon ALL community to gather on Thursday June 3rd, 2010 at
12 noon directly across from 542 Victor Street.


The Grandmothers Protecting our Children Council is calling upon all Sacred Pipe Carriers to bring their pipes to pray for healing and peace in the community.

The Grandmothers Protecting our Children Council will speak to the hearts and spirits of those individuals who have experienced the most recent violence directly or indirectly, and, to those individuals contributing to the violence in the community.


The Grandmothers Protecting our Children Council will promote a message of peace, safety and urgent need to identify real and transformational solutions rooted in human rights, justice, cultural reclamation and self determination.

The Grandmothers Protecting our Children Council will also be going into the Province’s correctional institutions to meet with those individuals involved in gangs and ask that they support the work the Grandmothers are undertaking and work together toward identifying solutions leading to a decrease in violence.

The Grandmothers Protecting our Children Council will be calling upon Premier Greg Selinger and Minister of Justice Andrew Swan to convene an emergency Stakeholders Summit, which includes, and must be lead by, Aboriginal community leadership, to work in confirming a comprehensive, community based strategy that would begin to acknowledge and change the conditions in which gangs and its violent manifestations emerge and flourish.

“Going into the jails has not been done before,” Velma Orvis, a Grandmother Council member asserts. “We cannot keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results.”


As Ka Ni Kanichihk Executive Director, Leslie Spillett, affirms “we will asking our Grandmothers to also speak to those who hold power and resources in the Province to bring all stakeholders to the table to address this most critical issue, especially Aboriginal community groups who work with little or dwindling resources on this issue.”

Grand Chief Morris Swan Shannacappo maintains, “The violence has to stop, and we all have a responsibility in ensuring the safety and well being of the community, and I support the Grandmothers’ call for the Government of Manitoba to bring all stakeholders in Summit to address this critical issue.”

-please forward this event to your contacts-

LOCAL NEWS-WINNIPEG:
"MILLIONS" FOR CHRIST:

Ah Winnipeg. As the dreary grey winter drags on and on our beloved city administration does its level best to keep the temperature of the citizens up with one zany proposal after another. First it was the little police helicopter that could. Or maybe it couldn't because the Province seemed to duck out of the deal when this latest of glad-hand-Sam's dreams was reported to be likely to cost a bit more than was originally projected. But then it seemed to be on again as the Province said it would indeed cover the extra cost. The future will tell as, like all government schemes, the final cost will be more than a little more than originally estimated. I suppose that such a "dream machine" whereby Winnipeg tries once again to imitate a real city might be of some use in chasing down car thieves. The trouble is that, in the end you have to have real police cars with real police in them to actually arrest the thieves. You can't take the bastards out with Hellfire Missiles whatever the fantasies associated with the chopper. Some might say that this would be a good idea, but it's a no-go. MPI would have a fit.





Then there's the great rolling garbage bin debate. Winnipeg's northwest corner has been supplied with giant "rolling garbage bins". The homeowner is supposed to load their garbage into it for several days on their own property and then roll it out only on the evening before garbage day. These bins are a smaller version of the much bigger, and non-rolling, bins that have been placed in much of Winnipeg's North End. Which is whole different subject. The larger bins require the ability to give the old heave-ho to send your garbage high enough to clear the top. That's fine. More than a few people respond by just leaving the damn garbage on the ground anyways for the stray dogs to deal with.





The push-it-yourself bins require the physical stamina to push said bin out into the alley. Very good...unless it's the middle of winter and you have to push the bin through a blanket of snow and try to find a place to park it that doesn't obstruct the alleyway. Not everyone has a backyard driveway. The city also provides the extra "help" of sending the plows down the alleys and pushing the snow to the side, gradually making the roadway narrower and narrower and narrower as the winter drags on. In my own alley the city-made drifts take off three feet on my side and two feet on the other side. I guess it'll be great exercise for some people, assuming such a thing can be done at all. Not so great, however, if you're in your 70s, with bad arthritis and a heart condition. Really "great" ie impossible if you walk with a cane or walker. the intent is obvious...to fire as many garbagemen as possible and spend the money (an unknown amount, maybe less, maybe the same or maybe more) paying for high tech garbage trucks. With the added bonus of being able to add a tidy profit to this cost if the work is contracted out. All very good for contractors who have political friends but not very good for old folks.





These two items, however, weren't enough amusement for one winter season. Behind closed doors the City of Winnipeg Entertainment and Corporate Giveaway Committee (also known as the Mayor's Executive Policy Committee) plotted to give away $3.4 million dollars to the evangelical group 'Youth For Christ' (YFC) for them to build a "youth centre" at the northwest corner of Higgins and Main. The basic story, from the CBC, can be read here. Winnipeg MP Pat Martin soon raised objections to the idea of public money being used to fund a youth centre run by proselytizing evangelicals. Apparently, there had been some longer term plotting behind the move. The project was originally floated as a collaboration between YFC and the University of Winnipeg (U of W), but the U. of W. wanted the centre built on their campus. This, of course, would have meant at least joint control over the centre and possibly even ultimate U of W control. to say nothing of real estate equity.





The back rooms got smokier, and the federal government became involved, anteing up $3.2 million to the project given City of Winnipeg agreement to co-finance. this sort of thing is right up their alley, shucking off social services to evangelical groups. Not to be outdone in the secrecy department the Mayor began his own canvassing, lining up Centre Venture a quango which it intended to promote downtown development ie give away money to the usual suspects as the "front group" for the "loan" that is a gift to YFC. The scheme is for Centre Venture to give an upfront loan to YFC of $2.6 million which the City will pay back over 15 years (at $225,000/year) equalling a final cost of $3.4 million. Nice "loan" if you have friends in high places. The provincial government has written a "letter of support" for the project but has declined to offer any funding.





If you look at the website of the Winnipeg branch of YFC you will find it has quite the corporate support on its board of directors. That may be neither here nor there, but it is interesting. It might also be interesting to note that the original location at the U of W was actually in an area where people really do live. The new proposed location is perhaps within walking distance of Point Douglas and a very small part of the North End, but it's not an easy distance even from them. YFC itself has been somewhat "no comment" on Martin's complaint, but the Mayor and federal public safety minister Vic Toews (one of whose campaign donors was- you guessed it-Youth For Christ) shot back denying that the proposed centre would be "evangelical" because not only Christians would be allowed to participate in its programs. Toews, in particular, stooped to the lowest form of political smear so typical of Conservative politicians by saying that "Pat Martin doesn't have a problem with allowing gangs to recruit in his riding".





The Mayor's tone was a bit more elevated, but he also echoed the "not only Christians will be allowed in the door" refrain. The way in which the City's involvement, however, came about seems to say that our Mayor could give the federal Conservatives lessons in government secrecy. No mean feat indeed ! After the behind closed doors meeting of the EPC where the give away was decided on (with no input from the City bureaucrats who usually vet numerous far smaller community projects) a one page notice was presented to City Council. The vote was scheduled for one week later, on February 24. Not much time for debate for a matter that will divert a huge amount of money away from present smaller neighbourhood projects into a controversial megaproject of dubious value. I can only hope that Council Chambers will be packed on the 24th.





What I find most notable about the attacks that have been levelled against Martin is the masterful way that his critics manage to divert the whole issue by confusing "evangelical" with its precise opposite ie a group that only wants to associate with its own kind rather than to convert "the other". The other actually has to be present before you can work on converting him, and, of course, groups like YFC want to have the "non-churchy" present so that they can work on them. It only stands to reason, and I'm sure that both the Mayor and Toews know exactly what they are doing and how they are lying by misdirection when they misrepresent what proselytizing actually is. For those who are interested here is the Mission Statement of Youth For Christ from their national website.

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Our Mission
Youth for Christ, Canada exists to impact every young person in Canada with the person, work and teachings of Jesus Christ and discipling them into the Church.






Our ministry is involved in responsible, effective and culturally sensitive evangelism of youth, communicating and caring in ways that are relevant to this generation.






The ministry in Canada is committed to acting as a resource in the helping to further the worldwide vision and mission of YFC International.






We are committed to a journey of faith fully trusting our Lord to supply the resources and strategies to impact the youth of Canada.

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This says pretty plainly that they intend to do exactly what Pat Martin says they want to do. They also happen to be damn proud of it, and they'd never deny it. That they leave to their political friends.

LOCAL POLITICS-WINNIPEG:

THE DOOR TO PRIVATIZATION:

The issue discussed below may, to be punish, seem like "water under the bridge" now that Winnipeg City Council has voted to create its "arms length utility" that is predestined to enter into private/public partnerships with corporate interests interested in expanding into the municipal utility field. It is, however, useful to bring it up just for the record, and it may be especially useful should any of the municipal politicians who voted for this measure receive any "favours" from interested parties in the future. Here's Maude barlow and Meera Karunananthan on Winnipeg's "privatization by stealth" from the Public Values website.

LPLPLPLPLPLPLP

Municipal privatization: What Winnipeg can learn from elsewhere:
Corporatizing utilities brings risks to public, but rewards private interests.
by Maude Barlow and Meera Karunananthan, for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Manitoba
July 21, 2009 — On July 22, the city of Winnipeg will be voting on a proposal to create an arms-length corporate water utility. (already passed-Molly)As far as Mayor Sam Katz and his allies on city council are concerned, the decision on the new corporate utility was made before the public ever had a chance to weigh in.

The city invested $1.25 Million to explore the idea and put $250,000 toward a public relations campaign to promote the creation of an arms-length corporate water utility.

Supporters on city council had committed to the issue even before hearing the concerns of the general public. Many participants in the so-called public consultation have reported that it was designed to promote the proposal rather than record public input.

Yet experience from around the world shows that the model being rushed through is likely to have detrimental impacts on access to water and public control over water services and resources.

The corporatization of Winnipeg's water and waste utility is the first step toward greater privatization. An arms-length corporation would limit the ability of elected representatives to oversee operations and make decisions in the public interest. Experiences in other cities like Edmonton have shown that corporate utilities whose primary function is to make profits can lead to the sale of public assets, a loss of public control and transparency, rate hikes and lower quality services.

It is time to slow things down and examine the serious threats posed by the proposed model.
Mayor Sam Katz sticks to the soundbite that the utility is 100 percent city-owned while downplaying the fact that the city is seeking partnerships with private corporations for water and waste services.

The corporatization of electric and water utilities in Edmonton have proven to pave the way for the sale and privatization of vital services.

There was a blurring of lines when councillors acted as shareholders rather than as protectors of the public interest by hatching a deal to sell off $5 billion of publicly-owned assets behind closed doors. Rather than maintaining the public interest, the mandate of Epcor, the arms-length corporate utility is to increase profits. This has had impacts on communities outside Edmonton as the corporation makes its profits through the privatization of utilities in communities throughout the continent.

Similarly, in Europe, "Municipal Corporate Utilities " were first sold as a compromise between fully public and fully private control of water systems. Big water companies used their public utility assets to raise money to move into poor countries in the global South where they operate on a for-profit basis, charging high rates and denying service to those who cannot pay. Human rights and social justice organizations in the global South argue that some of the worst private water companies operating in their communities are tied to so-called public utilities in Europe and use this status to gain access to water contracts in the South.

The City is also seeking partnerships with corporations for waste-water plant upgrade.

Experience in other parts of Canada and the rest of the world show that these arrangements mean that the public takes all the risk while the private corporations use their contracts to leverage capital accumulation for private investment and expansion.

It is important to note that many of the companies bidding for the Winnipeg contract are big transnationals whose sole motive is profit and growth.

One company, American Water, is the largest investor-owned US water and wastewater utility. The corporation has a history of imposing exorbitant rate hikes on communities where they operate. In Hingham and Hull Massachusetts, the corporation doubled rates over a five-year period claiming the funds were needed to build a new treatment facility. Evidence has shown that the costs of the facility were inflated by American Water to increase profits.

Another company, Black &Veatch, is an American engineering giant which claims to be in the "Top 500 Largest Private Companies in the US.." They have a huge water division and claim that "20 percent of the world's population served by community systems drinks potable water through systems designed, constructed or supported by Black & Veatch".

If the City of Winnipeg chooses an American company, that company will have rights under NAFTA to sue for compensation if a future city council decides to return to a public system or bring about legislation that would restrict its profits.

Also on the list is Veolia Environment - the "environment" arm of the French giant Veolia - which has 272,000 employees, 70,000 of whom work only in water and has annual revenues of US$34 billion, and with Suez, controls almost two-thirds of the global private water services sector. Veolia is very controversial in the global South, where, along with Suez, it has jacked up water rates, broken contracts and cut off water to people who cannot pay.

These big corporations are for-profit, private companies required to find profits for their shareholders and will be forced to raise water rates for this purpose.

Councillor Harry Lazarenko's motion to ensure that privatization is not sought without a referendum does not allay concerns about the loss of public control over water services, hikes in water rates and the global impacts of creating a for-profit utility. The potential harm should be carefully weighed and publicly debated - not rushed through without full public consultation.
Ed. note: on July 22, Winnipeg City Council voted in favour of forming an arm's length corporate utility. See links below for more information.

Maude Barlow is the national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, Senior advisor on water to the President of the UN General Assembly and the author of 16 books including Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.
Meera Karunananthan is the national water campaigner at the Council of Canadians
Links and sources

Winnipeg city council votes 10-6 for water utility, by the Council of Canadians, July 23 2009 City council approves new utility, by Bartley Kives, Winnipeg Free Press, July 22 2009 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Council of Canadians - Water

LOCAL POLITICS:

WINNIPEG'S WATER SUPPLY:

In the past few weeks there has been debate about a new contracting out scheme for Winnipeg's water supply. Molly, anti-statist that she is- has her own opinion on this, and that opinion is not in favour of such a thing. The present city administration's plans are hardly designed to reduce the role of government in the lives of citizens. What they are designed to do is offer an opportunity for "friends of friends" to profit by a presently public utility. This is typical of conservative ideologues the world over. The math goes basically like this:

*Government operations are "inefficient" (true).
*So, lets hire/contract with somebody from the private sector (rather than
considering the coop model).
* Such private contractors "will" be more efficient and therefore reduce
the cost of the service (Sometimes true).
*Such savings will compensate for the fact that the profit of the private contractor will now be paid out of the public pocket.

Well...it is not a foregone conclusion that all private
business is automatically more efficient than a public entity. Even so,
the cost of providing profit to the friends of the politicians can, and usually does, outweigh the so-called savings from privatization. The record of such things across the world hardly inspires confidence in the ideological
pronouncements of the proponents of such things. Then there is the "multiplier effect". If, by some turn of good fortune, the private contractors do indeed provide a service at a cost lower than that of the fees they extract from the public purse it is hardly ever (perhaps never)
due to some magical "efficiency" that they possess. It is pretty well always due to their paying their workers less. When you calculate the multiplier effect of this loss in terms of local resources (the old "one dollar spent equals three dollars generated") then the loss to a community would be pretty well guaranteed to be greater than the gain in most
situations. But at least some people benefit by such deals ie the friends (traceable and otherwise) of the politicians who set up such things.

Such is the situation with Winnipeg's water supply.
Here's an article from the Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE) about what is happening here and the opposition to it.

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Is Winnipeg’s Water being
Privatized?:
Over 150 people attended a presentation on Friday night, to learn more about recent City Council decisions that could lead to privatization of city water treatment.

In November, the Mayor and eight Councilors voted “to explore” setting up “a new arm’s length business model to operate city owned utilities.” They also approved using a business (a public private partnership) method to “design, construct, finance and operate” water and waste control centres.

Tony Clarke of the Polaris Institute and co-author of Blue Gold (with Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians) spoke about situations around the world where water corporations have taken over water treatment and distribution systems, to disastrous effect. “It’s time for citizens to become custodians of their water – if we don’t we are going to be facing a huge water crisis in the future.”

Lynne Fernandez of the Canadian Centre of Policy
Alternatives (Manitoba) provided background on the City Council decisions and what these could mean for Winnipeggers. She noted that though the Council is saying it is only exploring different delivery options, they have already changed to a more business-like approach for dealing with public water needs.

In the audience was a cross section of the public. Questions focused on how P3s could function and what citizens could do to stop the slide towards privatization.

A coalition of community, student, faith, environment and union groups are criticizing the City’s actions. They are calling on City Council to consult the public on such serious issues and to be more transparent with all P3 projects the city is planning for public infrastructure. The event was sponsored by: CUPE Manitoba, Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Federation of Students, Manitoba EcoNetwork, Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives, Winnipeg Citizens’ Coalition, Council of Canadians, Winnipeg
Labour Council and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 500.

Note www.cupe500.mb.ca for more
information on the Local’s Positively Public campaign.

WINNIPEG NEWS:

WILL WINNIPEG'S WATER GO PRIVATE ?:

There's been a controversy here in the Peg in the last little while about whether to change Winnipeg's water utility to a stand alone corporation that would be open to private participation. Sort of a privatization by stealth. Needless to say this has evoked opposition. Here, from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is one view.

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Winnipeg opens door to privatized water:
Winnipeg city council is on the road to privatizing the operation and management of its drinking water and sewage treatment.

Council has decided to explore setting up a Municipal Corporate Utility (city-owned but arms length corporation) to operate water, sewage and possibly energy services. City council also voted to use a “strategic partner” (otherwise known as privatization through a P3) to finance, design, build and operate two water and wastewater plants.

CUPE 500 and a broad coalition of community, environmental, student and church groups opposed the move and called on the city to build on existing public capacity.

CUPE 500 president Mike Davidson spoke on behalf of the city’s municipal workers at the Nov. 19 council meeting, detailing the dangers of privatization and showing why public works best for the city’s water services.

The radical shift in how water services are governed and delivered is based on a flimsy “proof of concept” report from pro-privatization consultants Deloitte & Touche that doesn’t stack public against private and objectively compare them.

Earlier this year, Deloitte also advised that the city’s Disraeli bridge should be upgraded as a P3. The consulting firm is a sponsor of the country’s main privatization lobby group.

Winnipeg city councilor Jenny Gerbasi opposed the plans, calling them a “drastic move away from public control of core city services” that “is on the fast track”. She and three other pro-public councilors raised questions of accountability and direct control.

Gerbasi moved a motion for public hearings – which have been non-existent – as well as a full and open comparison of public and private plans.

But council voted to barrel ahead instead of listening to the arguments for staying public, including University of Winnipeg professor Christopher Leo’s warnings about what happened to a similar scheme in Utica, NY.

The corporate proposal for Winnipeg includes selling water services to neighbouring communities. Leo points to the results of Detroit’s attempts to market its water regionally. Winnipeg’s water marketing plan ignores regional resource-sharing and support that could happen publicly.

The coalition opposing water privatization isn’t going away. CUPE will keep working with the broad cross-section of citizens and groups that want to keep the city’s water public, challenging the city’s blinkered plans at every step.

LOCAL EVENTS:

"Winnipeg is not for sale"

A group of citizens operating under the banner "Winnipeg is not for sale" has come together to oppose the City's long-term plan to sell off, contract out and privatize our public facilities and programs. In order to demonstrate our opposition to Katz's privatization agenda we've organized a protest at City Hall on Wednesday March 26th at 8:30am -- the day that City Council will approve the 2008 Operating Budget. A poster for the event is attached. More information about the trend towards the privatization of City services is provided below.

To contact Winnipeg is Not for Sale, phone 947-9334, or email antiprizatizewinnipeg@gmail.com

Please forward this email far and wide, and come out on March 26th to send the message that "Winnipeg is not for sale"!

Background:

One of the clearest indications of the shift towards privatization at City Hall is the final report of the Economic Opportunity Commission(EOC). Last year Katz struck a committee tasked with finding ways to replace the revenue lost by the proposed elimination of the Municipal Business Tax. The Economic Opportunity Commission (EOC) was comprised mainly of representatives of business and the manufacturing sector and did not include any public input. In June of last year the EOC released its final report entitled "Improving Our City's Competitiveness". Among the many recommendations in the report are suggestions to replace community club and library staff with volunteers, sell public swimming pools and rec centres, increase the use of Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) for capital projects, contract out unionized City jobs and attract corporate sponsorship for public facilities.

The EOC report expects that these recommendations will be implemented over the course of the next 6 years. While the 2008 Operating Budget does not propose to cut the business tax as expected, it does make significant cuts to public sector City jobs, cuts funding to the arts by more than half, and it continues the use of Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) to finance capital projects. As the publicly stated intent to cut the business tax, Katz's "open for business" rhetoric, and the EOC report all demonstrate, this budget can be seen as the continuation of a process of public disinvestment that began when Katz was first elected in '04, and may very well continue for the remainder of his term (if it is left unchallenged).

To view the complete EOC report, visit: http://www.winnipeg.ca/interhom/eoc/eocFinalReport.pdf

For a critical guide to the EOC report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, visit: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/Manitoba_Pubs/2008/2Visions_2Cities.pdf (especially Part 4) and http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/Manitoba_Pubs/2008/2Visions_2Cities_Public_Services_For_Public_Good.pdf