Council makes it official, asks province for public inquiry

City council has made it official with a formal request for a public inquiry into the real-estate and construction scandals that undermined public confidence in city hall in recent years.

Council voted 15-1 on Wednesday to ask the Pallister government to commit to an inquiry into "any and all matters" related to the real-estate transactions and capital-procurement problems that plagued the city during previous administrations. Those matters include problems identified by the fire-paramedic station construction audit in 2013 and the real-estate and police-headquarters audits of 2014.

The call for an inquiry, crafted by Mayor Brian Bowman, also asks the Manitoba government "to conduct a broad systemic examination of all processes and procedures affecting the conduct of business between elected officials and senior public service members employed by the city and parties with whom the city may conduct business."

Bowman said he envisions an inquiry that would require people to testify under oath, but would not draw any conclusions about civil or criminal liability, duplicate the work of previous audits or hamper the ongoing RCMP investigation into Winnipeg's police headquarters.

Every member of council except South Winnipeg-St. Norbert Coun. Janice Lukes voted in favour of the motion, though some complained about being left out of the process in drafting the wording.

'I'm not a sheep or a rubber stamp'

Lukes said while she supports the idea of a public inquiry, she could not vote for Bowman's motion because she fears it is premature, politically motivated and may endanger the RCMP's police-HQ investigation. She also said it's easy for the city to ask for an inquiry when the province may be covering the cost.

The provincial Progressive Conservative government remains non-commital, at best, to the idea of a public inquiry.

"Our government understands the concerns that have been raised by the Mayor of Winnipeg. However, it is important to note that an inquiry can not be used as a means to investigate and determine the criminal responsibility of specific individuals for specific offences," Manitoba Justice Minister Heather Stefanson repeated in a statement issued last month.

"In order to ensure the integrity of the process, the Attorney General of Manitoba will not be commenting while this issue remains under active criminal investigation. As this issue requires, we will ensure appropriate and full consideration within the parameters of all applicable departmental processes and policies."

Bowman said he intends to speak to Premier Brian Pallister about calling an inquiry. He refused to speculate whether the premier understands the city is not just concerned about the police headquarters.

'Let's wait for the facts,' premier implores

Pallister told CBC News the broad scope of the inquiry proposed by council won't change his desire to wait until the RCMP concludes its investigation of the police headquarters investigation.

"That's a pretty significant aspect of what the mayor and council have now decided they want us to look into," Pallister said.

"I don't want to proceed with a partial inquiry. Step one, step two, step three doesn't make sense to me. So let's get the facts."

On the floor of council, the mayor cited several examples of inquiries that ran parallel to criminal investigations, including Canada's Airbus inquiry and the municipal-corruption inquiry in Quebec.

Bowman acknowledged the province may never heed the city's request.