Motkaluk, ward candidate team up to back pool

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This article was published 18/10/2018 (2015 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another ward candidate has endorsed Jenny Motkaluk for mayor.

At a joint news conference Friday morning adjacent to the Norwood Outdoor Pool, St. Boniface candidate Marcel Boille said he’s voting for her.

“I believe she’s the one that I’ll be able to work with,” Boille told reporters. “If elected, I’ll have to work with whoever is elected as mayor, but I also believe there are some people easier to work with.”

Boille joined council incumbents Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan), Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-East Kildonan), Ross Eadie (Mynarski) and Janice Lukes, who was acclaimed in the new riding of Waverley West, in throwing their support behind Motkaluk.

Motkaluk said she’s grateful for Boille’s support, adding she believes it reflects growing support for her across the city.

“One more time, it just goes to show that Winnipeggers are ready to work together, ready to put aside their partisanship and come together so we can actually effect the right change in our city,” the mayoral candiate said.

Boille is expected to be in tough against incumbent Matt Allard, who finished the term as chairman of council’s public works committee and a key member of Mayor Brian Bowman’s executive policy committee.

Winnipeggers go to the polls Oct. 24.

Boille and Motkaluk met reporters at the outdoor pool in Norwood Flats, which had been slated for closure, to commit their support to keeping the facility open.

Their support mirrors that already made earlier this summer by Allard and by members of council’s parks committee who had directed the administration at a September meeting to work with area residents to keep the pool open.

“The Norwood pool is an essential part of this community, and we need to fix it or replace it,” Boille said.

City of Winnipeg administration had proposed closing the pool after the past summer season, explaining structural problems caused by rising groundwater necessitated annual repairs city hall couldn’t afford at the expense of other recreational concerns.

Pressure from the residents prompted Allard to join them in a bid to keep the pool open, which was unanimously endorsed by councillors on the parks committee in mid-September. Residents hope the problems caused by the rising groundwater — which is putting pressure on the pool wall and causing it to crack and leak — can be solved by essentially filling in the deep end.

Boille and Motkaluk said despite the parks committee direction to the administration, they don’t believe saving the pool is a sure thing, adding, however, they both are committed to finding the funds necessary to keep it open.

“If you look at last year alone, the city probably wasted in excess of $50 million in useless projects,” Boille said. “Eliminate that and you’ll have more money than you need” to fix the pool.

Boille singled out the $10-million Tache Promenade development as an expensive unwanted project, where he said the funds could have been better spent elsewhere.

“Look at the sidewalk they’re building that goes to nowhere,” he said in reference to the elaborate riverwalk built along the banks of the Red River on Tache Avenue.

“Nobody wanted or needed that. It serves no (useful) purpose.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca