New councillors eager to get to business

Mayor Sam Katz will be joined by four new city councillors including the first blind one and first Indo-Canadian one when he heads back to Winnipeg City Hall next week.

Paula Havixbeck in Charleswood-Tuxedo, Devi Sharma in Old Kildonan, Thomas Steen in Elmwood-East Kildonan and Ross Eadie in Mynarski will round out a 16-person council (including Katz) that otherwise stays the same with 11 incumbents holding on to their seats.

No incumbent was running in any of the four wards with new faces.

Eadie, who was elected after his fourth attempt, is thefirst blind person to become a member of Winnipeg'scity council. And he takes over award plagued by crime and thrust into the national spotlight last week when three people were shot, resulting in two deaths.

Eadie said he wants to tackle a balance of policing and prevention in the area.

"It makes me sick that people are being shot. Somehow we've got to get those guns off the street," he said.

"These youth, we need to get them out of that stream where their addictions allow them to have no fear."

But he said, the police also need support.

"In order for them to do a good job, they need to have some hope and they need to be able to say, 'What I'm doing today means something,'" Eadie said.

Sharma, the city's first Indo-Canadian councillor, said her priority isto get to know the people in her ward.

"We were not able to door knock every [house during the campaign] so that is going to continue that is my first order of business," she said.

Steen, who once ran federally for the Conservatives, took a ward long held by the NDP a ward he doesn't even live in defeating two New Democrats in Shaneen Robinson and Rod Giesbrecht.

"It feels so good but I know the job at hand is a pretty tough one," Steen said.

Havixbeck, who won by a mere 56 votes over closest challenger Jarret Hannah, wants to carry on for former Coun. Bill Clement, who died in May after representing the CharleswoodTuxedo ward for 27 years.

"I made it no secret from Day 1 that I was a card-carrying [Conservative] member and I think, like Bill Clement. He was a very quiet conservative," she said.

"He didn't wave the Conservative flag."

One of the things she wants to do is move theward into the modern world.

"Many people like having ditches and Charleswood is known for its sort of rural feel. Others want to see roads paved and some sort of move into the 21st century," she said.

However, before she gets too far into the job, Havixbeck facesthe prospect of a recount. Jim Moore, Hannah's campaign manager, said Hannah will almost certainly seekone.

Moore said their own tallyindicated an even narrower 36-vote gap. He also said more than 250 ballots in Charleswood were rejected by voting machines.

Candidates have until Nov. 10 to file an application for a judicial recount.

The new council will be sworn in on Nov. 2 but won'tget down to business untiltheir first official meeting on Dec. 15.

All results from elections across the province are available on theAssociation of Manitoba Municipalities' website.