Candidates speak out
Winnipeg mayoral hopefuls take in some issues affecting student life

Part one of a two-part series

Janet Kemp and Gordon Reid

With just over a month until voters cast their ballots in this year's civic election, the eight mayoral candidates are preparing for the most crucial period of their campaigns. In this two-part special report, The Manitoban will address some issues that are of importance to university students.

With close to 17,000 eligible voters attending the university, as well as faculty and staff members, the U of M is a substantial portion of the electorate. While post-secondary education is not normally a major issue in civic elections, a wide variety of city services impact students and campus life directly.

Four of the mayoral candidates -- Theresa Ducharme, Peter Kaufmann, Michael Greiger and Natalie Pollock -- were asked their views on transit fare reduction, bicycle paths and a proposal to build a baseball stadium on the U of M's Fort Garry campus.

Transit Fare Reduction
While the rising costs of attending universities has been granted national exposure, the associated costs of attending post-secondary institutions (i.e. transit fares) have largely been ignored.

"Other cities such as Calgary or Washington D.C. have special rates for university students," stated Students' Union president David Gratzer. "We have got a special rate for high school students, but it's a pity that there's nothing for university students. I think that if they [Winnipeg Transit] were to offer a substantive discount like they do for high school students, like a 50 per cent discount, it would affect revenues by about 1.3 per cent."

"Bunk, bunk, bunk! B-U-N-K to the management of Winnipeg Transit," replied former Videon cable star Natalie Pollock after learning of Transit's adamant stance against reducing fares for university students. "I have talked to some of the drivers and they say that management doesn't know anything about running a bus company. As mayor, there would be lower bus fares and that's that!" Pollock proclaimed vehemently.

Ms. Pollock seemed troubled at the current cost of tuition. "I can't believe how students can ever make it." IN reference to her past lobbying for lower bus fares, Pollock expressed, "A bus fare of 75 cents would be more appropriate. Bus fares are one of my major issues. I'm the only candidate who has brought it up."

Other candidates agree with Pollock's stance.

"I would like to see a monthly pass of $10 or $15 to carry students through the month," pronounced Theresa Ducharme. As a Winnipeg Transit user herself, she says she is sympathetic to the spiraling costs of public transportation. "How can people get around?" she added.

Also in favour of a standardized university bus pass was candidate Peter Kaufmann. Kaufmann stated that the main reason for there not being a reduced fare for students was the fact that "there's no political will at the present time in city council."

The only candidate taking a strong stance against transit-fare reductions is Michael Greiger. Greiger's campaign focuses on balancing Winnipeg's budget at almost any cost. "The way I see it," he stated, "for two to three years, there cannot be any cuts of any kind to any service in Winnipeg. That includes bus fares." Greiger reasoned taht for any cuts made, other means of taxation had to be found to maintain the balance, let alone to reduce the deficit.

Bicycle Paths
As a practical and cost-effective alternative to driving or using public transportation, an increasing number of students are cycling to and from the university. The candidates were asked what initiatives they would take in facilitating the construction and use of bicycle paths.

Theresa Ducharme fully endorsed the construction of bicycle paths, commenting that they would provide better access to students with physical disabilities. She added that bike paths would "give students another option on how to get to school."

While he doesn't condone increased spending on bicycle path construction, Michael Grieger supports continuing funding at current levels. "I do believe that the current administration is allowing [between] $125,000 and $200,000 a year for the next four years," he commented. "We should be able to maintian that type of funding every year."

Much of Natalie Pollock's campaign and attention has been focused on promoting sports in Winnipeg. She gave the construction of bicycle paths her complete support. "People need a safe place to ride their bikes," said Pollock.

"Every time we reconstruct a street or do raodwork, we should be putting at least a five-foot bicycle path on each side of the road," stated ex-councillor Peter Kaufmann. Kaufmann favours a system used in many European nations where bicycle paths are found in lieu of grassed boulevards.

A Baseball Stadium for the U of M
With the recent demise of the Spirit of Manitoba's bid to keep the Jets in Winnipeg, a large amount of public money (including 30 million dollars from the City of Winnipeg) has been freed up for other uses. The four candidates were asked if they would be opposed to using some of the money to build a baseball stadium at the U of M.

"I know that the Pan-Am Games would require such a facility and I hope that the University of Manitoba would accrue some major benefits from that," stated Peter Kaufmann. "I have no problem with helping the UNiversity build a baseball facility," he maintained. "I want to put the facility where it will benefit the most people for the lowest amount of money."

Theresa Ducharme was more than willing to consider the construction of a new baseball facility. In fact, Ducharme offered her personal assistance in raising money for such a new stadium. "We had to raise money for our own campaigns, so why not a baseball field," she countered. "Students need more recreation and concentration and you can't concentrate without leisure and recreation."

Michael Greiger condoned a new stadium, stating that "Half of that money can definitely go towards a facility that will benefit a lot of Winnipeggers, not just a few hundred." Greiger concluded that the other half of the money left from the arena debacle should go towards balancing the civic budget. "But I mean that," he continued. "I'm for the Goldeyes. I mean that they could be here for the next 20 years, which would be excellent, because we need to keep teams here in Winnipeg."

Natalie Pollock was less enthusiastic about a new baseball stadium. "My main promise in the campaign has been to save the Jets. I want to work on saving them as my first priority. A baseball field is my second priority."

Other Issues and Initiatives
The Manitoban asked the candidates to comment on any initiatives or plans they had relating to post-secondary education.

Michael Greiger plans to institute a "Trust Fund Levy," which would appear on property and business tax assessments every year. The levy, which would cost between $5 and $20 per address, would be put into trust, with half of the interest earned being paid out in bursaries to financially disadvantaged students.

"Simply put, if I charged every homeowner and business owner fiver dollars times 200,000 [dwellings] is one million dollars a year," Greiger explained "We are never spending the money. It's going into a trust."

"I'm tired of people getting out of university with student loans anywhere from $10,000 - $20,000," he added. "Just imagine if we would have started 10 years ago. We'd have 10 million dollars plus."

Natalie Pollock said that she did not feel civic politics played much of a role in post-secondary education and hasn't composed any specific agenda regarding the subject.

Theresa Ducharme emphasized her intentions to run a "positive" campaign and urged the media to "promote the positiveness of post-secondary education." Ducharme very proudly announced that she had received her high school diploma at the age of forty and would like to see the benefits of all levels of education highlighted by the media.

"In my personal opinion, we need to get more of the city jobs available to university students whenever we can," said Peter Kaufmann. "When I am elected mayor, I'm going to make sure that we hire as many students we possibly can during the April to September period."

Election day is Wednesday, October 25th.

Part two will appear in two weeks.

This article first ran in The Manitoban, Vol. 83, No. 6 (September 20, 1995). It was my first Toban byline, and was shared with Janet Kemp, another new volunteer to the newspaper. The duties were shared in order to split the large amount of research and interview time needed and (presumably) to have a writer familiar with the story available to pick up the slack in case the other was not up to snuff. Thankfully, we both were.

As for the candidates, Greiger and Ducharme were hardly a factor in the election. Kaufmann turned out to be Susan Thompson's biggest threat. When he ran again in 1999, this time facing off against then-City Councillor Glen Murray. That year, Kaufmann led in some polls up until he shot himself in the foot by making a number of allegedly homophobic comments, paving the way for Murray to become the first openly-gay mayor of a major Canadian city. As for Pollock, she always will be a freak in my book.