Brian Bowman touts 'positive vision over division' after re-election as Winnipeg mayor
Incumbent gets more than half the vote while Jenny Motkaluk, his closest challenger, gets 36%
Brian Bowman's re-election as Winnipeg's mayor ends a campaign that sparked around the debate over reopening Portage and Main to pedestrians but ultimately returned many familiar faces to city hall.
Bowman defeatedseven challengers, including his closest competitor, business consultant Jenny Motkaluk. Bowman won with 53 per cent of the vote, whileMotkalukreceived 36 per cent.
"Winnipeg has chosen a positive vision over division and a return to a status quo of the past," Bowman said in his victory speech at the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre.
The campaign has been difficult for many, he said,congratulatingeveryone who ran, including the newly elected city councillors.
"Now's the time to come together. Now's the time we work together to continue to build this city for the future," he said.
Top priorities for Bowman's new mandate will be to continue fixing roads, with a $976-million, six-year road repair plan. He also said there is more work to be done to improve public safety, including dealing with the city's meth problem, while continuing to raise Winnipeg's profile as a tourist destination and human rights leader.
Motkaluk's voice was hoarse as she thanked her supporters, including more than 1,000 people who donated to her campaign,telling them in heremotional concession speech that she had been "changed forever."
She also said she had spoken to Bowman and congratulated him on his victory.
"I hope he does his very best for all of us going forward,and you know what? We will be happy to provide him any information that we can to help him better serve those who supported me and those who wanted change at city hall," she said.
Turnout in this election was lower than in 2014, with216,003 ballots cast for a participation rate of 42.3 per cent. In 2014,235,455 people cast ballots.
Bowman campaign started late
Motkaluk'scampaign got going early in April and kept up a busy pace throughout the race, with policy announcements across a wide range of issues, oftenin opposition to projects championed byBowman, such as expanding rapid transit and reopening Portage and Main to pedestrians.
Bowmanwaited until mid-September to officially launch his re-election bid and wrapped up his official campaign on Oct. 19. Helimited the number and scope of his campaign promises, which includedpledges to continue raising property taxes by 2.33 per cent a year, spend an additional $4 million on aWaverleyWest recreation centre and siphon money away from a transit-garage repair job to build more heated bus shelters.
The other six people vying for the job made up a crowded fringe. Winnipeg police officer Tim Diack, former bus driver and perennialpolitical candidate Don Woodstock, filmmaker Ed Ackerman, self-described entrepreneur UmarHayat, Hindu priest VenkatMachiraju and former Mordenmayor Doug Wilson all polled with single-digit support.
While Bowman and Motkalukboth ran fairly straightforward campaigns with few major gaffes, this election was punctuated by some surprising incidents involving some of the other candidates.
Ackermanannounced during a debate that he was homeless,and Machiraju was arrested for allegedly violating a protection order against him.
New faces on council
Several incumbent city councillors who formed the unofficial opposition to Bowman on council endorsed Motkaluk, includingJanice Lukes, Jeff Browaty, Ross Eadie and Jason Schreyer, all of whom were re-elected.
Bowman said it will be up to councillors to decide whether they will work collaboratively with him.
"We saw a number ofcouncillorsduring this campaign be very open and transparent about their willingness to work with me. I hope they take their direction fromWinnipeggerstonight and respect the democratic outcome of the mayoral race," he said.
It remains to be seen whether Bowman will be able to cobble together the nine loyal votes he needs on executive policy committee to retain control of city council.
In total,10 incumbents wonre-election, including John Orlikow in River Heights-Fort Garry, Devi Sharma in Old Kildonan, Cindy Gilroy in Daniel McIntyre, Matt Allard in St. Boniface, Scott Gillingham in St. James, Brian Mayes in St. Vital and Janice Lukesin Waverley West.
Five new faces will sit on city council this year: Vivian Santos in Point Douglas, Shawn Nason in Transcona, Kevin Klein in Charleswood-Tuxedo, Sherri Rollins in Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry and Markus Chambers in St. Norbert-Seine River.
Portage and Main
Winnipeggers also voted in a non-binding plebiscite on whether to reopen Portage and Main to pedestrians. The "No"side prevailed, with almost two-thirds of voters choosing to keep the intersection closed.
Bowman had pledged to remove the barricades at the intersection during his 2014 election campaign, but agreed to abide by the plebiscite resultsin the face of mounting opposition from challengers and other councillors.
The mayor said he was disappointed by the result, but reiterated his pledge to abide by the outcome of the plebiscite.
"I don't think you ever make a mistake by listening to Winnipeggers, and so that's what we did," he said in a scrum with reporters after his victory speech. "Of course, supporting the plebiscite was something that council decided, as did I. I'm not going to apologize for listening to Winnipeggers and they spoke today pretty clear."
While he promised to respect the outcome of the plebiscite, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done at the intersection, he said.
"The City of Winnipeg has put off making some serious renovations to Portage and Main for 40 years and sadly, we're going to collectively have to pay a price for that as taxpayers," he said.
"I think what we do need to put our minds to is how can we continue to build a vibrant downtown, how can we continue to do more at that intersection, short of pedestrians crossing."
With files from BartleyKivesand Laura Glowacki
_(720p).jpg)
 OFFICIAL HD MUSIC VIDEO.jpg)
.jpg)
