The Political Complexity Of It All

Everything is so quiet on the surface, like a duck. You’d never know it’s paddling like crazy underneath.

Take the Capitol Theatre…last I heard, the Mayor told us that we supposedly owned the building. So why are “Some city councillors and members of the arts community … frustrated that Capitol Theatre bankruptcy proceedings are taking so long.”

The Tunnel deal and our $75M….what’s happening there?

And our delayed arena? Do you really buy into the reasons given for the delay? Note we have not been told how much more this will cost us.

But the real quiet has to do with the University urban village. Remember, something was to be presented to the Province within 2 weeks. Where are we at with this project?

Let’s do a quick recap. As a loyal reader of my BLOGS, you, dear reader, already know that Eddie is in real trouble. Virtually everything he has touched has gone wrong. The border is a mess, the arena is now delayed, the tunnel deal seems to be vastly over-priced while Eddie is waiting for the Feds to see if they will bail him out, unemployment is the highest in Canada, our reserves are sinking… I could go on but I do not want to depress you more than I have to.

And now his dream of an urban village is crashing as private money heads for the hills. Actually, Councillor Postma told us that there was no interest in it anyway.

We need to factor in a few other things too as I tell you the tale about what is happening in our Western Super Anchor area. After all, my inside moles at City Hall want some credit for what they have found out.

First, Eddie locked himself into a maximum of two terms as Mayor since I assume that he believed he could do everything he wanted in that time-frame. Secondly, he is success oriented. He can never be wrong or blamed for anything. After all, isn’t that why it is Council that decides everything. It’s their fault if it is bad and he takes the kudos if it turns out all good. Remember the “Perry Mason-type” cross-examination of Alan McKinnon at the Council Tecumseh meeting when he dared criticize Eddie.

So the University urban village is a good thing for him. If it works out, he gets the credit. If it doesn’t, he needs a fall-guy or gal. It won't just be Councillor Postma either

Thirdly, Eddie is incredibly lucky. He must have horseshoes around his neck. Before he has to give a speech to the DWBIA and talk about the RFP for an urban village, the University is sitting in his office asking for money. What an opportunity.

Just in case anyone doesn't know what's going on at the University let me give you a quick update. Last year they raised a big pile of money, through a Bond offering, which will pay for a bunch of capital programs. At the centre of this building boom are two political sexy initiatives … a new medical school (for which Sandra and Dwight have already received a lot of credit) and an engineering building to replace the dilapidated Essex Hall.

The University needs money to get all these capital projects fully funded. The University's new Chancellor, Ed Lumley, is brought in for advice and he tells them that if they want money from the Province they had better “THINK BIG.” [Oh I am so tired of this expression] Politicians don't fund buildings that are already almost paid for; they like big exciting projects that give them headlines especially before an election in October.

The medical school has started and the Phase 1 of the Engineering complex to be built on campus was to start in June. Now there is a second phase for this engineering complex but it was on hold pending fund raising success. With “THINKING BIG,” the University has their cause. Let's build both phase one and phase two of the engineering building together. It is a very politically attractive story if told correctly.

But The University, in its haste, makes a big mistake. They go and ask Eddie for money before securing provincial funding. This is where it gets real good so listen carefully.

In the University's political naiveté, Eddie Francis quickly sees a political coup. The lightbulb goes on. He understands that the solution to his Urban Village problem is sitting in front of him. You see, Eddie got a lot of positive play out of St Clair College taking the Cleary Auditorium off his hands. And he remembered how excited people got a few years ago when Ross Paul mentioned "going downtown" in one of his speeches and in his Star article.

Oh sorry, the fourth trait of Eddie, he has a quick mind.

So why not off lay the urban village problem onto the University of Windsor as part of the City of Windsor helping out the University. If he can get away with it, he would offer land only but if worst came to worst, Eddie has the $15M he can hold out from the delayed arena deal for the Engineering complex.

The solution: The City of Windsor will help but only if the University builds their engineering building downtown. Works for Eddie and for Ross Paul who wants a legacy other than being the President whose University came in last so many times in the Maclean's poll. Moreover, he might be able to use this to stay on longer as President---fundraising and all of that. After all, the job pays well: in the .07% of top incomes in Canada.

Marty Komsa who now chairs the University's Board of Governors until September wants a big win too for his legacy and to help out the Mayor. I have heard that the Board did not know very much about this proposal until the leak in the Star (and my BLOG mentioned that it was the Engineering building). Obviously, the internal political game being played at the University (as Eddie does with his Councillors) is not tell the Board. Instead they push this forward as quickly as possible to make it more difficult for the Board to scupper once it is presented.

Why would the Board scupper this, didn't the University want a downtown location? You are forgetting the Cleary aren’t you?

When the University explored a downtown location, before St. Clair got involved, they found it was going to be cost prohibitive and a logistics nightmare. An engineering building would be even more problematic. After all, this isn't a few dozen arts students. It would be over a thousand students and faculty. Moving this many students and faculty back and forth between campuses for classes would be real difficult. And who knows how much all this would cost.

So how does one get this by the Board of Governors who may start to ask some tough questions… there is a simple solution. Bring the downtown project so far along that the Board will not have a choice but to approve it. How could you as a Board member dare say NO to what will be a symbol for the re-birth of Windsor and might get the University out of Maclean's cellar, right!

So Eddie needs cash to get this built and a fall-person if it goes off the tracks. Which brings us to Dwight and Sandra, the autumn election and the question of whether Eddie has outmanoeuvered our Provincial Ministers.

The first thing is the leak it to the press. This is obviously done to put pressure on Dwight and Sandra. Pay up or lose your seats. It was a calculated gamble since it could back-fire if other Provincial politicians get mad at more money being poured into Windsor.

We read the Henderson column and Marty’s praise of Eddie (Sounded so similar to what happened with the call-centre jobs in Henderson’s column too didn’t it?) So now Eddie has interjected himself into this whole project and is now positioned to take most, if not all, of the political credit if this goes ahead. He has gotten all the headlines so far. Sandra and Dwight must love this. If they find funding for the project then Eddie gets the credit. Thank you University of Windsor. If they don't find funding for the project then Dwight and Sandra are to blame and Eddie has successfully off laid his Urban Village fiasco onto Dwight and Sandra.

Downtown revitalization is now their problem to solve NOT Eddie's. Eddie had a solution and they didn't back it. Thank you University of Windsor.

And if this all blows up it positions Eddie to run against either of them in the fall election if he chooses to do so . (Don’t worry, John Tory will forgive him). You can hear his stump speech. "I'll pound the table in Queens Park and make darn sure Windsor gets taken care of." Sound familiar? This is exactly what he has done with the Border file.

But the political problems for Sandra and Dwight don't end there. Another very real scenario is that they actually find money for the project (You've got to believe that Lumley can make this work since he found $50M for Magna!). Once the University moves ahead with this downtown building they find costs escalate (they always do), fundraising comes up short and logistics turns out to be more of a nightmare than even the biggest pessimists calculated.

Now what happens...who has to come up with the extra cash? The Province, the City or the University?

Oh it’s all so exciting. Let’s see how good Sandra and Dwight are at playing politics! The ball---and the complex---are in their court.