The New Winnipeg
In about two hours, I will be flying back to my little green island at the end of the world. I had honestly not been planning to stay in Winnipeg for as long as I did, but one thing led to another and so, here I am. I did work while I was here though; not nearly enough probably, but I did work nonetheless.
For the moment though, I would like to say a few words about my home city, and what has become of it. When I was growing up in Winnipeg, the city's best days were far behind it. It had gone from being the third largest city in Canada when my Grandparents were my age, to the fifth in my parents' time, to the eighth while I was around. And, though I didn't understand this at the time, Winnipeg had been hit relatively hard by the recession of the early nineties (coupled with the fact that we could no longer sell Manitoban grain to the Soviet Union). I remember nothing so much as grimy, empty shop windows whenever I went downtown as a child; the city had been all-but-hollowed-out, and it is indeed the case that the absolute low point (at least in terms of population morale) came when the Jets were sold to Phoenix. Personally, my interest in hockey is little more than patriotic (although I do find it more exciting to watch then almost any other sport), but it is beyond dispute that this was a major undercut to our prestige (a Canadian metropolis without a hockey team is not a metropolis). People lost their interest in the future of the city; the late nineties saw a wave of arson, the natural result of a situation where it's more profitable to burn a property than it is to try to find a buyer for it. And other Canadians' jokes about the city are probably as old as Winnipeg itself, but Winnipeggers started responding apologetically rather than with any sort of civic pride.
Things started to turn around in the early 2000s. I'm not sure who started the process. Artists? Businessmen? Governments? (Personally, I think Glenn Murray can probably take the most credit, but that's neither here nor there). Anyway, there was a concerted, two-pronged effort first of all to boost the population's morale and secondly to fix several of the problems that it was suffering. Moreover, everyone seemed to get behind it; the government enacted policies to revitalize the downtown; artists and business-types both pitched in; hell, even the administration of the University of Winnipeg deserved kudos for restoring activity to Portage avenue. But the thing is: I was here the whole time, and I didn't really notice.
Then I went away for three quarters of a year and came back for a month, and at that point, the change was noticeable. Understand, I'm not just talking about the new NHL team, or the arena, or the rapid transit corridor, or the new sciences complex, or the Plug-in Gallery, or the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, or the fact that the Toronto Globe and Mail unaccountably seems intent on constantly praising Winnipeg all of a sudden. All of those things are nice, but what I really mean is that the general attitude of Winnipeggers has changed dramatically. People, for the first time in my life, are honestly proud of their city. And frankly, they should be. I know I am.
That's not to say, of course, that we don't still have problems. Our mayor, frankly, sucks; some may credit him with the urban revitalization, and I admit he hasn't done anything to stop it, but the developers have far too much influence at city hall, and that may lead to more idiotic "Waverly West"-style urban sprawl projects. Moreover, if something is not done to improve the situation of our urban aboriginal population, then we may easily find ourselves becoming a sort of "Detroit of the North" (there has been progress on this front, but more is needed). And finally, though I do approve of new construction, I just like to point out how ugly so many of our new buildings are from an architectural perspective. The U of W's Buehler centre has a whole bunch of stupid white sheets sticking-out of it, and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, when finally completed, is supposed to look like a... you know.
Anyway, at least I can return to Victoria knowing that I come from a truly great city.
For the moment though, I would like to say a few words about my home city, and what has become of it. When I was growing up in Winnipeg, the city's best days were far behind it. It had gone from being the third largest city in Canada when my Grandparents were my age, to the fifth in my parents' time, to the eighth while I was around. And, though I didn't understand this at the time, Winnipeg had been hit relatively hard by the recession of the early nineties (coupled with the fact that we could no longer sell Manitoban grain to the Soviet Union). I remember nothing so much as grimy, empty shop windows whenever I went downtown as a child; the city had been all-but-hollowed-out, and it is indeed the case that the absolute low point (at least in terms of population morale) came when the Jets were sold to Phoenix. Personally, my interest in hockey is little more than patriotic (although I do find it more exciting to watch then almost any other sport), but it is beyond dispute that this was a major undercut to our prestige (a Canadian metropolis without a hockey team is not a metropolis). People lost their interest in the future of the city; the late nineties saw a wave of arson, the natural result of a situation where it's more profitable to burn a property than it is to try to find a buyer for it. And other Canadians' jokes about the city are probably as old as Winnipeg itself, but Winnipeggers started responding apologetically rather than with any sort of civic pride.
Things started to turn around in the early 2000s. I'm not sure who started the process. Artists? Businessmen? Governments? (Personally, I think Glenn Murray can probably take the most credit, but that's neither here nor there). Anyway, there was a concerted, two-pronged effort first of all to boost the population's morale and secondly to fix several of the problems that it was suffering. Moreover, everyone seemed to get behind it; the government enacted policies to revitalize the downtown; artists and business-types both pitched in; hell, even the administration of the University of Winnipeg deserved kudos for restoring activity to Portage avenue. But the thing is: I was here the whole time, and I didn't really notice.
Then I went away for three quarters of a year and came back for a month, and at that point, the change was noticeable. Understand, I'm not just talking about the new NHL team, or the arena, or the rapid transit corridor, or the new sciences complex, or the Plug-in Gallery, or the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, or the fact that the Toronto Globe and Mail unaccountably seems intent on constantly praising Winnipeg all of a sudden. All of those things are nice, but what I really mean is that the general attitude of Winnipeggers has changed dramatically. People, for the first time in my life, are honestly proud of their city. And frankly, they should be. I know I am.
That's not to say, of course, that we don't still have problems. Our mayor, frankly, sucks; some may credit him with the urban revitalization, and I admit he hasn't done anything to stop it, but the developers have far too much influence at city hall, and that may lead to more idiotic "Waverly West"-style urban sprawl projects. Moreover, if something is not done to improve the situation of our urban aboriginal population, then we may easily find ourselves becoming a sort of "Detroit of the North" (there has been progress on this front, but more is needed). And finally, though I do approve of new construction, I just like to point out how ugly so many of our new buildings are from an architectural perspective. The U of W's Buehler centre has a whole bunch of stupid white sheets sticking-out of it, and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, when finally completed, is supposed to look like a... you know.
Anyway, at least I can return to Victoria knowing that I come from a truly great city.