Police HQ report ‘outrageous’: Kinew

Premier vows to implement inquiry recommendations

PREMIER Wab Kinew says public inquiry findings that taxpayers were overcharged more than $40 million for the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters project and two city leaders broke the public trust are “outrageous.”

Inquiry commissioner Garth Smorang’s report, which was released Monday, concluded former mayor Sam Katz “violated the public trust” and council code of conduct, while the city’s former chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl suffered from a “complete lack of a moral compass.”

Smorang also found the city was overcharged $43.3 million for the project, with $42 million of that going to key contractor Caspian Projects.

“It’s outrageous that people who were elected betrayed the public here in the city. It’s outrageous that there were people in business who ripped you off, ripped me off — I was paying property taxes in Winnipeg at the time — and ripped all of us off to the tune of $43.3 million. That’s crazy,” said Kinew.

The report addressed problems related to the headquarters at 245 Smith St., which plagued the city for more than a decade. The building’s initial $135-million price tag rose to about $209 million, the commissioner found.

An external audit found the project had been severely mismanaged. RCMP completed a lengthy investigation into fraud and forgery allegations but no criminal charges were laid.

Kinew said his government will help prevent such problems from being repeated by implementing all provincial recommendations from the inquiry.

“There’s going to be a lot of action across government in the coming months and years to make sure we don’t let that happen again,” he said.

Inquiry recommendations for the province include that it require a five-year term for the city’s integrity commissioner, provide that person immunity from being sued over action taken in their duties and extend the role’s mandate to cover senior members of the city’s public service.

Kinew declined to weigh in on a Manitoba Prosecution Service statement Monday that new evidence from the public inquiry is being reviewed to determine whether criminal charges could be pursued.

“You guys are going to have a field day if I say anything about the prosecution service,” Kinew told reporters, adding there’s “a line between the prosecution service and anything political.”