Dauphin city councillors and senior administrators attended the Association of Manitoba Municipalities Spring Convention in Winnipeg, last week.
And even if they got nothing else out of the event, the Conference served to reinforce the idea that Dauphin is not alone in the challenges it is facing.
“There was some interesting comments regarding some of the big issues facing all of the communities,” Dauphin mayor David Bosiak said, adding the Cities Caucus meetings served to drive that point home.
“Every community is dealing with the issues that we are - homelessness, addictions, mental health challenges, health shortfalls, crime and community safety variables and factors. So it was, I guess, reassuring in one sense that we’re not having problems that other communities aren’t, but also troubling on the other side that all of us collectively are having these issues.”
Crime in particular was highlighted as not only a local or provincial problem, but an international one, Bosiak said, in a plenary address from former Winnipeg Police Service chief turned international safety consultant, Devon Clunis.
“He said the world is in a rough place. He’s doing police consulting all over the world and this isn’t just a North America or Canadian problem, it’s happening everywhere,” Bosiak said, adding Clunis pointed to a general change in societal values. “Eight police officers killed on duty in Canada already this year. You hope it’s an anomaly, but he’s saying, no, it unfortunately appears to be a trend.”
Along that theme, Bosiak was able to meet one-on-one with Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen to discuss some of the specific crime and justice initiatives the province is implementing and how they impact Dauphin.
“We reinforced the challenges we have with the RCMP,” Bosiak said. “We also were able to talk about the Community Wellness and Safety Plan that, again, has been delayed for another couple of weeks in terms of an announcement.”
Meetings were also held with Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Doyle Piwniuk and Minister of Municipal Relations Andrew Smith.
“These meetings that we had were to introduce myself to some of the ministers, but also the province is spending a lot of money all over the province on water and wastewater and sewer and other infrastructure projects, so it was more of a, ‘what about us?’ presentation. That, I think, went relatively well,” Bosiak said adding he also had chance encounters with MLAs Rick Wowchuk, Eileen Clarke and Cliff Cullen. For Bosiak, the first session of the conference proved to be the most interesting. That session featured Premier Heather Stefanson, NDP leader Wab Kinew and Liberal leader Dugald Lamont in the first leader’s debate of the election year.
Coming out in election mode and pitching their plans should they form government, the three leaders also answered questions formulated by the AMM through its regional meetings held with municipalities around the province.
“So they talked about the crime, about homelessness, about the poverty initiatives that the province is trying to institute. So it was interesting to see the different perspectives,” he said, adding Lamont gave those present something to think about. “Lamont had, I think, a fairly appealing point of view. He said,“you’ve trusted these guys for the last 30 or 40 years alternately, and if you really want change in the province, what about us?”
The real highlight of the debate for Dauphin, Bosiak said, came when Kinew, unsolicited, said his party, if elected, would build a healing centre in Dauphin.
“I had heard rumours that they were figuring out when and how they would announce it. There was conjecture that maybe the Conservatives might even announce something leading up to the election, too, but we hadn’t heard anything official,” Bosiak said, adding Kinew was speaking about infrastructure at the time.
“And then he said, ‘we will ensure that there is a healing center in Dauphin.’ All of us in our section, we sat up, we looked at each other went, ‘well there it is, it’s now on the public record.’ And whether people follow up on it or not, it was stated in the room, publicly on stage.”
All in all, Bosiak was pleased with the time spent at the convention. It is especially beneficial for the newer members of council to interact with their peers from around the province, he said.
“I chatted with Thompson’s mayor and I talked with Brandon’s mayor and had a chat with Winkler’s mayor and Selkirk’s mayor and the Portage mayor. So the networking opportunities are probably the biggest thing,” Bosiak said. “And just to get a sense when you’re sitting in a room and someone says, ‘this is our issue or this is our concern,’ and you go, ‘yeah it’s kind of related to us,’ or, and I’ll be honest, in most of the cases we’re going. ‘oh it’s not as bad in Dauphin.’ As bad as some of the things are for some people, it’s not as bad as it is in some other places.”
