Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 27, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A7 IDEAS �o ISSUES �o INSIGHTS THINK- TANK A 7 Winnipeg Free Press Tuesday, January 27, 2015 M ONDAY Mayor Brian Bowman and his colleagues tried to make sense of the latest city hall real- estate debacle. The Winnipeg Convention Centre and Centre- Venture - both quasigovernment entities - have overlapping deals on their books to develop a hotel site that CentreVenture bought at 220 Carlton Street. Last week, CentreVenture also took flak when it was revealed the agency brought Canad Inns into a bizarre deal to co- own downtown hotels to limit its tax exposure. Bowman felt that this latest property circus was " not cool" ( and it isn't). Friday he insisted the agency should use competitive bids to develop its properties, starting with 220 Carlton. Remember - council financed Centre- Venture's site purchase with a generous line of credit. CentreVenture claims it can't open the deal up for bids because it is bound by its secret deal with True North until their option expires later this summer. When Bowman asked to review the deal, CentreVenture officials bobbed and weaved. So Bowman and his colleagues voted to insist on bids anyhow. There's just one odd thing about Bowman's solution. It helps to start from the beginning. In 1999, Mayor Glen Murray created CentreVenture. Winnipeg already had a development partnership with Ottawa and Broadway in the form of The Forks North Portage Partnership, but Murray didn't want to have to wait for co- operation from other levels of government in his quest to accelerate downtown development. City hall gave this new agency four tools to do its job. The agency was given empty or dormant downtown properties for resale. It got a $ 10 million dollar " bank" to finance loans and mortgages. The city also transferred administration of various tax credits to Centre- Venture so incentives could be packaged into property deals. Finally, it gave CentreVenture arms- length status and an operating grant to hire staff, so it'd be free to negotiate directly with prospective developers. There isn't enough space in the Free Press to list the pros and cons of CentreVenture's deal- making history, And that's partly the point; as CentreVenture's mandate has shifted over time, it has become ever harder to know whether the secretive agency is really generating a measurable return on its latest investments. After its relative success on Waterfront Drive a decade ago, CentreVenture lobbied to start developing in Point Douglas, despite criticism it hadn't finished renewing the territory it already had. Then, CentreVenture shifted focus again to the renewal of Central Park. The work it did was great, but it's not clear why a costly development agency was leading the charge for park renewal. The public accidentally got to glimpse past CentreVenture's public relations curtain in 2013, when a city report admitted some downtown condos were sitting empty, and developers themselves were " skeptical" of future investment. We only learned this because CentreVenture needed council backing for its plan to hand out $ 10,000 to condo buyers - a double subsidy, since eligible units had already been subsidized during construction. Meanwhile, CentreVenture was shifting focus to another new frontier: improving the on- street experience in a new entertainment district. As part of its latest mission, the agency went on a buying spree of down- market downtown hotels without an exit strategy, all financed with a new City of Winnipeg line of credit. Many cities have used arms- length development agencies to lead urban renewal. But in recent years, the concept itself has run afoul of the public's growing appetite for efficiency and transparency. The most spectacular example of this trend is in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown - a Democrat and former Oakland mayor - wiped out 400 urban development agencies in 2011. Brown argued the cash and property tax room spent by urban redevelopment agencies was better spent on public education. California lawmakers lost faith in the armslength model in part because of a wave of investigations by California's state comptroller ( similar to a provincial auditor). His reviews found hidden financial abuses, excessive secrecy, empire building and mission creep were chronic problems in many redevelopment agencies. None of that has been found in Winnipeg, of course. However, when it comes to mission creep, it's worth asking why CentreVenture is costing the general city fund more than ever, when it was founded on an explicit promise that it'd be self- sufficient by 2005. Bowman's call for public CentreVenture bids is interesting. After all, city hall used to administer CentreVenture's tax credits on its own. For all their recent faults, city public servants also have far more experience with expressions of interest and public bids than CentreVenture does. So if city hall can already openly do what Bowman has asked CentreVenture to do, why pay a half- million in annual operating grants to a backroom development agency to do it for them? Brian Kelcey served as a senior adviser in the Mayor's Office from 2005 to 2008. Three- ring circus at city hall BRIAN KELCEY T HE world's eyes have once again been focused on the extremists of Islamic State as they practise the barbaric act of beheading victims for ransom or to swap prisoners. The surprise this time is that those singled out for atrocity have been Japanese, and nowhere has the astonishment been greater than in Japan itself. Two Japanese men - Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa - were taken hostage by IS last Tuesday. Saturday, IS released a video purporting to show Yukawa was killed after a deadline for ransom passed. IS now is demanding for the other's freedom a prisoner exchange. Speaking at a human security conference in Kyoto last week, I had the opportunity to listen to the indignation of many who couldn't believe these criminal acts were happening to their own citizens. After all, they are not part of the international coalition that is bombing IS. In fact, Japan plays a low- key role in the politics of the Middle East, yet there has been substantial aid given to the region. " Why us?" was the refrain. Some answers are obvious. No one is immune from the excesses of these militant murders. And in this case it was purely a business transaction. A swap for prisoners or millions of dollars. The big bonus is the millions of viewers drawn to the screens by the human pathos of having to watch abject humiliation before the knife whistles down. Money can't buy that kind of world- wide attention to your jihad. In Japan, however, it's not just the grisly spectacle that is disturbing but a sense of how this horrific event will play out in affecting a critical juncture in the political and moral debate going on in the country. For many, the emotional reaction will provide an impetus to a major change in the Japanese constitution that will fundamentally alter the character of post- war Japan, heralding an era of nationalistic militarism. What's at stake is the objective of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to re- interpret the provision of Japanese basic law, which prohibits Japan from engaging in military action beyond its borders, to have a regular armed force that will be greatly expanded and to eliminate the embargo on arms sales, long sought- after goals of the Japanese right and supported by the Americans who want Japan as a military counter- weight to China. This would change the unique position of Japan as a government that in its own constitution eschews aggression and war and would undermine the role Japan as a voice for peace played out as the victim of the world's only nuclear attacks. The profound concern of those who believe in this role is that the revulsion against the beheadings will give Abe the chance to push the nationalist button, and use the security unease over terrorism to mobilize support for his constitutional change. Granted, I was in Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto which prides itself as leading the way in being a " peace university." Before the Second World War, it was a stronghold of the soldierscholar movement pushing Japan's aggressions in South Asia. As part of its amends, it has become a centre for peace studies, going so far as to build on its campus an outstanding two- storey museum for peace, setting out the truth of Japan's participation in the world war, along with other wars in Vietnam and Cambodia and being honest and authentic in presenting displays of the horrors of war. Its students are all expected to visit the museum. Along with the shrine in Hiroshima it reaches out nationally with its peace message. I know of no Canadian university with that kind of commitment . But many at this human security symposium now see this heritage slipping away, as Abe and his newly elected government try to change Japan's peace posture. Up until now public opinion has been against the prime minister. But the vicious execution of a Japanese national if exploited could quickly alter Japanese perceptions and enable a government to push a new agenda of Japan as a security tough guy. That would certainly be a win for IS and all other extremists and a loss for the rest of us. Lloyd Axworthy is the chancellor of St. Paul's University College at the University of Waterloo. He served as the minister of Foreign Affairs under prime minister Jean Chr�tien. V ANCOUVER - We all are scheduled to take a big exam this year. It's pretty straightforward - you just have to tick a box. No essay questions are involved. Since it's the federal election, you just select your favoured candidate from a list. The preparation for the exam, however, requires that you bone up on a list of issues. And it is a long list, including: climate change, economic diversification, boomer health care, foreign policy, freedom of scientific speech, First Nations' economic development and proportional representation. On each of these seven issues, there is a need for rigour and creativity in our study plan. The rigour goes to understanding; the creativity to solutions. All of the issues are connected to some degree. Let's start with climate change. Our next federal government needs to understand the global and national consequences of the issue. Absence of rigour, hints of denial and policy silence should be grounds for dismissing a party's platform. Reasoned efforts to bring Canada into the family of united climate nations should be mandatory to earn a vote. Economic diversification is linked to climate change. Canada needs to address its carbon emissions in part by planning a move to carbon- neutral technology in manufacturing, transportation and service delivery. Moving from one power grid to another will create long- term direct, indirect and induced economic benefits in new infrastructure planning, construction and maintenance. Better to stimulate these sectors now than wait for magic to occur. Our population of boomers older than 65 is about to swell. This will be great news for underemployed X and Y generation workers, but bad news for the tax base. Fewer workers will be supporting more retired elders, who are collectively exhibiting the trend to longer life because of healthier lifestyles and more frequent ( and costly) high- end medical intervention. It seems obvious the level of end- oflife services cannot be maintained using the same delivery systems in the 2020s and 2030s. A major health- care delivery rethink is needed now. Canada also needs to develop a foreign policy that better links us to the countries that are pursuing progressive adaptation from petro- state to new- grid futures. Our success in dealing with climate change will ultimately be linked to sharing expertise, technology and trade with like- thinking global neighbours. Trading relationships with them are investments in our future. Our foreign policy must effectively contribute to global efforts to end terrorism. We need to avoid aggravating global tensions by adopting onesided, unidimensional perspectives on extremely complex issues. We could start by realizing unemployed young men and women are among the greatest provocateurs of conflict. People who see no economic future have strong incentives to radically alter social systems in their favour. In all of our national policy development, we should favour evidence- based approaches linked to science. For example, if the criminal behaviour statistics illustrate a declining crime rate, we should stop adding prisons. Similarly, if the statistical incidence of long- gun and hand- gun violence grows, we should regulate their availability rather than relax it. In all of the above, the scientists who study the phenomena should be free to share their results. The First Nations and Inuit of Canada have a growing body of senior court decisions in their favour regarding consultation, accommodation and inclusion in the economic planning process. We need all aspiring federal governments to understand this and practise policy accordingly, and thereby avoid costly court battles. Ideally, we will cast our votes for a government with the will to act on our grassroots concerns. Our power starts with us and flows up. We need to explore the concept of proportional representation, so that those who do not vote with the " majority" still have a voice in government. It's worthy of study. And speaking of study - good luck in your exam preparation! Let's hope we get an ' A.' Troy Media syndicated columnist Mike Robinson has been CEO of three Canadian NGOs: the Arctic Institute of North America, the Glenbow Museum, and the Bill Reid Gallery. - Troy Media By Mike Robinson Big exam set for Oct. 19, 2015 LLOYD AXWORTHY Japan militarism in light of IS This file image taken from an online video released by IS shows the two Japanese hostages Jan. 20. A_ 07_ Jan- 27- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A 7 1/ 26/ 15 6: 11: 21 PM ;