here's SINCLAIR's article from Saturday. He says "Ruben is no hero". idiot, i think he is. this was a private guy that responded to the RFP and WON!!!
The true heroes in the Battle for Upper Fort Garry
IT came down to the 11th hour. Literally. But, in the end, it was one of our
finest.
I wasn't at the city hall news conference
late Friday afternoon to witness
developer Ruben Spletzer wave the
white flag on the battle of Upper Fort
Garry.
It was called on
such short notice I
couldn't get there.
But I can tell
you this.
Despite how he
presented himself
-- "as a good
citizen" making
his "contribution"
by giving up his
own dream for
the Friends of Upper Fort Garry's --
Ruben Spletzer is no hero.
At least not to me.
Just a week earlier he vehemently
declared a deal's a deal, and made
noises about suing the city at a council
session where Dan Vandal had introduced
a motion to let the Friends have
the entire site.
Including a corner parcel adjacent to
the fort's footprint that Spletzer would
have won the right to build on if the
Friends hadn't met the demands of a
March 30 deadline that included raising
$10 million in just three-and-a-half
months.
That's right, a March 30 deadline.
From what I'm told, the wording of
the Mayor Sam Katz-imposed deadline
declared the Friends had to meet all
the conditions prior to March 31.
That meant by Sunday midnight.
But given that confirmation had to
be delivered to the city's acting chief
administrative officer, the effective
deadline was on the last business day
before that.
Which made it Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Interestingly, it was within that 11th
hour that -- on less than an hour's
notice to the media -- Spletzer surrendered
the fort to the Friends.
Why did he do it?
Well, his telling of it suggested he
had an epiphany.
I'd suggest that it had more do to
with karma.
Spletzer had wanted to dig a hole and
plant an apartment tower in the face of
our history.
But the undoing of the "done deal"
-- as it was being portrayed last May
-- began with someone else digging a
hole that eventually buried his project.
It was a provincial heritage-required
archeological dig that forced the deal
to be revisited. The Friends now had
their second chance. A second chance
that came down to the last day.
Friday morning, Premier Gary Doer
had planned to officially announce
the city-owned land would become a
provincial park.
And the Friends had planned to
announce that -- with $3 million in
operating costs pledged by Doer over
20 years -- they had met the $10-million
target. Exceeded it, actually, because
David Chartrand, leader of the
Manitoba Métis Federation, delivered
a $1-million pledge at the lunch.
But Katz wasn't buying Doer's deal,
where operating funds suddenly became
capital, even though the province's
legal advisers, and the Friends
lawyers, advised it was legit.
I don't know if Doer had anything
to say to Katz or Spletzer Friday
morning. But one of his press people
sounded rather, shall we say, upbeat
when he returned my call to say the
premier had left on a vacation. But the
mayor and Spletzer were making an
announcement at 3:15 p.m.
By that time, I'd already heard from
NDP MP Pat Martin. He called early
that morning to say the deal Doer
thought he had when he left the office
Thursday had fallen through around
8 p.m.
But, Martin also suggested the
cavalry was on the way. Actually, this
time it was the Indians who were galloping
to the rescue of the fort.
Thursday, the Treaty One First
Nations delivered a letter to city hall
serving legal notice that, should the
Friends not receive what they are
asking for, they would see the city in
court.
"Treaty One First Nations understand
from bitter experience what
it means to be denied culture and
history," the letter went on to explain,
"and we support the efforts of the
settler community, represented by the
Friends of Upper Fort Garry, and the
Métis community... "
The pressure was mounting.
Then, at 2:40 p.m. on Friday, the
Friends hand-delivered a letter to city
hall stating they had met the city's
demands and the deadline.
Spletzer's news conference followed.
Coincidence? Maybe.
What there's no doubt about is who
the real heroes turned out to be.
At the lunch where he announced the
$1-million gift, Chartrand began by
honouring the elders in the room.
In the end, our heroes were our
elders, people like Jerry Gray, Harold
Buchwald, Bill Norrie, Bob Cunningham,
Otto Lang and, yes, Gary Filmon.
And of course, the late Peter Liba, who
first gathered the Friends.
They are the true heroes of the
Battle for Upper Fort Garry.
They, with a lot of help from a lot of
you, saved the land where the soul of
our province rests easier today.
And they never surrendered.
gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb
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