Winnipeg Free Press celebrates award for streaming the last night of the civic election

The newspaper that cried to Red River College falsely claiming the campus-funded radio station was not following CRTC regulations, is bragging it has won an award from print colleagues for their own, un-regulated internet streaming coverage, of the final night of the civic election.

Let's be clear: the award from the Canadian Newspaper Association is not for Free Press reporting of the Winnipeg races for city hall during the election campaign.
In fact, it is not for the quality of the presentation or reporting, at all.

It is for merely doing, not for excelling.

The award is in "the digital innovation category" in the "Great Ideas competition", for streaming video of election results and commentary on one night only, October 27.

That is as far removed from a prize for actual reporting or superior production of a newscast as you can get.

It is a newspaper industry award for 'best new gimmick'.

And while "staff writer" trumpets "THE Free Press's online coverage of civic election night has won a major industry award", it is in fact, the last one of a half-dozen categories announced.

http://www.ocna.org/node/12484

"Earlier this week, Newspapers Canada announced the winners of the 2011 Great Idea Awards. The competition showcases creative marketing materials and campaigns developed by daily and community newspapers across the country in six different categories including newspaper marketing and promotion, promotional campaigns, print advertising, special sections, magazines and digital innovation. "

So the FP pats itself on the back not for winning an award with any actual connection to journalism, but for being voted slightly more clever than their partners in the dying dinosaur industry, by streaming voter tabulations online.

As the NNA did not actually review the 'telecast', news consumers can perhaps rely on the assessment of longtime Winnipeg political analyst Phil Walding:

Wow the standards must be really low if that stuff they had on merits an award. I wouldn't have thought Curtis Brown tripping over his words and overstating the obvious would have ranked so high.

The only NNA award category having anything close to a connection with journalism is the special sections category.

The Calgary Herald won in the Daily Newspaper (Large Market) competition, for a story about -- The New Mavericks: A Citizen Journalism Project.

That kind of award winning JOURNALISM story would of course have been impossible for the Free Press to duplicate.

The Free Press editor, Margo Goodhand, detests citizen journalism so much she insisted to Red River College president Stephanie Forsyth that The Great Canadian Talk Show on 92.9 Kick-FM be silenced for exposing the missed stories, flawed and biased reporting, and gatekeeper protection of the pet projects of millionaires and NDP government -- especially during the Winnipeg civic election last fall.

One of the citizen journalists who contributed greatly to our program, provided a succinct rebuke for online readers who lauded the Free Press for their work before election night, and set the record straight about who the media leader was, all through the fall :

Posted by: Graham2

April 15, 2011 at 1:36 AM

Huh? Where was the Free Press during the election? The Great Canadian Talk Show outshone the Free Press 2:1 during the 2010 Civic Election.

That was the only outlet that interviewed Judy-W for over 3 hours total and the only media outlet covering the alleged Ross Eadie-NDP campaign financing. That is, alleged by Mr Eadie himself.

The Free Press's silly Orlikow-Kowalson non-existent-fight coverage and lack of due civic reporting was duly noted last fall.

The fact that bike lanes were treated as a rolling-eyes and laughable "typical Winnipeg" small-time election issue should speak to how this publication views civic issues at large.

Graham Hnatiuk

progressivewinnipeg.blogspot.com

-- Whether it was bike lanes on Berry St, Sherbrook, Assiniboine, Nassau, Grosvenor (thanks to blogger John Dobbin) or the suspended plan for McDermot, the alternative media exposed the Free Press either missing the story or slanting their coverage.

-- Trees being chopped down on Berry, the report confirming the failure of the model for bike lane planning - Argue Street, lack of public consultation resulting in a lawsuit by Assiniboine Avenue businesses ?

We led, the Free Press sometimes followed, or ignored the news that did not fit their desired narrative.

-- Parents with genuine worries about dangerous narrow traffic circles in East Kildonan and the effect on emergency response units, were first heard on TGCTS. As was the inside story of how the bike lobby co-opts civic officials and double-crosses the public to advance their agenda. Councillor Harvey Smith's call for the firing of the Active Transportation co-ordinator was made on our program, live to a rush hour audience.

That news was never reported on by the Mountain Avenue bunch.

-- Council candidates ignored by the vast FP election team or dismissed as "gadflys" were able to state their platforms and answer questions from the public at length, without any comments from us about their neat hairdo or how Greg Selinger should recruit them to run for the NDP in the next provincial election.

-- 42% of downtown parking meters needing repair, the bullying practices of the parking authority, holding councillors seeking re-election to account for their record, extensive first person reporting on candidate forums, were all part of the practice of election journalism on TGCTS.

The result? Kudos and well-wishes from hundreds of listeners and participants, starting with the Free Press' favorite Mayoral candidate, Judy Wasylycia-Leis herself.

http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2010/10/candidate-judy-and-other-post-election.html.

We cared about ensuring the witnesses who filed official complaints about Ross Eadie's campaign in Norquay had a voice.

Only in Winnipeg is the alternative media under siege for reporting the truth about complaints filed regarding a civic election campaign financing scam and holding the mainstream media to account.

Campus radio citizen journalists cared about freedom of expression, not censorship.

Innovative? yes. Award winning? no.

We don't care about awards. We care about the people.

When you have nothing worth listening to on your radio dial at 4 PM, ask yourself, who did the Winnipeg Free Press care about last October ?

Winnipeg Free Press opposes censorship - - except by Red River College officials who oppose censorship

Last Monday, the Winnipeg Free Press published a little - noticed editorial. After a week it had yet to be Tweeted or shared via Facebook. It will now be a less well-kept secret.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/single-standard-115465009.html

It may be what the Free Press says for public consumption, but it's a matter of 'do as I say, not as I do.'

In private, they embrace the very attack on free speech that they claimed in their editorial of February 7th to abhor.

Here's what the FP editor did, when The Great Canadian Talk Show on 92.9 Kick-FM threatened the election chances of their preferred, NDP-backed candidate for mayor by exposing a scandal involving illegal NDP financing of Mynarski candidate Ross Eadie in the October election.

Margo Goodhand phoned the new President of Red River College, Stephanie Forsyth to silence the show.

And she wanted her call kept secret.
http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/01/red-river-college-emails-prove-fp.html

Stephanie Forsyth immediately picked up the torch and the pitchfork and gave orders to kill the show.

Her hatchetman -- RRC vice-president Cathy Rushton, who represented the "President's Council" on the Board of Directors of the radio station.

http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/01/emails-prove-red-river-college.html

Rushton had already taken one run at TGCTS prior to this. Another special interest group, the bike lobby, had tried to silence the show in August. Rushton went so far as to claim a nonexistent complaint from Mayor Sam Katz to garner support to have the show cancelled. But she failed.

Oh, and she made sure to say she was "against censorship."

" I'm not big on censorship at all but I think the CKIC Board needs to talk about our relationship with him. I'm not sure why we allow him to use the station as his soap box ."
http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/01/tgcts-cancelation-set-up-by-false.html

Note how the people most active in censoring free speech always want to make it clear they're against censorship.

Well, this time she had her orders from her new boss. The only problem, was how to explain why the show was being cancelled, without admitting it was censorship to mollify the Free Press.

Red River College officials tried one excuse (students need the airtime), then amended that to "students and grads only" as a loophole to allow the Free Press show on Kick-Fm to continue. But they refused to say the obvious.

Station manager Rick Baverstock suggested they just admit it:

"I think it would be best to tell the truth and say he's offended partners of the College"

When she found out on November 5th, Rushton said:

" Rick's recommendation of how to talk to Marty does not work for me at all. I do not want to create the impression that this is about censorship of negative opinion about us or our partners".

So Red River College officials kept lying, with Forsyth's approval.

They lied to the National Post.

"(Graham Thomson) said the cancellation was part of a far-reaching “reorganization” aimed at ensuring students get air-time, and said the decision “was not about censorship.”
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Controversial+conservative+Winnipeg+radio+host+silenced/3838992/story.html

They lied to callers.
http://johndobbin.blogspot.com/2010/11/latest-on-great-canadian-talk-show.html

They lied to the student body and station volunteers.
http://canadianauxiliary.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/my-take-on-the-marty-gold-cancellation/

They want you to know they were against censorship before they were for it.

Just like the Winnipeg Free Press.

And what did that Free Press editorial say ?

"Freedom of speech is hardly worth defending if it means only standing up for what we agree with."

Next: When a sponsor of the show found out what Cathy Rushton said about them speaking out against the cancellation, it forced Stephanie Forsyth out of her bunker.

Red River College Vice-President Cathy Rushton invented complaint from Vic Toews to kaibosh TGCTS appeal to return to KICK-FM

(2 related posts added at bottom of story)

Last year, Red River College vice-president Cathy Rushton spread false allegations that Mayor Sam Katz had complained to former president Jeff Zabudsky about Marty Gold.

"I know Sam Katz called Jeff a couple of years ago about attacks" on The Great Canadian Talk Show, she wrote on August 12th to two officials who served with her on the Board of Kick-FM.

On September 30th, two fellow vice-presidents of RRC also read how the College had "received complaints from Sam about him in the past" in an email sent by Rushton.

The only problem was, it was not true.

But a negative attitude of RRC officials towards The Great Canadian Talk Show was what resulted.

Weeks later another "complaint" to the College, this time from Free Press editor Margo Goodhand, was never forwarded to station manager Rick Baverstock for verification and investigation. Instead, with the "suggestion" of her new boss Stefanie Forsyth backing her, listeners of campus radio found out how big Cathy Rushton really was on censorship. After the show was canceled, she intended to keep it that way.

As it turns out, Sam Katz was not the only high-profile politician Cathy Rushton talked about about in relation to TGCTS.

And this time, it was to more than just 2 fellow Kick-FM Board members and 2 fellow Red River College administrators.

At the Annual General Meeting on December 9th, Marty Gold and his producer appealed the action of the "Executive Committee" in canceling the show to the full Board and stated their case. Afterwards, the Kick-FM Board, with 3 new members able to vote for the first time, held their regular Board meeting over lunch.

Rushton, legally prohibited from continuing on the Board after that day, was faced with the possibility that the student reps and other board members might actually consider

- the pleas of community members who had taken time to appear on 3 days notice and voice their support for re-instatement;
- the possibility the show's growing ad base could continue to help cut the station's $140,000 debt to RRC; and
- the evidence of a valid contract contained in emails from Rick Baverstock to Marty Gold in 2006.

With only 3 members of the Executive Committee present, the rest of the Directors of Cre Comm Inc. could have reversed their undocumented decision to cancel TGCTS, and by a majority vote put The Great Canadian Talk Show back on the 92.9Kick-FM airwaves.

Midway in the discussion about the presentations and the appeal for re-instatement, Rushton once again pulled the politician card out to to play against Marty Gold.

According to the minutes of the meeting:

Cathy Rushton had a complaint registered in the summer about Marty from Vic Toews’ office, and she would like to have a discussion with the Board about it.

But now, for the second time in a week, Cathy Rushton is faced with an embarassing problem.

There are no records in the files of the College secretary, of President Forsyth, or or of vice-president Rushton containing this alleged complaint, and according to the federal Treasury Board president himself, there was never any complaint made whatsoever.

"Complaint
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:11 AM
Hello Marty,

(Senior official) has advised me that he is unaware of any complaint coming from any of my offices regarding your conduct.
I certainly made no complaint personally.
I appreciate your efforts to get to the bottom of this issue.

Vic Toews"

When challenged last week, Rushton certainly scrambled to explain away the false claims she made about Sam Katz.

On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 2:47 PM, Cathy Rushton
Thank you for your email of January 31, 2011. I appreciate this opportunity to set the record straight about the matter of the alleged complaints from Mayor Katz.

In mid-January, when I returned from vacation, I became aware that I might have been confused about the alleged complaints from the Mayor. I contacted Jeff Zabudsky who reminded me that I was likely thinking about a phone call from the Mayor about a different (but somewhat similar) matter. When I realized my error, I wrote the chair of the KICK-FM board David Wiebe to correct my mistake and asked him to set the record straight at their next meeting. I have also spoken to my internal colleagues who received the original emails to correct my error. Other than the KICK-FM Board members, no one else external was party to my incorrect assertion.

This was an honest mistake and was not intended to harm you or anyone else in any way. I apologize for my error.

I would appreciate it if you could include this email in a future TGCTS blog so I can set the record straight publicly.

Catherine Rushton MBA FCA
VP Finance & Administration
Red River College

Before any email from Cathy Rushton was going to be published, there was the formality of reminding her to set the record straight the proper way.

Ms Rushton;

Your excuse is not believable and your attempt at mitigation is grossly insufficient.

The toxic, prejudicial and defamatory statements you made did not come from a silly freshman. You were the acting president and CEO of Red River College when you made them, and thereby in a position of influence and authority, which you used to damage my reputation and to poison the College against me in your effort to get me fired.

That is the context of your false claim that the Mayor himself complained about me.

The process to correct the erroneous record you created is clearly laid out.

I expect you to track down every copy, electronic and otherwise, of the email you sent and to attach to each and every one 1) this email, 2) the mayor's letter and 3) your apology. You will notify me when this is done and I will have the Ombudsman verify the proper attachments have been made.

I also want a list with the names of everyone you ever repeated this false claim to, verbally or otherwise, internal to Red River College or external.

Did you think I would be satisfied with your word that you phoned the people on your email list and told them " Remember what I said about the Mayor and Marty Gold, well, forget it "? I've learned not to trust a syllable from anyone connected with Red River College regarding The Great Canadian Talk Show.

With that in mind I would like to see what your wrote to David Wiebe regarding this matter so please forward it to me.

Yet Rushton continued to refuse to correct the record; a strange response indeed considering she is the Chief Privacy Officer for Red River College, and it is her duty to enforce the Act which requires her to correct a false record so when asked...

I am sorry that you don't believe me but I assure you that I am telling the truth. I made a mistake in two internal emails and I regret that. Everybody makes mistakes sometimes. The incorrect information was not widely circulated until you published it on your blog yesterday.

Publishing my email from yesterday on your blog would publicly disclose my error and apology and set the record straight.

I will forward my email to David Wiebe to you under separate cover.
Cathy Rushton

It took two weeks after discovering this "mistake" for Rushton to contact Marty Gold, and only after the false allegation of complaints from the highest level at City Hall was exposed on the TGCTS blog.

According to Mayor Sam Katz on Friday Feb. 4th, Rushton had not yet contacted him to apologize.

Vic Toews better get in line.

Still to come, as promised last week: Cathy Rushton was a lot bigger on censorship than she first let on.

RELATED post from Graham Hnatiuk, and a reader response to him:
" Last week following my blog post, Cathy Rushton had emailed me about this "mistake" and begged me, a blogger, to "correct the record." Since obviously the blogosphere is an official place to make such corrections.

Rushton won't actually correct the record with the College. No no, she's more concerned about what I, Progressive Winnipeg, write about her instead. And for a moment I was willing to at least consider her "mistake" as true, but TWO different politicians? This, a mistake is not."

http://progressivewinnipeg.blogspot.com/2011/02/cathy-rushton-rrc-one-ups-her-own-katz.html

"at Red River College, it is not about contributing to society by holding government to account in the interest of fair government, it is about what you can get out of them to pay your mortgage in River Heights."

http://progressivewinnipeg.blogspot.com/2011/02/correspondence-progwinnipeg-op-ed-on.html

Margo Goodhand nailed coffin shut on TGCTS by doing drive-by on station manager Rick Baverstock

Margo Goodhand wanted to make sure she got a good night's sleep before another hard week of work as Editor of the Winnipeg Free Press.

So on Sunday night, November 7th, Margo sent yet another email to her new bff, Red River College President Stephanie Forsyth.

She hadn't gotten an email in response to her first one on October 22nd, in which Margo hysterically railed about how the College was "granting (Marty Gold) a daily podium for his rants ... on a student radio station which is training young journalists (and) is unconscionable" and "this had to be kept confidential for the time being".

"Thought I better let you know" that the secret attack on free speech was not kept confidential, and that someone was defending Marty Gold in emails to FP online editor, John White.

That someone was KICK FM station manager Rick Baverstock, and on Saturday November 6th, he had blown Margo's cover.

Forsyth's edict to kill The Great Canadian Talk Show had been delivered by her agents on the Board of Directors of the radio station, when they met with Baverstock the day before.

"Hey John, it's been an 'interesting' week around the radio ranch. The new College president received a call from Margo - evidently Marty criticized Melissa's work on-air - and now the new Prez wants to give Marty the boot. Like, soon."

White and Melissa Martin hosted the Free Press' own show on Kick FM on Wednesdays at 6 PM, right after The Great Canadian Talk Show, and Baverstock asked White :

"... if you have any ideas on how to prevent what is likely to be a strong blowback for the College and the Free Press. I fear this might cause more of a ruckus for all involved than Marty's broadcasts."

"Wow... you best deal with Margo directly on this. It's above my pay grade. Although, stopping the slanderous comments would likely be a smart move." replied White.

Baverstock's reply was to defend Gold's right to free speech -- and White made sure Margo found out about it.

"I've had people publicly critique my work negatively. I did not consider it slander. It's just someone's opinion. If you put your work "out there" you need to accept some criticism along the way and not resort to foot stomping and pouting when things don't go your way."

Margo got the stooge report from White and realized her fingerprints were all over the murder weapon, so she scrambled to wipe it clean:

"As you know, I didn't ask for Gold to be fired; I did want to bring the show to your attention for discussion" wrote Margo, as though she had left any doubt in her first email what she expected Forsyth to conclude from any discussion. ("there is no balance, no fairness, no accountability in Gold's barrage of criticism - all of the tenets of good journalism ... (he is) critical of all, accountable to no one"... "I wonder what your students are learning from this")

Then, to make sure she could rest easy, Margo Goodhand did a drive-by smear on the one person standing in the way of her goal to rid her newspaper of the scrutiny of a campus radio host, his guests, and talk-show callers from the community.

"But it's concerning that Gold's station manager would have so little education that he would consider Gold's opinions to be exempt from any Canadian laws or broadcast standards. That's obviously why Gold has been able to get away with what he's been doing for so many years."

Along with the first email to Forsyth, Goodhand had attached her exchange with the Free Press lawyer, about how she had just finished educating herself by reading over the station licence and Canadian Broadcast Standards Council rules. But Margo didn't want to file complaints with the CRTC or CBSC or even the station. She had the ear of a "higher" power.

Rick Baverstock's education at Confederation College was honed by over 25 years of radio experience including managing a radio station on Vancouver Island and he is accomplished enough as a broadcaster to be featured in a display in the Paley Center For Media (formerly The Museum of TV and Radio in New York City).

His education taught him that if no complaints had been filed with the CRTC or CBSC, he had not let Gold "get away with" anything but exercising free speech, good reporting, and fair comment from the alternative media perspective.

No matter to Margo, as she hammered home the last nail with the help of her other bff, libel chill:

"My hope is to have the radio station adhere to the same journalistic standards that the rest of the media adhere to: principles of truthfulness, accuracy, fairness and public accountability. A radio talk show, of course, is entitled and expected to express opinions. But those opinions ultimately still have to be defensible in court - based on truth, privilege, fair comment or responsible communication."



The next afternoon, the Red River College lawyer drafted a termination notice that said "the Board wishes to ensure the students are exposed to high standards of journalism" and that "the Services of Marty Gold will no longer be required", and sent it to Forsyth and her representative on the Kick-FM board, RRC vice-president Cathy Rushton.

Within an hour, a revised version was being read, but not handed over, to Marty Gold by the RRC Dean of Business, Graham Thomson, in front of Baverstock and another witness, Bob Axford. Thomson was asked 3 times, if there were any complaints about the program, and 3 times Thomson said "no". He was asked what Margo Goodhand had to do with the cancelation, and he said "no comment".

The urgent rush to get Red River College to silence TGCTS, was rooted in Margo Goodhand's accusation that Melissa Martin had run crying to her about Marty Gold wrongly criticizing MM's non-reporting of complaints that the Ross Eadie civic election campaign was receiving illegal funding from the NDP.

Time then, for:

A Lesson in Journalism.

Let us apply Margo's standard for TGCTS -- "principles of truthfulness, accuracy, fairness and public accountability" -- to her own newspaper:

1) - Martin has confirmed that Goodhands' accusation was not truthful.

" I never “complained about Marty Gold” to Margo… that doesn’t even make sense. I only talked to her about anything related once, the first day I saw the Eadie thing going around on Twitter. This was maybe a week before I heard about it being on TGCTS, in that ballpark.

I was worried and wanted to explain the story to her in case she started getting letters making accusations about my ethics. It was a brief conversation but she reassured me that they trusted me and knew how seriously I took my work – that discussion was about ME.

I really don’t remember if there was “crying involved.” It’s possible, I’m a total crier, which everyone knows, haha."

2) - Martin's Twitter feed from the Mynarski ward forum proves the inaccuracy of her reporting, as she completely missed the Eadie admission of NDP financial support:

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
@
@riseandsprawl You did good. Eadie knew he was pushing it. Started the last leg of the race off interesting!
28 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
@
@stateofthecity haha. My apologies. I've usually experienced them as synonymous.
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
@
@stateofthecity I actually thought he nailed a lot of answers in debate... Info and specific ideas. Has to learn to respect debate though.
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
Wow. Ross Eadie at Mynarski kept going way over time... Refused to listen to mod Rob Galston reqs to give floor. Galston stormed out.Drama!
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

kentonlarsen Kenton Larsen
by DoubleEmMartin
My mother went for a pedicure. Says they scraped her feet with a "pedophile." Something's gone horribly awry at Giselle's.
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
Mynarski candidate Trevor Mueller, on what mayor candidate he supports: "I support anyone who's actually going to do something" #wpgelection
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
@stateofthecity @policyfrog I love you guys! I promise I am smart about many things. Municipal issues are not ten of them.
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
@
@stateofthecity thx. I am taxation stupid so couldn't tell how that went down.
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
@stateofthecity eadie calls for tax based on land value only, not market assessment. Thoughts?
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
@stateofthecity jenny motkaluk has been reading your blog? She's repeating your prop-tax post word for word, heh.
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
@
@ChrisDca Motkaluk has some renown, if only yet for her pink campaign signs.
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply
»

DoubleEmMartin Melissa Martin
Motkaluk just showed up at Mynarski debate. This may be interesting. #winnipegvotes
27 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply

3) City hall reporter, Bartley Kives, got an email days later from an eyewitness with details about Eadie's admission of NDP financial support, but there has yet to be a syllable about it in the Free Press -- or about the officially filed complaints made with the Senior Elections Officer. So much for fairness.

4) Had anyone at the Winnipeg Free Press bothered to investigate the story the way TGCTS did, by speaking with at least 7 sources, and interviewing an eyewitness on-air -- which refutes Margo's dismissal of our journalism as "reporting third-hand knowledge" -- then maybe the public would be able to hold the Selinger NDP government accountable, for an election law so weak that SEO Marc Lemoine claimed it did not give him the ability to investigate Ross Eadie's statement and the resulting complaints.

As Margo wrote to Stephanie Forsyth on October 22nd:

" We're the big newsroom in town and deserve to be held to account for our many weaknesses... we believe in freedom of speech".

The Winnipeg Free Press, with its' vaunted journalism standards, did not report on the NDP civic election funding scandal, and attacked our right of freedom of speech to criticize the newspaper for failing to uphold their own standards under editor Margo Goodhand.

She asked for her attack to kept confidential, and then kneecapped Rick Baverstock to the College president for defending our reporting and work, when ultimately it was defensible in court - based on truth, privilege, fair comment or responsible communication.

Margo addressed the RRC Creative Communications class in a seminar, the day before she started her assault against free speech on KICK-FM.

One of the students took her to task for a story that morning in the Free Press that mocked the effort of journalism students to cover the civic election.

By the next day, Margo wanted to end student participation on The Great Canadian Talk Show, where discussions about the FP's biased stories against Mayor Sam Katz, MP Vic Toews, and about the newspapers' unrelenting support for the scam pet projects of millionaires like The Canadian Museum for Human Rights and The Friends of Upper Fort Garry, had found traction with the community.

Here are a mere handful of the other stories in 2010 where we exposed the errors, biases and incompetence of the Winnipeg Free Press:

* In March, the Free Press finally published a story about the threat of expropriations for the Disraeli bridge, 8 days after we interviewed a guest who raised the alarm and said his worries had been dismissed by the MSM including the FP:

New Disraeli bridge= expropriations: Free Press breaks 8 day old news, misses real story

* The Free Press gave lots of space to the official spin of Manitoba Hydro officials and refused to publish an open letter from the Hydro Whistleblower defending herself. But, the public got to hear her side for over an hour in an exclusive broadcast interview last April 1st on TGCTS:

http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2010/04/more-loud-whistle-blowing-drawing.html

* In July, when FP columnist Lindor Reynolds tried to stir up controversy at Mayor Sam Katz dating a younger woman, we called it as it was, a cheap shot and a gutter-level swipe. Lindor got calls from angry readers all day but it wasn't till one of our listeners expressed his disgust that she finally posted a meek apology online.

http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2010/07/this-week-more-exclusives-bike-lane-war.html

* Also in July, TGCTS took the Free Press to the woodshed for regurgitating Manitoba Public Insurances' happy assurance that they had received no criticism from the public for giving away a building they claimed was worth under $100,000. The story was 3 weeks late and failed to mention what the real value of the $1 Million giveaway was to an organization that recommended the building be given to themselves.

http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2010/07/free-press-reports-on-half-mpi.html

* Only after a lawsuit was filed in September did the the Free Press finally cover the debacle of the Assiniboine Avenue bike lane - yet the story ignored

1) how area businesses are cut off from deliveries,
2) the impact on a social service agency that serves clients in immediate crisis,
3) pollution from gridlocked rush-hour vehicles choking residents of Edmonton Street and the loss of transit service for hobbled seniors,
4) the dangers to pedestrians caused by cyclists using sidewalks and frustrated drivers careening about like mice trapped in a maze.

All of which were covered on the Great Canadian Talk Show by unpaid reporters in the field.
http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2010/09/lawsuit-spurs-msm-reporting-on-bike.html

* In October, while the FP spun fake polls into news, we pointed out that Bartley Kives and the rest of Margo's election team were chasing stories that the alternative media had broken and were now big election issues.

http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2010/10/tomorrow-in-your-fp-chasing-2-tgcts.html

Reporters at the Free Press look to Margo Goodhand as their role model.

In Wednesday's Editor's Bulletin, previewing the Thursday print stories, she wrote:

Why Matty mattered

Sportswriter Jack Matheson was an inspiration to Free Press columnist Gordon Sinclair Jr., and he explains why he never failed to tell Matty that when he ran into him around town. (For the record, I called Matheson ‘Cactus Jack’ yesterday, and I have a good reason for it. I’m an idiot. I was obviously thinking of Cactus Jack Wells.)

She'll find no argument here.

Still to come: Red River rep fabricates complaints to poison the KICK-FM Board against TGCTS.

Margo Goodhand lawyered up on the way to Stephanie Forsyth's House of Censorship

The phone call Winnipeg Free Press editor Margo Goodhand made to Stephanie Forsyth to have a chat about The Great Canadian Talk Show, was no spur of the moment act.

As the email Margo sent to the Red River College president to continue the attack on Kick-FM host Marty Gold proves, Margo had embarked on a trial run of her accusations and half-truths first.

Just trying to be helpful, no doubt, she sent proof that the self-righteousness of her crusade against scrutiny and accountability by campus radio, was sanctioned by a higher authority.

Not by FP publisher Bob Cox.
Not by owner Bob Silver.
But by their lawyer, who had received a (WRHA-surplus) brown envelope earlier that week, with "a few things" Goodhand collected over the weekend.

page 1



page 2



"a specious bio on Marty Gold" wrote the alleged journalist, who proceeded to claim "as far as we know, he's had no journalism training and never actually reported on the 'legislature and sports', ", urging counsel to "also note he considers one of his specialties "The Winnipeg Free Press". "

Careful readers will detect that Goodhand had no complaints about the radio show broadcasts, but was upset about the following blog posts in particular:

The Free Press business deal with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority,
Conflict of interest clear to all - except Free Press publisher Bob Cox
http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2009/05/conflict-of-interest-clear-to-all.html

An open letter to Margo and Gordo

The desperate cheerleading by the two of you in today's newspaper for the pet projects of millionaires marks a watershed moment in the history of the Winnipeg Free Press.
http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2009/06/open-letter-to-margo-and-gordo.html

Goodhand then wades into the waters of radio regulation. (As far as we know, she's had no training or actually worked in radio.)

Ignoring completely the mandate of campus radio to also train volunteers from, and provide programming for, the community-at-large, she zoned in on licence to train young journalists from RRC's Cre-Comm course.

"If they're learning anything from Mr. Gold's show, it's that they can be relentlessly hostile and accusatory without evidence".

Margo then fumes to the lawyer "the day he went after Melissa Martin really was the last straw."

"My dearest wish would be to have him issue a full and fulsome apology to Melissa, for saying that she willfully ignored a comment from a city councillor candidate because of some political bias. I'd like him to say "I wasn't there myself, I was reporting third-hand knowledge that has proved not to be true, and in the process I not only defamed Ms. Martin and the Free Press, I practiced the lowest kind of journalism, of innuendo and ignorance. Um, that's the wish, anyway."

Margo is about to have her wish evaporate before her eyes.

We discovered an email Ms. Martin sent to a reader of Anybody Want A Peanut, who posted it in the comments underneath blogger Cherenkov's review of our Dec. 7th live event -- where we exposed Margo's role in the cancellation before we ever got ahold of Margo's missives to Stephanie.
http://anybody-want-a-peanut.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-killed-tgcts.html

Sam said...

I sent an e-mail to Melissa Martin asking her if this story was true and this was her response. Do we believe her?

"It depends on how you define “truth,” I suppose.

I didn’t report accusations about Eadie engaging in, basically, election fraud. That’s true.

the long story short of that is because the only evidence I, and several other reporters far more talented and experienced than I, could find came from an individual with a vested personal interest in seeing Ross Eadie lose the election… and this person would not go on the record.

One of those "experienced reporters" wouldn't have been her colleague Bartley Kives, would it?

The same Bartley K. who received a VERY on-the-record email from an eyewitness on September 30th, asking where she could file an official complaint ? He never did give her an answer to that question.

The same BK, who along with the devine MM, didn't bother to call Mynarski election panel moderator Rob Galston asking what he heard standing 5 feet away from Eadie? (TGCTS spoke to Galston, and he tells us no other reporter ever has called him to ask).

Apparently neither former band reviewer tried to track down this eyewitness from the New Winnipeg forum either:

Re: 2010 Winnipeg Civic Election

by Northender on Thu Sep 30, 2010 7:43 am

Yes, he said he needed the backing of the NDP to finance his campaign.

In the email, Ms. Martin then proceeds to show her confusion between her job of reporting election complaints, with the job of the Senior Electoral Officer.

We can’t put serious allegations in the paper unless we have strong evidence to support them.

The stronger the allegation, the stronger the evidence needed, for obvious reasons.

Presumably, Ross Eadie's own words, from his own mouth, wasn't evidence enough for the fine young reporter (and the Free Press certainly didn't require any evidence in December when Evan Maud made up a story about police brutality that was splashed across their pages.)

The next comment from Melissa M, is surely one Margo wishes had stayed a secret:

"People are free to draw their own conclusions about the truth behind the accusation, and chalk the lack of a story up to a failure in my investigating, which I would consider to be fair."

She then offers up a weak defence that exposes her own bias :

But it is not truthful to assert or imply that I deliberately didn’t write the story for any purpose other than my failure to find evidence, not for a story I could put my name on, put in the paper, and sleep at night knowing that I did the right thing.

"Doing the right thing" for the newspaper when River Heights Councillor John Orlikow flung accusations about dirty election tricks like the provincial Conservatives forming fake lobby groups to help challenger Michael Kowalson, was to frame the story as, 'Candidate complains about opponent'.

When it came to Mynarski ward, the NDP candidate admitted he could not afford to run without the help of the New Democratic Party, and opponents and witnesses came forward on the internet and in emails. Yet the newspaper of record ignored the evidence and couldn't grasp the obvious when the story never appeared in their pages.

Bloggers and listeners of TGCTS noticed the huge contradiction in the Free Press and other media outlet's reporting practices, between accusations going from left to right, and vice-versa.

Some accusations, it seems, the newspaper could just publish with no "investigation", but a serious one from multiple witnesses about the ruling NDP possibly breaking their own election finance law a year after being exposed for cheating in the 1999 provincial election, somehow could not even be wedged on page 2 between the Our Mistakes and the humour column.

But that's Margo's department, isn't it?

Melissa Martin admitted she did, in fact, deliberately ignore a comment from Ross Eadie that led to not only an email to the Free Press city hall reporter, and at least 4 complaints to the Senior Electoral official Marc Lemoine that we know of.

We have also learned that the outrage that sent Margo into a frenzied attack on the only broadcast outlet that reported on the Ross Eadie election complaints, had nothing to do with TGCTS or a complaint from Melissa Martin.

A copy of an email has found its way to our inbox, in which Melissa Martin stated:

I never “complained about Marty Gold” to Margo… that doesn’t even make sense. I only talked to her about anything related once, the first day I saw the Eadie thing going around on Twitter. This was maybe a week before I heard about it being on TGCTS, in that ballpark.

So why did she run to Margo, if it had nothing to do with anything Marty Gold said, you ask?

I was worried and wanted to explain the story to her in case she started getting letters making accusations about my ethics. It was a brief conversation but she reassured me that they trusted me and knew how seriously I took my work – that discussion was about ME.

I really don’t remember if there was “crying involved.” It’s possible, I’m a total crier, which everyone knows, haha.

-MM

Yet Margo told her lawyer that TGCTS was guilty of "the lowest kind of journalism, of innuendo and ignorance" --- and then sent it on to Stephanie Forsyth after telling her on the phone we had made Melissa Martin cry by criticizing her non-reporting of the Ross Eadie election funding scandal.

And the lawyer, upon reviewing Margo Goodhand's "case" against TGCTS, wrote her back saying:

"I would expect that he (and others like him) will try to make a gong show out of a lawsuit or demand letter. They will hold it up as a badge of honour and use it to mock the Free Press."

Will Margo publish an Our Mistake to apologize for her hysterical attack on TGCTS ? For, in her own words to Stephanie Forsyth,

"when there is no balance, no fairness, no accountability in (a) barrage of criticism - all the tenets of good journalism --it becomes an issue."

Margo, meet Chuck Barris.

Still to come: Margo wasn't done with her pen pal yet.
RELATED: http://www.newwinnipeg.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2855&p=59863#p59863

New link added to TGCTS Live reviews/ podcast coming

Our deepest thanks to the friends and fans who attended our first live studio show. The Norwood CC is a great venue and they were totally helpful. Special thank you's to event organizer Bob Axford, our sound tech Shane 'DJ Monkey', Kim the Traffic Reporter, Peanut Gallery, and Caed from Academy of Broadcasting.

Spirited Kenny is hard at work prepping the podcast, which will be posted on this website.

TGCTS on 92.9 Kick-FM showcased the rise of the alternative media in the city. Half a dozen bloggers were in attendance last night. They, and the rest of the audience took great interest in the sequence of events that resulted in the cancellation of TGCTS with 35 minutes notice.

It started with a Free Press reporter running crying to her editor about our coverage of her non-reporting of complaints against NDP Mynarski ward candidate Ross Eadie. He admitted at a public meeting she was covering, to receiving campaign funding from the New Democratic Party, which would be against the law.

In the hands of Free Press management, her tears turned into false allegations against TGCTS that "the incident did not occur".

Despite the fact yet another FP reporter had corresponded with a witness to the incident about Eadie's remarks, and formal complaints against Eadie were filed with city electoral officer Marc Lemoine, the Free Press has never once reported on this.

Instead, they smeared the work and reporting of TGCTS to Red River College President Stephanie Forsyth, who never spoke to anyone about whether the allegations were true or not. On October 22nd she had her staff start to ask about "Marty Goldman" and Kick-FM, which RRC funds and carries the capital debt for.

With no regard for the 4 year long contracted relationship between TGCTS, Kick-FM and RRC's Cre-Comm department ( or for the truth), Forsyth relied on the false allegations from the Winnipeg Free Press as the basis for a "suggestion" to her appointees to the Kick-FM board to cancel the show -- based on her belief that mainstream media should be not named and held accountable when they fail to do their job properly.

After the Podcast we will have more on this blog about Stephanie Forsyth, the "core mandate" of Kick-FM, and her position on Freedom of Speech at a radio station training her own RRC journalism and radio students.

This post will be updated with links as more reviews become available.

Young Josh:
http://koansoldier.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/0004/

Here is Graham Hnatiuk's take:
http://progressivewinnipeg.blogspot.com/2010/12/red-river-censorship-over-free-press.html

NEW!! Cherenkov chimes in:
http://anybody-want-a-peanut.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-killed-tgcts.html

You might wonder: did Ross Eadie really say that he was receiving support from the NDP? Well, that's what some people heard, and there are complaints to that effect currently sitting with the city elections official. There were also a couple of witnesses from the New Winnipeg forum, at least one of whom I have met personally so I know they are a real person.

************************

More live events are being planned for 2011. We expect to have a number of Freedom of Information files from organizations such as The Winnipeg Parking Authority, The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and Red River College, to bring forward to the public at those shows.

Candidate Judy and other post - election emails

Thanks so much Marty. It was great to be on your show twice - sorry couldn't manage it in last week but no matter what happens I'm sure I'll be back on air with you someday.

Judy
(candidate for Mayor)
********************

Good Day Marty,
I thank you for your excellent coverage on the City Election. I will continue to speak out on the issues.
Fred Morris
(candidate in St. James-Brooklands-Weston)

***************
Virtually no change!
Looks like another 4 years of B.S.!

YOUR efforts to invigorate the campaign were stellar! Don't give up. It will be very interesting to see the poll by poll results!

I REALLY thank you for your efforts. they gave me energy and supported my commitment to change. Ah well!

Shane Nestruck
(candidate in Fort Rouge - East Fort Garry)
****************

Marty

The funniest thing was watching the Tweets roll by as the Media "snobs" congratulated each other on how wonderfully they covered the election. Talk about a tight knit bunch of second rate journalists licking each other into a frenzy.

Livio Ciaralli
(candidate in Charleswood-Tuxedo)
*************
From one of the election articles in today's Freep:

"With voter turnout hovering at 47 per cent, an unusually intense campaign lured hundreds out to ward and mayoral debates and nudged thousands more to cast ballots early in advance polls."

Less than 50% turnout. Sure, we had strong winds, cold weather and rain. SO WHAT?

Nobody had to dodge a hail of bullets.
Nobody was intimidated by having to go through military checkpoints.
Nobody was visited by heavily armed opposition forces, government forces, drug cartels or organized crime syndicates to either force or prevent them from showing up.
No suicide bombers threatened public safety at the polling stations.

And the best we could do was have less than 50% turnout in the polls. Canada is supposed to be a bastion of democracy, a shining light, an example of what second and third world countries can aspire to if they simply undertake the effort to become democracies.

To say that I am bitterly disappointed would be an understatement.

Here is what our politicians should do: Get a copy of the poll registers to see who voted. If someone who was eligible to vote did not do so, their concerns SHOULD BE IGNORED.

L.
*************

I'm very discouraged. Aside from you and the alternative media, no one bothered with the issues & no one bothered to informed themselves so they could make a good decision about their vote. The MSM was a joke - no coverage of the issues. Obviously Winnipeggers don't EVER want change, we just want to bitch about everything and play the martyr.

Next election anyone running in Charleswood should tack "conservative minded' to their campaign signs whether they're conservative or not, because only conservatives need apply there, doesn't matter if you have a good platform, or goals beyond getting elected. Never even received a flyer from Paula. Yeah, she's really interested in what I have to say or how I feel.

Don't know if I'll bother to vote in the next municipal election. Once my commitments here are through I don't know if I'll stick around - and I was raised here. No wonder we can't keep our grads and professionals here for long.

You did a great job Marty, but I don't think anyone cared.

Regards,

OL
***********
Marty

After reviewing most results it looks like the uninformed still have the power. I can no longer believe in this city as the same trash keeps getting elected by the same fools over and over again. I briefly was hoping for real change but I guess it's business as usually in the city.

I am happy that Sam was winning in the polls as I last saw but I guess he'll be faced with the same morons too.

Oh well...I guess I'll move to Toronto....
Mike

***************

Everyone who didn't take charge of the stuff (parking, street changes, policing) over the last 4 years are still in charge today.

Not one scoundrel was tossed.

Now the mayor and the others know that their previous practices are acceptable.

W.

**************
Hi Marty

With Sam Katz winning the election nothing will change. Those who become comfortable need not do anything. Winnipeg has got worse with Sam Katz and that's the truth. I'm also surprised that some councillors were not hoofed out. Also John Orlikow is a total jerk after he won last night. I'm sure some River Heights residents are wondering how he got back in

Sent from the outer regions of your mind

*********************

Hi Marty,

I wanted to let you know ahead of time, that next Wednesday, November 3, 2010 will be the final episode of The IllegalCurve Hockey Show on 92.9 KICK FM. Accordingly, it will be our final segment on The Great Canadian Talk Show as well.

I am pleased to report that we have accepted an offer to join the new Sports Radio 1290, as their first local program.

Starting on Saturday, November 6, 2010, we will be on Sports Radio 1290 every Saturday morning from 10AM-12 Noon.

It is with the utmost of respect, admiration and appreciation that I, on behalf of everyone at IllegalCurve, say thank you for the opportunity to have been on The Great Canadian Talk Show every Wednesday for the past year.

The conversations and preview we have been able to have with you have undoubtedly helped our listenership, and the advice and guidance you have offered when called upon have allowed us to grow and mature as radio hosts.

No matter where our journey in the radio business takes us next, we will be eternally grateful to yourself. I know I can speak for the others associated with the show, when I say that, in the 3 of us, you have loyal, consistent, Great Canadian Talk Show listeners.

On a personal note, I believe you are doing a great service to the people of Winnipeg with your advocacy and passion. This election campaign, and with the issues that have come to the forefront, has proven you have a tremendous pulse on the issues that matter to the people of Winnipeg. For that, you should be very proud.

Again, thank you very much, and please do not hesitate to contact me should the need arise.

All the best,

Drew Mindell (on behalf of Richard Pollock & Ezra Ginsburg)
Host
The IllegalCurve Hockey Show

**********

Kim's report on almost-all candidates meeting for Daniel McIntyre ward

From: Kim the Traffic Reporter

An all candidates forum was held at the Magnus Eliason Recreational Centre, 430 Langside on Tuesday Oct. 19/10. Invited were all five of the candidates running in the Daniel McIntyre ward. However, only four of the candidates showed up. The candidates are Harvey Smith (incumbent), Keith Bellamy, John Cardoso, Cindy Gilroy-Price and missing was Lito Taruc who, we are told had a scheduling conflict even though he'd been invited to this forum four weeks ago. One would have thought he would make the effort to attend the only such forum for the ward in which he is running.

There was a packed house with people not only standing but often lined up out the door, so it would seem the residents of Daniel MacIntyre were eager to hear what the candidates had to say. Not only were the candidates present, but a variety of School Board Trustee candidates made an appearance. Some of them were Anthony Ramos, Myra Laramee, Christine Barr, Cathy Collins, Rolf Salfert and Bradley McKay, though none of these candidates were part of the forum.

Each candidate was given two minutes to present a brief presentation of their platforms. Common themes were: crime, transit/transportation, infrastructure such as pot holes and back lanes, community centres, poverty and housing.

A series of five scripted questions was asked of the candidates, they are as follows along with some of the responses by each candidate, those questions were:

1. How to change Community Centre models to work for the Inner-City
2. What has to happen to dissuade gangs
3. What steps are needed to improve relations between the community and Police
4. With vacancy rates low in the City, how will you address the need for good affordable housing
5. (note this question is from the West End Biz) With infrastructure, poor lighting, derelict buildings problems, how do you plan to attract and retain businesses and development?

Some of the answers to these questions were similar from all the candidates with
- Keith Bellamy saying that Community Centres were the "hub of activity" and was generally agreed by all candidates that more funding was needed.
- John Cardoso indicated that he wants schools to stay open after hours and that community centres have to be part of the community itself.
- Cindy Gilroy-Price indicated that she wants to see more organized sports as well as educational support and because of gang situations many kids will not cross territorial boundaries so there is a need for more community based programs.
- Harvey Smith indicated he believes there should be a full time person who oversees the programming for Community Centres.

In regards to gangs:
- Bellamy wants outreach programs and mentoring opportunities along with a City housing strategy and that neighbours need to connect with the community and that it "takes a village to raise a child" and that there is a need to stabilize the community.
- Cardoso thinks there should be more education at the elementary level and that the community should be more proactive as opposed to reactive towards gang situations and that getting to the kids at the lower levels of school would help to prevent them from entering gangs.
- Gilroy-Price believes there are missing values and a lack of sense of belonging to the community, that this is not a poverty based issue. She also believes that educators and community need to work together.
- Smith wants to deal with the poverty saying "train them" teach them a trade which would give them hope for the future. Smith also indicated that a good environment and housing will help to keep the kids out of gangs.

The question of what steps are needed to improve relations with the Police was asked, all the candidates agreed that getting the Police out of their cars and walking around the community was important.

Harvey Smith even indicated that the Police should have their names on the uniforms instead of just a number. All agreed the Police need to be present in the community and that not only the residents, but the Police need to learn about each other in order to establish a relationship with each other. Cindy Gilroy-Price also indicated that the Police need a different review process in the case of complaints and that the Police should not be reviewing themselves.

Housing was another question asked regarding addressing the needs of good affordable housing considering the low vacancy rates in the City.
- Keith Bellamy replied that affordable rental housing was needed and that when vacancies in the City reached about 2.5% new condo developments should be halted. He also we need to protect the rental stock and that there needs to be a "use it or lose it" mandate against slumlords. This means there should be stiffer penalties towards boarded up buildings and if landlords don't repair or utilize those buildings, they should lose them.
- John Cardoso wants Manitoba Housing and the City involved in subsidising low income housing. Cardoso also believes the laws should be more heavily enforced.
- Cindy Gilroy-Price wants to encourage the development of boarded up buildings and there should be more commercial/residential use of buildings. For example, have a store on the main floor while upper floors are used for housing.
- Harvey Smith wants to double the amount for non-profit housing which according to Smith is at about 1 million dollars at the moment.

The question of infrastructure, lighting and derelict buildings problems, how do the candidates plan to attract and retain businesses with these current problems.
- Keith Bellamy replied that it's not just the businesses, but the entire community who is affected. Landlords who do not maintain their properties should use them or lose them and that the Councillor needs to apply constant pressure on City Hall to address these needs.
- John Cardoso also answered in the same vein saying that property laws need to be enforced and the community needs to be involved.
- Cindy Gilroy-Price wants to work with the level of governments in order to discourage absentee landlords and that we need to improve the lighting in the community.
- Harvey Smith believes penalties should be increased for houses that are not developed (meaning derelict buildings) and that there needs to be an increase in the amount of staff who look at the boarded up buildings.

A series of questions came from the floor including one on global warming where one individual asked what the candidates would do to get people out of their cars.

- Bellamy responded that there needed to be an increase in the riders on buses, that the City has done a less than adequate job on green transportation, that the City needs to move forward with Active Transportation but it needs to be done in ways the community can embrace instead of pushing people away and making them angry.
- Cardoso wants proper bus shelters and to subsidize the bus and have incentives for people to take the bus.
- Gilroy-Price supports AT but needs to be done in a collaborative manner, that buses need to be more affordable for those with lower incomes and that we need to protect our urban forests.
- Smith wants to curtail urban sprawl which is causing people to spend more time in their vehicles and we need a change in mentality that global warming does exist.

Other issues raised was the problem of prostitution in the West End,
- Gilroy-Price wants more resources going to the gang units as prostitution is often linked to gangs as well as more funds to the women's resource centre.
- Smith wants stiffer penalties for the "johns" as well as giving financial aid to get the prostitutes out of business.
- Whereas Cardoso wants more education and that "something needs to be done", Bellamy wants more outreach.

Many people had questions, certainly not all are listed here, but the community in Daniel MacIntyre was and is interested and involved. It seems there is a desire for a heavier Police presence in these neighbourhoods to deal with the crime issues. Some residents even want more red light camera or photo enforcement in the community to curtail vehicles speeding through lights or up and down their streets.

With all the people in attendance and more who wanted to be in the room, it would seem as though there could be a heavy voter turnout for this election. There were certainly advocates for each of the candidates in the room (except for Taruc), whether these candidates managed to sway votes remains to be seen. However, some of the people did get their questions answered and have now made a decision as to where to place their votes come Oct. 27th.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kim's Thoughts

A very heavy attendance indeed. It was a fantastic turnout. I didn't expect to see the amount of people I did and am glad I arrived a half hour early so I was lucky enough to find a seat. The community was definitely involved with the process with even some who didn't live in the community coming out to listen to the candidates.

It greatly disturbs me that one candidate did not bother to show up. So Lito Taruc had a scheduling conflict did he? Yet he knew four weeks ago about this forum. Really, you'd think he would make an effort to show up. This was an excellent way for him to get his points across, to speak to the community, yet he blew all of us off. What could possibly have been more important than an all candidates forum? Taruc does not live in Daniel McIntyre, he does own a couple of houses on Toronto, yet that is not the same as living day by day in this community, this should have provided him even more incentive to come to this forum to speak with our community. I'm afraid he did not win any friends or should I say voters this day.

There was a definite anti-Sam feeling in the audience, when Harvey Smith spoke of changing Mayors there was a loud and immediate applause for that sentiment. In fact, anytime someone mentioned getting rid of Sam there was applause. Perhaps Sam Katz should spend a little time knocking on doors in this ward instead of just having his campaign office in the area.

For a community that doesn't have much money, has many problems, it was nice to see the media out in full force. Global, CBC, CJOB had a student reporter on scene as well as yours truly from Kick-FM. It is good to see our community get some of the attention I believe it deserves and not in the more negative manner it usually gets.

The West End is such a wonder in cultural diversity and as I said, we may not have the wealthiest groups in a monetary sense, but I believe we are incredibly wealthy in that diversity.

I would encourage all the eligible voters in this ward to get out on Oct. 27th, no matter who your choice of candidate may be, get out and vote. Have your say, be a part of the process. Even if your chosen candidate doesn't win at least you would have made the effort to voice your opinions and be heard.

Election day is Wednesday October 27, 2010. See you at the polls.

PS Another blogger was at the meeting:
http://winnipegonegreatcity.blogspot.com/2010/10/great-debate-at-merc.html

The Oct 7th Sam vs Judy Debate, as reviewed by Kim the Traffic Reporter

The Mayoral Candidate Forum held Oct. 7th at the Hydro Building downtown attracted a full house of those who wanted to hear what the candidates had to say about the downtown area. This event was presented by The Downtown Biz, Institute of Urban Studies (U. of W) and The Exchange District Biz. The event moderators were Richard Cloutier of CJOB and Dan Lett of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Cloutier and Lett did do a really good job as moderators moving questions and answers along in a timely manner, including shutting down the candidates when they ran to long on any particular subject and of course we at the microphone got our hands slapped if we took to much time .

There was ten scripted questions put to the candidates, which the candidates answered prior to the forum. It would have much more interesting to see how the candidates would have reacted and what their answers would have been had the questions not been scripted and been allowed to answer prior to the event.

However, only two of the Mayoral candidates were invited to this forum. How can we take these forums seriously if ALL the candidates aren't invited? While Rav Gill and Brad Gross may not be the front runners in this election, it is manifestly unfair and quite biased to assume that Sam and Judy are the ONLY ones in the running for the position of Mayor or for that matter are the only ones qualified to be Mayor.

You might note that this report is a little different from the ones I usually submit, in fact it is more a commentary on what happened than an actual factual report which as I've already said has been done to death regarding the forum. So I figured I'd do something just a tad different.

We (joe blow public) have already been inundated with what was said at this forum by not only the MSM but also from the bloggers, of course that is assuming the candidates actually said anything at all. So what did we hear? Did we really hear anything new?

We found out Judy is in favour of a pedestrian mall which according to Judy would go somewhere in the Exchange district. Right and at -40c I'm going to be slogging my way down some pedestrian mall so I can go shopping, will you? Didn't think so.

That is assuming of course that housing can be put into place that would support such a mall. Though according to Sam Katz there is going to be a new apartment complex at the Avenue Building on Portage but will people really want to move onto Portage Ave.?

The whole idea is to bring new amenities downtown so people won't have to go to the suburbs to shop, bring grocery stores to the area, encourage people to give up their cars by increasing bus service (and of course rapid transit).

Both Sam and Judy spoke of increasing Active Transportation in the downtown area, though where such infrastructure is going to be placed neither one was able to say although Sam did include vehicular traffic as well as bikes and pedestrians. I have to wonder if the level of consultation will improve since the Assiniboine debacle or for that matter if the City Planners have learned anything at all.

Judy, in her scripted answer to the question of a revitalized downtown dealing with economic challenges of developing and redeveloping properties downtown, said "Winnipeg is fortunate to have some of the best-recognized planners, urban thinkers, planning advocates and green-minded architects in the country." Judy thinks we should "embrace" their expertise and their insights.

Ahh Judy we've already "embraced" their insights, it's called Berry St., Sherbrook, Nassau, Roslyn, Eugenie and Assiniboine. Look what those vaunted "best-recognized" planners, urban thinkers, planning advocates and green-minded architects have done to those areas and you really want to trust them to come up with ideas that aren't going to pander to the whims of special interest groups?

I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't trust them to come up with plans that made any sense whatsoever.

Of course parking made it's appearance at the forum. A question asked of the candidates by me regarding parking:

"Given that people were towed illegally with no compensation, people were ticketed under faulty machines and the ALPR system. And that consistently 50% of the machines were broken, misprogrammed or had illegal signage, also that machines were dropped on inner-city streets with no consultation. That there is no complaint department, and one complainer, according to the ombudsman had their privacy violated twice, another was assaulted at the parking store and the tape was never turned over to the police, my question is ... Where was the public and stakeholder oversight when these things happened and how are they held accountable? Also do the candidates think the Biz is trying to politically sell the wonders of the special operating agency system and not tell the whole truth to the public and candidates?"

Sam took a moment to explain what an SOA (special operating agency) is, which is basically (sorry Sam had to borrow that word from you for a bit), an agency of the City that is run as a business. There is a City Councillor who oversees the SOA's and that's Jeff Browaty.

After that, we heard nothing. Both Sam and Judy agree that these agencies need to be held accountable if there any wrong doings. Judy is all in favour of having an advisory board consisting of Councillors, stakeholders, CentreVenture, Downtown Biz and others sit on this board. Both Judy and Sam danced around the issues which were raised, neither was willing to offer any solutions to the problems instigated by the parking authority. Nor offer any solutions on how those problems could be fixed. Instead we hear about parking structures, on how we should get rid of surface lots.

Just where do the two candidates plan to park all the people who travel downtown with their cars? Oh wait parking structures, that's the answer. We were told that one was going to be built in the East Exchange another on the North side of Portage and another built on the South side of Portage (maybe near the new police headquarters). Anybody think that's going to make a huge dent in the parking issues if all the surface lots are gone.

Nobody mentioned that on York is a huge surface lot that doesn't belong to the City, but to the Province. Will the City force the Province to build a mammoth structure to house all the government workers? What about all the surface lots the City owns? They were never mentioned either.

In fact during this whole forum not much was mentioned at all. We heard campaign speeches from both candidates, we heard political rhetoric, we heard repeats of what has already been said before, nothing new came out of this forum. If I hadn't been busy taking notes I would have taken a nap and from those notes I got nothing. I could go back to various articles in the Free Press and many of the blogs to fill in the blanks at this forum, which really wasn't a forum without the other two candidates, and heard all the same things I heard on Oct. 7.

Perhaps Sam and Judy should stop offering sweet nothings into the ears of voters and start offering real solutions to the many problems facing this City. Instead of worrying about becoming a "world class City" we should concentrate on fixing sagging infrastructure, of getting our own house in order before we worry about the rest of the world.

We have serious problems in this City that need to be addressed, to date we have heard nothing from the main candidates that give the voters an idea as to how those issues will be dealt with after the election. Perhaps we will hear more concrete plans closer to the election, but for now it's yada yada yada..blah blah blah..heard it all before. And that folks was the crux of the whole forum, we heard it all before.

If anyone wishes to read the scripted questions and answers for this forum, you can do so at the following address:

http://www.downtownwinnipegbiz.com/resource/file/Mayoral_Responses_summary.pdf

- kim