As if it were in response to my most recent update (May 8th), the formation of the Green Party of Winnipeg was announced, to add a much-needed voice of reason in the October civic election, and hopefully, to the council chamber floor in the next four years.

From their website (http://www.winnipeggreenparty.ca/)
"The city is crying out for an end to reckless and costly urban sprawl and the car-centred development that accompanies it. Our infrastructure is crumbling. We need to maintain what we have before adding more."

Winnipeg Green Party spokesman Marcus Buchart is not the only former provincial MLA candidate from Winnipeg who has been talking about putting together a slate of candidates for the upcoming civic election lately. It seems that winds of change are brewing in the background, and this could prove to be the most lively civic election in recent memory.

And while it may not come in time for the October election, I believe that in the coming years, economic and social reality will align, and ordinary Winnipeggers will finally be able to see things for how they are. Once the housing bubble bursts like a neglected water main, everyone will see Waverly West as a provincial NDP scam to keep central Winnipeg impoverished (and therefore NDP-voting). Once property taxes and gas prices skyrocket to the heavens, people will demand a government that doesn't bankrupt its citizens building expressways around "town centres" in the middle of farm land. Like G.W. Bush's White House, it is my prediction that the approval ratings of Sam Katz' City Hall will dissolve by the time his second term reaches the halfway point.