Winnipeg Labour Council

Should Winnipeg Be Run Like a Business?

-by Jenny Gerbasi, City Councillor Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry

Over the last several years Winnipeg City Council has made changes based on the idea that the City of Winnipeg should be run more and more like a business or a corporation. Those who promote this approach claim this is a clever way to save money and to be "efficient".

It is true that the business sector is a very important part of our community. However when you look at the big picture, a city is about a lot more than simply making money and reducing costs. The word "corporation" has been defined as "An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility."(Bierce)

The problem with taking a narrow, corporate view of a city is that we tend to lose sight of our first obligation which is to serve the needs and best interests of all citizens. Mayor Katz's Red Tape Commission of 2005 led the charge to make our city more "businesslike" with its approach of "cost recovery". This means that the fees charged for services the city provides to the public should cover the full cost to the city.

In the last few years the approach of cost recovery has been expanded through a number of council decisions. Bylaws and policies have been changed and fees are going up for most city services including things such as leisure activities, park rental fees, special event permits, street closings and food handling licenses.

The impact of this is starting to be felt as community groups find that the fees that come with holding community events have increased astronomically. Where there are some instances in which these fees can be waived, the rules about this are sketchy and poorly communicated.

The reality is that many groups such as community clubs, legions and other non-profits now have to pay a lot more to hold events that might assist them in raising funds to keep their organizations running and provide community programs. In these tough financial times, the last thing City Hall should be doing is discouraging the efforts of community groups to create recreational activity and neighborhood events.

Another example of ever increasing user fees is with transit fares. Recently city council changed the rules so that transit fares can automatically go up by as much as five cents without the need to go to a city council vote. In the past the mayor and councillors had to take responsibility for increasing fees and now they can hide behind quiet, unseen administrative decisions.

At the same time as fees are going up for basic needs such as transportation, leisure activities and community events, business tax rates have been reduced across the board by 20 per cent. The mayor has promised to cut business taxes even further although it has not been made clear how this will be paid for. Increasing user fees in order to pay for tax cuts is only shifting the burden off of the business sector and placing it onto the rest of the community. Excessive user fees hurt those of lesser incomes and make participation in our society more difficult for vulnerable people.

Another recent change is that our mayor and city council are giving private business more and more control over what used to be publicly run services. Garbage and recycling are now 100 per cent contracted out to private for-profit companies. Recently council voted to have our entire Water and Waste Department run by an arms length board with a "Corporate" for-profit model. Early next year, one of three huge multinational corporations will be selected to design, build and possibly operate our wastewater facilities.

Giving more and more of the work of democratically elected people and public servants over to those whose main purpose is to make money for their shareholders is not a way to provide better service. It is not a way to meet ever growing community needs and desires. It certainly is a way to make a few business people wealthier. It also leads to lower wages for working people trying to get by.

The track record of giving up core public services to for-profit companies is one of lower quality service, less transparency and expensive legal costs. It is also the way to higher and higher user fees which hurt those the most who can least afford to pay.

As Tommy Douglas said "it is never too late to make it a better world". It is doubtful that a better world will come about unless city council can see our city as, not just a corporation, but an organization that has the primary purpose of improving the quality of life for all of our citizens.