Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 7, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba SERVING MANITOBA SINCE 1872. FOREVER WITH YOUR SUPPORT. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2024 WEATHER LIGHT RAIN. HIGH 20 — LOW 11 CITY MORE THAN 130 DOGS SEIZED / B1 City sues towing company with one hand, awards it a contract with the other ‘A tough pill for everyone to swallow’ T HE City of Winnipeg has award- ed a new contract to a towing company it is suing for allegedly overcharging the municipal govern- ment by $1.1 million in the past — and that decision is sparking questions. “I’m not comfortable with it at all… I question the actual awarding process,” said Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of the public works committee. On Aug. 2, the city awarded Tartan a contract to tow and store vehicles until at least June 30, 2025, with up to four optional one-year extensions. The winning bidder is expected to complete tows at the request of the Winnipeg Police Service, such as in cases of impaired, unlicensed or suspended driving, among other violations. The police service referred all questions about the contract to city officials. In 2023, the city sued Tartan, alleg- ing it had paid the company $1,115,626 between 2016 and 2022 for “invalid” tows Tartan either did not perform or recorded improperly. The allegations have not been prov- en in court. Lukes (Waverley West) said compa- nies facing allegations from the city are eligible to bid on city contracts. “We cannot restrict people from bidding on a contract if they’re not (found) guilty of anything. Where do we draw the line?” she said. Lukes said she is also looking for answers on why three bidders for the work offered such different prices, as per city documents, including a Dr. Hook Towing bid for $113,600.50, a Bison Towing bid for $14.70 and Tartan’s winning bid for $18,480. “It makes no sense. It wasn’t flagged as odd, which again concerns me… I’m still getting to the bottom of this,” said Lukes. She said officials who awarded the contract are not required to provide written reasons for the decision, such as why they didn’t select the lowest bid. “I don’t like that. There’s no ac- countability behind that at all,” said Lukes. Mayor Scott Gillingham stressed Tartan remains eligible to bid on city contracts and all contractors should expect to be closely monitored. JOYANNE PURSAGA ● TOWING, CONTINUED ON A3 ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS THROWING FOR GOLD Canada’s Camryn Rogers celebrates her Olympic gold medal won in the women’s hammer throw event in Paris Tuesday. Rogers’ distance of 76.97 metres beat the silver medallist — American Annette Echikunwoke — by 1.5 metres. It’s a sweep for Canada: Ethan Katzberg won gold in the men’s hammer throw Sunday. See Olympic coverage on pages D1, 2. Trial unlikely for allegedly staged hate crimes FIVE years after they were accused of staging antisemitic hate crimes at their River Heights restaurant, there are no signs three members of a Win- nipeg family will ever return to the city to face prosecution. Alexander and Oxana Berent and their son, Maxim Berent, were charged with public mischief after alleging their Corydon Avenue restau- rant, BerMax Caffé and Bistro, had been the target of four antisemitic attacks in 2019. The three accused were given court approval to relocate to Los Angeles in January 2020, with the expectation they would return to Winnipeg for trial the following October. Lawyer Phil Cramer, who previously represented Alexander Berent, replied “no comment” when asked recently if Berent had any plans to return to Winnipeg. Lawyer Brett Gladstone, who represented Maxim Berent, said he had not had any contact with Berent since their relocation to Los Angeles. Michael Lazar, Oxana Berent’s lawyer, could not be reached for comment by deadline Tuesday. Crown attorney Mike Himmelman, the prosecutor assigned to the case, said arrest warrants for the three accused remain on the books. The warrants “will remain there, they don’t go away,” Himmelman said Tuesday. “If they do return to the jurisdiction, the warrants will be executed.” Police arrested the trio in April 2019, days after they alleged Oxana had been assaulted during a break-in at the restaurant. The family claimed robbers trashed the restaurant, spray-painted the word “Jew” on the floor and sketched a swastika on a wall. Security video from multiple loca- tions cast doubt on the family’s claims and suggested the events were staged, police alleged in search warrant docu- ments filed with the court. Other court records reviewed by the Free Press showed the café was facing serious financial troubles in the leadup to the alleged crime, including six-fig- ure debts, lawsuits, a real estate lien and an inability to sell the restaurant or consistently make rent. DEAN PRITCHARD ● TRIAL, CONTINUED ON A2 Harris picks Minnesota governor as running mate PHILADELPHIA — Kamala Har- ris introduced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to the nation at a raucous rally Tuesday in battleground Pennsylvania that was aimed at building momen- tum for the newly minted Democratic presidential ticket in the sprint toward Election Day. “He’s the kind of person who makes people feel like they belong and then inspires them to dream big. … That’s the kind of vice-president America deserves,” the U.S. Vice-President and presumed Democratic presidential candidate said while standing with Walz in Philadelphia. Taking the microphone after Harris, Walz revved up the crowd for the rig- orous campaign to come. “We’ve got 91 days. My God, that’s easy. We’ll sleep when we’re dead,” he said. The remarks reflected the urgency of the moment, with Harris tapping Walz for the ticket during one of the most turbulent periods in modern American politics. Republicans have rallied around former U.S. president Donald Trump after he was targeted in an attempted assassination in July. Just days later, U.S. President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign, forcing Harris to scramble to unify Democrats and decide on a running mate over a breakneck two-week stretch. In choosing the 60-year-old Walz, Harris is elevating a Midwestern governor, military veteran and union supporter who helped enact an ambi- tious Democratic agenda for his state, including sweeping protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families. It was her biggest decision yet as the Democratic nominee and she went with a broadly palatable choice — someone who says politics should have more joy and who deflects dark and foreboding rhetoric from Republicans with a lighter touch, a strategy that the campaign has been increasingly turning to since Harris took over the top spot. Harris hopes Walz will help her shore up her campaign’s standing across the upper Midwest, a critical region in presidential politics that often serves as a buffer for Democrats seeking the White House. The party remains haunted by Trump’s wins in Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016. Trump lost those states in 2020 but has zeroed in on them as he aims to return to the presidency this year and is ex- panding his focus to Minnesota. Since Walz was announced, the team raised more than US$20 million from grassroots donations, the campaign said. Walz is far from a household name. An ABC News/Ipsos survey conduct- ed before he was selected but after vetting began showed that nearly nine in 10 U.S. adults did not know enough to have an opinion about him. Harris devoted much of her speech to telling the audience about Walz’s life and work, which included stints as a social studies teacher and a football coach. “To those who know him best, Tim is more than a governor,” she said. “We both believe in lifting people up, not knocking them down,” she said. “We both know that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. And we see in our fellow Americans neighbours, never enemies.” COLLEEN LONG, ZEKE MILLER, STEVE KARNOWSKI, WILL WEISSERT AND SEUNG MIN KIM ● WALZ, CONTINUED ON A2 ● MORE COVERAGE ON A2 ;