Friday January 9 1998 a10
Who turns on the tap? Between 1988 and 1996, the Borger family and their companies gave close to $180,000 to the provincial Conservatives, including two donations totaling $2,014 to Jack Reimer in the 1995 provincial election. Mr. Reimer is urban affairs minister. Ladco Co. Ltd., one of the Borger companies, owns 1,000 acres of land on the north side of the TransCanada Highway between Winnipeg and Headingley.
Frances Russell
The provincial government is leaning on Winnipeg to treat Headingley’s sewage and provide water to the Cartier Regional Water Supply System which includes Headingley. Elizabeth Fleming, vice-president of the Provincial Council of Women and chair of its urban and regional affairs committee, says “You can’t help but wonder if there’s a connection between the donations and the government’s determination to see city water extended to Headingley.”
She warns the expansion, should it happen, will be very harmful to Winnipeg, eroding its tax base while putting demands on its budget to increase services like roads. At the same time, she notes, Winnipeg residents, as provincial taxpayers, will be called upon to subsidize this new assault on the city. “Once a company like Ladco gets water and sewer there would be pressure to go with urban-style lots and services,” Ms. Fleming continues. “Quite frankly, the amount of money that’s involved is very high. They’re talking about $30 million to $40 million over a number of years with the province paying half ($6 million) of the first phase.
Asked about political donations and Ladco’s 1,000 acres, Alan Borger responded with a flat "no comment to both questions.”
Mr. Reimer and Rural Development Minister Len Derkach denied any knowledge of the donations and the Ladco land.
But in separate interviews, they echoed their government’s encouragement of urban and exurban sprawl, a policy that began with the abolition of the urban limit line in 1991. “We used to have the additional zone, that philosophy…it set up too much acrimony,” Mr. Reimer says.
The urban affairs minister and the rural development minister say they aren’t worried about the impact on the city. Mr. Reimer even thinks exurban sprawl is positive because it allows freedom of choice and tax competition, giving taxpayers and consumers “the best bang for their buck.”
The ministers say water and sewer service to Headingley is a matter of public health. And they argue the province has no right to try to tell people where they can live. “You talk about this exurban development that’s close to the city,” Mr. Derkach says. “If people want to live there we’re not in a position to dictate to them that they should not live there. We have communities that have the right to develop in their own ways.”
Adds Mr. Reimer: “Development happens as the market demand is happening. The one thing you can’t do is create a market.”
Mr. Derkach, whose department is pushing hardest on the city, appears to think Winnipeg’s Shoal Lake aqueduct belongs to the province.
He says Winnipeg is in no position to deny water services to others because it doesn’t have its own water supply, either. “Where does Winnipeg get its water?” Mr. Derkach asks. “Winnipeg does not have a supply of water. The supply of water comes from outside the city so Headingley could very easily tap in on the other side of Winnipeg and bring that water supply if they wanted but that’s not realistic.”
NDP urban affairs critic Becky Barrett agrees the province can’t tell people where to live. “But equally, the government has to ensure that the city, which contains 60 per cent of the province’s population, retains its viability.” Ms. Barrett says it’s imperative for the province to develop a land use policy so that development decisions are made within a rational framework. “The province is responding to one of its largest donors and that’s unconscionable,” she says.
Ms. Fleming acknowledges that Headingley needs water and sewer, but she would prefer the water be provided from the west. “There are no developmental controls. It really would be turning on the tap to urban sprawl if the city on the east would let water go to the west.”
Frances Russell comments on politics for the Free Press. Her column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.