And the winner is.... Sam Katz

The end of October is nearly here and what a month it has been for the city of Winnipeg.

The major source of news for our city has been the recent civic election where our current Mayor Sam Katz was voted in for a third term. Good or bad his being re-elected it is what it is. Unfortunately in his being voted in we lose a well respected MP in the failure of the Judy team to gain sufficient support to replace Sam. Irregardless of where a persons loyalties lay, I believe that Winnipeg may have been cheated of the chance for change. We currently live in the most violent city in the entire country and these stats continue to rise. Under Mr. Katz's rule we have seen a series of promises that have seemed to good to be true prove to be exactly that - too good to be true. Millions of dollars in Provincial funds given for projects like the rapid transit fiasco have been diverted to other projects. Contracts have been signed in secrecy without the input of the constituants involved, and violent crime has risen dramatically.

During Mr. Katz's current campaign, many promises were made such as a continuation of the current property tax freeze which based on an economic perspective is unsustainable. One need only look at the state of our roads and the consequences of an inadequate police force to see that more injection of cash is needed desperately in these areas to see improvement. Additional police officers on the streets and a heightened police presence in the gang plagued north end along with a police helicopter were touted by our illustrious mayor during his campaign, and although that sounds great, the reality is can we trust him to keep his word? Based on his propensity to change his mind and divert funds dedicated to projects and campaign promises elsewhere I sure hope for the city of Winnipeg's sake we can. Good or bad however, we are stuck with him for another term.

The unfortunate reality here is we will never actually know as a city who the real mayor would have been had it not been for the state of apathy in which many of the eligible voters here in our city are in. Many hundreds of thousands of eligible voters did not turn out on voting day. Maybe it was the weather which sure was terrible, but more than likely it was a combination of the same mix of emotions seen in this city in every election. Why should I bother; My vote won't make a difference; its too cold out; I just don't care...etc. Whatever the answer is, we will never know and Winnipeg will no doubt continue to elect a mayor because the majority of voters quite simply are upper middle class people. Hopefully next time the election comes around, we will have a better showing at the poles. What ever it is worth congradulations Sam Katz, don't let us down (again).