So far, new Winnipeg mayor Brian Bowman has shown no fear of the deep end as he jumps into one of the toughest municipal posts in the country.

Bowman, who left a partnership at a prominent law firm to sign up for the brickbats that go with running Winnipeg these days, risked a chilly reception when he decided to mark his often turbulent first 100 days in office by holding a virtual town hall. For 40 minutes, Bowman took live calls and responded to questions via Twitter on a wide variety of issues.

A central plank in Bowman’s election strategy was cleaning up City Hall after the scandal-plagued third term of former mayor Sam Katz. That longtime businessman was widely criticized for alleged favouritism when well-known associates of his were winning civic contracts. There also were fiscal issues, such as massive cost overruns with the construction of the Winnipeg police headquarters.

Anybody who may have doubted Bowman’s resolve to change the culture and public perception of his office surely has come around since the new mayor has made it clear that nobody – not even his biggest supporter during the election campaign, Winnipeg Jets co-owner Mark Chipman – will be allowed any favouritism or even the appearance of favouritism.

Chipman’s company, True North Sports & Entertainment Ltd., signed an option last year with downtown development agency CentreVenture to redevelop the site of the old Carlton Inn, which is located just a couple of blocks from the MTS Centre, where the Jets play their home games.

There’s no questioning the merit of True North’s proposed development, which is expected to exceed $400 million, pump millions of tax dollars into city coffers and has been called the largest private development in the history of Winnipeg.

The problem, however, was that another firm was contractually obligated to develop the site. City council responded by ordering CentreVenture to issue an expression of interest call for the development.

The mayor then brought up conflict of interest allegations by revealing that Chipman served on CentreVenture’s board when True North’s option on the Carlton Inn site came into effect. (Chipman had resigned before the allegations were raised.)

Now, Chipman has fired back, calling a news conference to counter Bowman’s allegations of a conflict and suggesting that the mayor knew more about the pending deal than he has acknowledged.

Bowman was used to a busy schedule before he got into politics. But, surely, he couldn’t have predicted the string of high-profile events to happen on his watch. These include a citywide “boil water” advisory, a recent Maclean’s magazine article calling Winnipeg the most racist city in the country and the suspension of the city’s chief administrative officer in January following what Bowman describes as a “loss of confidence” in the officer’s performance.

When tests gave the city’s water supply the thumbs up after two days that saw bottled water flying off the shelves, Bowman chugged a glass of tap water at a press conference, displaying that he already is a master at the crucial art of the photo op.

Bowman was a virtual unknown when he threw his hat into the mayoral ring last year. But he eventually pulled in a whopping 47.5% of the vote. That support is likely to be tested in the months ahead.

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