Police HQ inquiry report coming next week: Kinew
Project shown to be a ‘total catastrophe’
Winnipeg overpaid by $4.3 million on the police service headquarters project.
The final report of the public inquiry into the Winnipeg police service headquarters will be released next week, days before voters elect a mayor and city council, Premier Wab Kinew said Thursday.
Kinew told COJB the report, which he received and began reviewing Tuesday, found the city overpaid by $4.3 million for the project and included issues such as fabricated invoices and misappropriated funds “proven” to account for some of that cost.
“When you see this report, you’re definitely going to agree this was a total catastrophe,” Kinew told the radio station Thursday, noting he thinks residents deserve to read the document before the Oct. 28 election.
The report’s findings relate to activities at the former City of Winnipeg, but Kinew did not identify the person or entity named in the report.
He did not speak to reporters after question period about the inquiry, despite requests from the Free Press and at least one other media outlet for him to discuss the document’s contents.
Kinew’s press secretary told the Free Press late in the afternoon that a copy would be provided to media — half of the premier’s comments from the morning radio interview “stand,” the press secretary said.
The premier told COJB the province will accept the report’s recommendations.
The $2.3-million public inquiry took place over 24 hearing dates between February and May.
Former mayoral candidate Kevin Klein last week published called on Kinew to release the report before the election. He wrote to the province to request that the document be shared promptly and prior to the vote.
“The people of Manitoba have a right to know Kinew for understanding the importance of democracy and transparency,” Klein told reporters Thursday.
The inquiry looked into cost overruns, items related to the WPB headquarters, a former Canada Post office building on Graham Avenue, for more than a decade.