Hey Sam, Where's My Hug?

The Winnipeg civic election heated up Wednesday morning, when incumbent Sam Katz and Judy Wasylycia-Leis participated in a debate hosted by CJOB's Richard Cloutier.  Sam and Judy were civil towards each other, at the beginning anyway.  The biggest issues of the debate included crime and infrastructure.  Katz said if re-elected he plans to add 58 new police officers, and 20 for the gang unit.  Wasylycia-Leis responded saying that she doesn’t oppose more police, but thinks more funds should be put towards community centers, recreational activities for youth.  Personally, I see cops on the street all the time and about a dozen police cruisers everyday.  But they can't be everywhere all the time.  Crime will only increase if we don't address the root of the problem, so in that aspect I agreed with Wasylycia-Leis. Katz added that we need ex –gang members that have turned their life around, who’ve walked the walk so to speak, to help current gang members get out of crime and turn their lives around.  Impoverished youth need role models like that to look up to, because it’s hard for them to listen to someone telling them how to live their life, when that person doesn’t understand what they’ve went through.

Another issue raised was property taxes.  Wasylycia-Leis wants to raise them by two percent for the next four years, and put the money towards infrastructure, parks, and recreational activities and centers.  Katz responded to this by saying if we raised the provincial tax by only one percent, we will gain a substantial amount more, while not affecting low income families as drastically. 

One thing that caught my eye was when Wasylycia-Leis stated that she would stop un-necessary spending in city hall, by cutting costly survey and study programs. It caught my eye because her response to the question about whether or not she agreed with Winnipeg’s newly purchased helicopter, she said she wouldn’t cancel it, but she would put together a study to see whether it was effective or not.  Wait a minute.  I thought she said she would cut un-necessary studies, wasting tax payer dollars. Huh?

Both candidates were asked if they agreed with the idea of enacting a youth curfew, like other cities have done experiencing crime issues, and both said they did not.

Katz’s main points of focus are to rejuvenate downtown, safety, and infrastructure

Judy stressed that city savings be put into a blind trust.

The debate was heated at some points, but in the end they are still friends, which they showed when Sam got out of his chair and hugged Judy. 

To sum up, Katz is a better showman, he seemed more prepared.   Wasylycia-Leis did her best to answer some good questions, but it all seemed to get lost in her one liners and campaign rhetoric.  Politicians are masters of dancing around the issues, and this morning was no different.  At the end, it left me thinking.. geez, where's my hug Mr. Mayor?