Winnipeg mayoral candidates pledge ethics, accountability

Lawyer Brian Bowman, who hopes to be Winnipeg's next mayor, said if one of his campaign workers rips a rival's sign down, he or she will get punted from the campaign.

Earlier this week, Robert-Falcon Ouellettespoke out about racism he has encountered during the campaign.

• Robert-Falcon Ouellette faces racism during mayoral campaign

Bowman said Friday he is asking his campaign volunteers to sign a pledge committing to ethical and professional behaviour.

That means no nasty tweets or disrespectful behaviour. He said if they don't respect their promise, they are out.

"I'm not afraid to do that," he said. "If and when we have volunteers that fall short, we will deal with that as appropriate and in the most extreme cases, we would ask someone not to actively volunteer for our campaign."

Bowman said he's been on the receiving end of personal and harassing tweets himself.He said he's always tried to respond in a respectful manner and expects his supporters to do the same.

Bowman said it's the kind of conduct Winnipeggers should expect from all the candidates for mayor.

"We want to be very clear with our volunteers that that type of activity is not going to be acceptable and I think Winnipeggers should expect that from all the teams," he said.

The pledge comes a day after Bowman promised to make city information more easily available to the public if he is elected.

• Mayoral candidate Brian Bowman promises open data at city hall

Meanwhile, mayoral hopeful Gord Steeves released his ideas on how to make city hall more accountable.

The former city councillor said if he is elected mayor, he will put a number of initiatives on the table for the first council meeting after the election.

"To make sure that big projects aren't going off the rails," he said. "We have seen too many examples of that. But essentially it's going to be a watchdog to ensure that big projects are monitored appropriately."

Steeves' proposals include:

• Two term limit for Mayor, request to councillors to agree to the same.
• Political party affiliation: Mayor would declare political affiliations request councillors to do the same.
• Executive Policy Committee: three members of EPC to be elected annually by council.
• Weekly public meetings: mayor to meet with member of the public, councillors and business community
• Four year City of Winnipeg business plan: establish a plan that links administrative performance targets with operating and capital budgets.
• Treasury Board: establish a 'Treasury Board' to oversee and monitor all expenditures over $100,000.
• Outstanding audit issues: city auditor to be instructed to report on all outstanding audit issues and provide a plan of action for them to be resolved within one calendar year.