Winnipeg Coun. Ross Eadie apologizes after waking up in drunk tank

Winnipeg Coun. Ross Eadie apologized to his constituentsMonday after waking up at an inner-city"drunk tank" Saturday morning, and saiddrinking doesn't affect his work.

"I know they wouldn't relish having a so-called drunk representing them, but again, that drinking has no effect on my ability to represent them," he said.

Eadieacknowledgedhe was likelybelligerent after he "had way too much to drink"at multiple bars on the weekend, before ending up at the Main Street Project, an emergency shelter with an alcohol detox unit.

"When you're blind and you're worked up and disoriented and don't know where you are, I guess I was belligerent and trying to go home," he said.

"I'm not really a violent person."

It started at the King's Head Pubin the city'sExchange District, Eadie said, and from there moved to Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art, a gallerywhere he encountereda friend.

He and the friend continued on toa number of bars. Ataround 2:30 a.m. CT Saturday, the friend put Eadie in a cab.

"I really don't know what happened after that, other than I woke up at the Main Street Project on Saturday morning," he said.

Eadie added that he was taken to the Main Street Project because he lives alone and therefore had no one to care for him while he was drunk.

After leaving the Main Street Project on Saturday morning, Eadie got a call from the mayor's office.Someone other media reports say it was a police officer, but Eadie said he does not know for sure who it washad phoned there to report what happened.

"I realize I am a public figure in a political office, but it is troublesome to me that my non-criminal personal activity was directed to the mayor's office," Eadie said.

Winnipeg police declined to comment on the matter.

Eadie said since the incident was made public, he has received what he calls "abusive" messages and phone calls, some of them from blocked numbers.

The lesson here, he said, is to manage his drinking better during times of the year when he is proneto depression.