While the promise of a new Community Centre for Justice by NDP leader Wan Kinew is encouraging, Dauphin mayor David Bosiak is hoping for more from the upcoming provincial election.
“I’m supportive of (Community Centre for Justice) from a sense of there was plans and everything done in their past mandate and they’re fulfilling a promise. So I think that, from that point of view, it’s really good for us and it’s certainly something that may help stem the tide of the loss of public service jobs in our community. There was a huge loss when the jail closed,” Bosiak said. “I want to take them at their word. From what I can gather, historically the previous NDP government was beyond just the idea and the promise phase. The city and RM had developed the property and we spent some money and did a lot of planning on getting the land available for them. And they were designed, they were all ready, they were way past just the schematic plan for this.”
Historically, for a variety of reasons, governments do not always keep their promises, Bosiak said, and while the original plans for a new jail did not come to fruition, he believes the community will do whatever it can to make the centre for justice become a reality should the NDP come to power in October.
“I think that this may be one, at least for us locally, that is of importance enough that locals won’t allow them to ignore it,” Bosiak said. “Especially with a first-term commitment that was made and considering how our existing government handled (the closure of the Dauphin Correctional Centre).”
And while the jobs the new centre would bring many needed jobs to the community, Bosiak has his sights set on something less tangible coming out of the election.
“I would like to see a renewed level of communication between the municipal government and the provincial government and a willingness to discuss issues, ideas and concerns,” Bosiak said, citing the Community Safety and Well-being plan as one instance. “It’s been over a year and a half that it was announced and we’re just now starting to have discussions with consultants. But we still are yet to have a one-on-one with a consultant for our project. We are still in the infancy stages of the overall plan for the province with the consultants and it’s just so frustrating to see that this is what needs to be done.”
A more open relationship would also help in instances such the Main Street South redevelopment project, which became hung up when tenders came in $1.5 million over what the city had borrowed through debenture.
Government rules and regulations make it difficult for the City the raise the remaining funds and the City has been attempting to get some help from the province.
“We went to the province to say ‘hey can you throw us a bone, can you maybe help us, can you maybe do something?’,” Bosiak said. “Because we had seen this in other jurisdictions around the province, the province came to help other municipalities whether it’s water treatment plants in central Manitoba or crime stuff in the North or health stuff. There doesn’t seem to be an ability to help Dauphin.”
Bosiak said the City met with Minister of Municipal Relations Andrew Smith, last week, but now, because of the election blackout, there is nothing that can be done until after the election in October.
“So we just have to hurry up and wait, which is frustrating and it just means further delay,” Bosiak said. “Whichever government gets elected I just hope that we have a heightened sense of communication and collaboration as we work forward in the next three years for us and four years for them. I’m hopeful that we have someone on the government side again and that we have someone who may be a minister. But if not, I still want to have a positive relationship with the provincial government because quite honestly, municipalities can’t do much without support from the province.”
