Positioning Winnipeg for growth while maintaining fiscal discipline will be the focus of the newly appointed Executive Policy Committee (EPC), Mayor Brian Bowman announced today.
“Over the last four years, I have been working toward a vision of Winnipeg becoming a city of a million people strong,” said Mayor Brian Bowman. “Last month, Winnipeggers gave me a renewed and stronger mandate to continue building our city for the future with a positive vision to grow our city and its diversity, and to continue promoting it as a great place to live, work, and invest.
“At the same time, we need to continue working together to ensure our city maintains a strong fiscal position so that we can not only provide today’s residents with the services they need but also ensure these services are available to the next generation as well,” the Mayor said.
The Mayor emphasized that an important part of serving on EPC is the willingness to demonstrate and exercise leadership and collaboration that transcend ward boundaries in the best interest of overall city building. It also requires members to maintain professional working relationships with the Public Service, other Council colleagues, and residents while ensuring they represent the city in a manner becoming of civic leaders.
“A critical part of being an effective EPC member is being willing to build a unified city rather than focusing on regional divisions and differences,” said Mayor Bowman. “We can’t be city builders if we tear each other down.”
Following the October 24th civic election, Mayor Bowman met individually with each new candidate elected to Council as well as those members re-elected to Council. During these meetings, Mayor Bowman was able to discuss the various priorities Councillors have for the city as well as share details of the mandate Winnipeggers provided him.
Following these meetings, no changes are being contemplated to Council’s standing policy committee structure. The committee chairs of each standing policy committee and the membership of EPC will include the following six members listed in alphabetical order:
•Councillor Matt Allard (St. Boniface): Chair of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure Renewal and Public Works
•Councillor Scott Gillingham (St. James): Chair of the Standing Committee on Finance
•Councillor Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre): Chair of the Standing Committee on Water and Waste, Riverbank Management and the Environment
•Councillor Brian Mayes (St. Vital): Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development, Heritage and Downtown Development
•Councillor John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry): Chair of the Standing Committee on Innovation
•Councillor-Elect Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry): Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Protection, Community Services and Parks
Mayor Bowman also appointed Councillor-Elect Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River) as Deputy Mayor, and Councillor-Elect Vivian Santos (Point Douglas) into the role of Acting Deputy Mayor.
“I am pleased to welcome these two individuals elected as Councillors into the roles of Deputy Mayor and Acting Deputy Mayor,” said Mayor Bowman. “These positions play an important role in representing our city, as well as Council. I look forward to working with Markus and Vivian to continue building pride in our city, as well as promoting our city as an international leader for human rights.”
Additional nominations and appointments or reappointments to various City of Winnipeg agencies, boards, commissions, Council liaison positions, including the Winnipeg Police Board, will be made as part of the Organizational Meeting of Council scheduled later in the month. The nomination and election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be undertaken as part of tomorrow’s inaugural meeting of Council.
“It’s an honour and incredibly humbling to have been re-elected as Winnipeg’s Mayor,” said Mayor Bowman. “I look forward to working with members of EPC, as well as all Councillors, as we continue to move Winnipeg forward with a positive vision to build our city toward a population of a million people.”
