Headingley mayor who led split from Winnipeg mourned

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This article was published 27/06/2016 (2853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Headingley Mayor Wilfred Taillieu, 67, who helped lead that municipality’s secession from Winnipeg in 1992, died on Monday after a battle with cancer.

Taillieu, married to former Morris riding MLA Mavis Taillieu (2003-2013), was a member of Headingley council for 28 years, and served as mayor since 2000. He owned Taillieu Construction.

In the early 1990s, he complained to the City of Winnipeg that Headingley wasn’t being properly served. When services still didn’t improve, he petitioned the Manitoba government to secede. In a referendum, 86.4 per cent of Headingley residents voted to leave Winnipeg.

Taillieu’s views put him at loggerheads with Chris Lorenc, who was a Winnipeg councillor at the time and is now president of Manitoba Heavy Construction Association.

Regardless, they became fast friends.

“The fact we had a difference of opinion doesn’t change the fact that everything Wilf Taillieu did was principled,” said Lorenc in a telephone interview.

“His passing is a great loss to family, to friends, to industry and to his community. He was a principled man, a family man, a great builder to our construction industry, and he made a difference in every area of engagement.”

Taillieu championed low taxes, steady growth and believed in public service. Since 1992, Headingley’s mill rate has fallen from 29 mills, to just seven. During that time, the assessed taxable base has climbed from $53 million to $419 million. The population has risen from 1,575 to 3,500.

Taillieu brokered the interests of anti- and pro-development forces, and came down with a goal of no more than five per cent growth per year. In reality, Headingley has kept a pace of more like 3.5 to 4 per cent, said Chris Fulsher, chief administrator for the municipality.

Joe Masi, executive director of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, said Taillieu “was a very forceful representative for his community. He was just very, very frank.”

At the same time, he didn’t take political differences personally. “He always greeted you well and respectfully. He always made sure he treated people well,” Masi said.

Headingley councillors are the lowest paid for a comparable municipality in the capital region.

The mayor’s indemnity is $17,400, and councillors get $12,000. There are no extra payments for extra hours, sitting on committees, or attending community events, like in many other municipalities.

In an interview last year, Taillieu told the Free Press why mayor and councilor pay has been kept low since secession in 1992.

“We had no intention of taking money from the community. We were being screwed tax-wise by the city. That’s why we left. We weren’t going to do that here,” he said.

In addition to his time on Headingley council, Taillieu also served as chair of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, and on the boards of the Canadian Construction Association, and Western Canada Roadbuilders Association.

A funeral is tentatively scheduled for July 6.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca