COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WINNIPEG Wednesday, February 26, 2014 The Council met at 9:32 a.m. The City Clerk advised the Speaker that a quorum was present. The Speaker called the meeting to order. The opening prayer was read by Councillor Pagtakhan. ROLL CALL Clerk: Madam Speaker Councillor Sharma, His Worship Mayor Katz, Councillors Browaty, Eadie, Fielding, Gerbasi, Havixbeck, Mayes, Nordman, Orlikow, Pagtakhan, Smith, Steen, Swandel and Vandal. INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME OF GUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Madam Speaker: I’d like to introduce our Page for today's meeting, Midori Matthew, from St. Mary’s Academy, who resides in the Charleswood -Tuxedo Ward. Thank you for being here today. I’d like to recognize in the gallery, Assistant Professor, Shauna MacKinnon and her class of Urban and Inner City Studies students from the University of Winnipeg. Welcome to our chamber. Mr. Mayor, I understand you have some announcements you wish to make. Mayor Katz: I do Madam Speaker and thank you very much. I’m rising to express how troubled we all are regarding the ongoing unrest in Ukraine. Both for the people and for the future of Ukraine's political, economic, and social development. Winnipeg is proud to be home to a vibrant community of over 110,000 people of Ukrainian decent. Many maintain close ties to Ukraine through family and friends. I think we all share their concern over the current situation. To date, the violence has resulted in the deaths of more than 100 citizens and hundreds more have been injured. Last week, we flew the Ukrainian flag at half-mast here at City Hall in honour of those killed and injured and as a symbol of our hope that things will soon come to a peaceful resolution. Madam Speaker, I’d also like to take a moment to mention another country which is currently being affected by political unrest. For the past two weeks, the people of Venezuela have been involved in several protests in Caracas and throughout the country. Some of these demonstrations have been peaceful while others have taken a tragic, violent turn. As a result, over a dozen Venezuelans have been killed; another 150 have been injured and nearly 600 have been detained. We have many citizens of Winnipeg who are afraid for the safety and well-being of friends and family in Venezuela. And I join them in prayers for a quick and peaceful end to the situation. On a good note this morning, I have the distinct honour of recognizing Winnipeg's tremendous winter Olympic athletes. On Monday night, hundreds of Winnipeggers gathered at the airport to welcome home team Jennifer Jones. Team Jones captured the hearts of the nation and made Olympic history by remaining undefeated throughout the Games. The Canadian men's curling team also took the gold in Sochi with Winnipegger Ryan Fry playing third. Ryan currently lives in Sault Ste. Marie. We are looking forward to celebrating his win when he returns to Winnipeg for a visit. Another Winnipegger adding a gold medal to his collection is our own Jonathan Toews. Millions of Canadians woke up early to see the Canadian men's hockey team earn the victory and it was especially exciting to see Jonathan Toews score the winning goal and of course I would like to recognize speed skater, Brittany Schussler for her participation in the games. This was Brittany’s second Olympic Games and we're proud of the hard work and determination that she has shown throughout her career. We are in discussions with the Province to recognize the achievements of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes sometimes in the future. At this time, speaking on behalf of all Winnipeggers, I’d like to offer congratulations to all our athletes and coaches. They did us proud. And lastly, Madam Speaker, as you know, today is Anti-Bullying Day, known throughout Canada and around the world as Pink Shirt Day. Students across Winnipeg are joining thousands across the country who are taking a stand against bullying by wearing pink shirts and taking part in anti-bullying activities. Today, I’m sure you will see many people here in the gallery and on Council wearing pink to support the movement and to offer support to all kids who’ve been victims of bullying. By coming together as a city and taking a stand against bullying, we are making Winnipeg a better place to live, work and play for all of our citizens. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker: Thank you. Councillor Havixbeck, I understand you have an announcement. Councillor Havixbeck: It’s not an announcement per se but just to contribute further to what the Mayor has said. I am one of the members of the Ukrainian community who is on Council and I’m wanting to make note that a (Ukrainian spoken here) service or service for the deceased was held on Sunday and that I was in attendance, albeit briefly, but I was there and I think it's important to note that the City had representation. I would also add for the record, (Ukrainian 2 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WINNIPEG February 26, 2014 spoken here), which means eternal rest to those who were victims and condolences to their families in the Ukraine. Having represented our city in Ukraine through the FCM on being municipal local economic development initiative, I’ve met with many of the political leaders in both Lviv and Kiev and I have had exchanges of e-mails and there is a sense of pride. Despite the loss, there is a sense of pride in the community and so I wanted to reinforce the Mayor's message of peace and harmony of moving forward in the challenges that they face in the country. Thank you. Madam Speaker: Thank you. We have a leave of absence motion for Councillor Wyatt. Mr. Clerk, will you read the motion? MOTIONS Moved by Councillor Browaty, Seconded by Councillor Steen, THAT Councillor Wyatt be granted a leave of absence from today’s meeting due to a personal family matter. Madam Speaker: All those in favour? Contrary? Carried. MINUTES Councillor Steen moves that the Minutes of the meeting held on January 29, 2014 be taken as read and confirmed. All those in favour? Contrary? Carried. Madam Speaker: Before we move on to our meeting today, I would like to remind all members of Council that part of the role of Speaker is to ensure decorum and respect is maintained in the Chamber at all times. Our Procedure By-law and past practice in this matter has always recognized that Council shall not discuss HR matters on the floor of Council including discussion about individual members of our administration. I am reminding everyone of this and the fact that I shall be ensuring that this practice is followed. I thank you for your co-operation. We have four delegations with us today; the first two are in regard to the establishment of a U-Pass program. First up is Mr. Zach Fleischer followed by Mr. Rorie McLeod-Arnould both of whom are in support. Mr. Fleischer. Good morning. Mr. Fleischer, you have ten minutes. DELEGATIONS Zach Fleischer: Ten minutes? I first want to thank Council members for hearing me speak. I’ve been…I’ve been proud to have been involved with lobbying for the U-Pass and for sustainable transportation for about a year and a half and I understand that the process has been going on for a very, very long time, and I do want to just quickly acknowledge everyone who has made an effort to help bring us forward, be they Councillors; be they advocates through the student associations or anything of that nature. I do want to recognize and I don't often agree with the state of the City's planning, but I think it's important to recognize that the current state of rapid transit development in Winnipeg is such that it connects both universities and it's important to recognize that, in that both the U of W and the U of M, which are the participating post-secondary institutions in this city, are connected to rapid transit and what we have here is we’re creating a program that has the potential to revitalize that route, to make it viable and then using that ridership, we are able to, using the ridership from the increased numbers from students which we see as happened in other cities as well, we are able to work for the betterment of all citizens because all citizens benefit from major investments within transit as well. I do want to just provide you with some factual information. What we see in Winnipeg is that we have a higher percentage of regular commuters using transit than both Calgary and Edmonton as it currently stands. And that's because, you know, we have a fairly dense city within our core neighbourhoods and there are certain demographics of Winnipeg that encourage our transit ridership and currently, I think the number right now is at 14.6 percent of Winnipeggers who are regularly commuting are using transit and in Calgary and Edmonton, which are both cities with rapid transit development, that supersedes what we have. The numbers are a bit lower so what we really need to look at is with the implementation of a U-Pass and with the continued investment into rapid transit development, I think, and I think it's an admirable goal, puts us in the realm of Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa for us to try to reach 20 percent ridership by commuters within the next couple of years.