Former Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray says he is pursuing another career in his former job.
Murray announced Wednesday afternoon that he is running for mayor in this fall’s Winnipeg municipal election, after presenting documentation to register his campaign with City Hall.
“I love this city. We’ll get things done quickly,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “We will return to the kind of associations that made us so proud of our city.”
Murray was mayor of Winnipeg from 1998 until 2004, when he resigned to run for the federal Liberal Party.
He lost that career, but was elected a Liberal member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament in 2011, where he held various positions in the Cabinet until he briefly left politics in 2017.
In 2020, Murray ran to replace Elizabeth May as leader of the federal Green Party, but lost.
The city has “huge challenges”
Murray said that since moving to Winnipeg a few years ago to work in the private sector, he has been surprised by the difficulty of implementing developments, the collapse of the city’s infrastructure and the difficulty faced by the most vulnerable. the city.
“This city has huge challenges. They are challenges on a scale when I was first elected mayor,” he said.
“I’ve never had more experience in my whole life. I’m much more qualified to do this job than when I was young and I did it for the first time.”
Asked why he would not stay in the private sector and work there to improve the city, he said he believes major changes are needed at the municipal level.
“There is a real frustration in the private sector that there really needs to be some change in the public sector so that we can get back to business in the city,” he said.
Murray says he did not make the decision to run lightly and consulted with several people about his candidacy for mayor before making the leap.
He said he will describe his platform later.
High profile challenge to other candidates
In an interview with CBC News on Tuesday, Murray suggested that he was able to solve some financial problems during his time as mayor.
Aaron Moore opposes some of these comments.
“I think his decision to freeze property taxes for several years is part of the reason we’re in the current tax situation,” said Moore, a political science professor at the University of Winnipeg. municipal.
“I think to suggest that he did some fiscal magic as mayor and now he has to come and fix it again is to ignore the contribution he made to the problem.”
Moore also believes that many still think a lot about Murray. He characterized it as a moderate or progressive force, depending on the subject. The Murray property tax freeze, for example, was a fiscally conservative move, Moore said.
Leaving Manitoba could inspire some skepticism among some voters, Moore said, though he also believes Murray could make life more difficult for some competitors.
“With someone as tall as Glen Murray participating in the race, it could cause some of the other candidates to re-evaluate their chances of winning,” he said.
Winnipeg must move forward, rivals say
Murray is now the 11th person to run a mayoral campaign for the October 26 Winnipeg election.
The other 10 candidates are Idris Adelakun, Chris Clacio, Rana Bokhari, Scott Gillingham, Shaun Loney, Jenny Motkaluk, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Rick Shone, Desmond Thomas and Don Woodstock.
After Murray announced his career, Shone said in a statement that Winnipeg must “look ahead” and “find itself at a crossroads” in terms of infrastructure, debt, homelessness, traffic, public safety and affordability.
He accused Murray of leaving the Winnipeggers in 2004 and leaving his job as mayor unfinished.
“I’m not a career politician, I’m a father of two, a small business owner, a volunteer in the community, and I love my home. I’m excited about our future. Now is not the time to look back.” Shone’s written statement. dit.
“We don’t need a mayor who is more interested in being a star on the national stage.”
As for Murray’s suggestion of concerns about the city’s financial position, his rival Gillingham, currently St. John’s councilor. James and until recently chairman of the city’s finance committee said “there is still money in the bank” after a $ 220 million pandemic hit.
Coun. Scott Gillingham (St. James), who is now running for mayor, says “things have changed a lot in this city” since Murray took office. (CBC)
“[There was] no incremental aid across the province of Manitoba. We have maintained our credit rating … so we have done a very good job, “he said after Murray’s announcement.
Gillingham said his focus on his campaign for mayor is to communicate a vision for Winnipeg “that is exciting, realistic and achievable, and that moves the city forward.”
“Glen was away from Winnipeg for almost 20 years,” Gillingham said.
“I’ve been here with my hand behind the wheel and leading all this, so I’m ready to take the lead in the mayor’s office.”