The story of Kaj

Kaj Hasselriis, the youngest contender for the city’s mayoral throne in this election, has spent the past few weeks waving his arms wildly around downtown and in the city’s core, making a few policy announcements and trying desperately to energize a ho-hum mayoral race.

Despite all his efforts, however, he hasn’t yet seemed able to find an issue that resonates with voters.

Of course, neither has anyone else.

Giving non-citizens the right to vote

Hasselriis tried to bring life to this non-issue with his announcement saying recent immigrants who have lived in the city for six months or more but aren’t yet Canadian citizens should have the right to vote in future civic elections.

21st century transportation plan

Then he fell back into safe political territory with his transportation plan, including establishing an alternative transportation advocate at city hall, implementing rapid transit, building more bike paths and maintaining old ones and improving transportation for people with disabilities.

Give up the Goldeyes parking lot and keep the Bombers community owned

Hasselriis made some political hay just before council’s last meeting before the election, speaking out against a recent deal to allow the Winnipeg Goldeyes to turn a parcel of land into a parking lot for the next 16 years (violating pretty much every tenet of Plan Winnipeg) and accused the mayor of conflict of interest.

Hasselriis then held a press conference on the site of the parking lot, denouncing Goldeyes owner Sam Katz and city staff for not holding anyone accountable for the lease agreements.

A short while later, Hasselriis again inserted himself into another sports story.

After rumours surfaced of a possible backroom deal to sell the city’s beloved football team, he turned up at the recent Bomber game against the Montreal Alouettes to campaign for keeping the Bombers community-owned.

Make Winnipeg the green capital of Canada

Despite espousing some surprisingly conservative ideas throughout the campaign, Hasselriis showed his left-leaning roots last week by saying he wanted to turn Winnipeg into an eco-showpiece.

He says he has a lot of ideas to help build the momentum generated by the Manitoba Hydro building, one of the most energy efficient office buildings in Canada.

Those ideas include everything from shadier parking lots to micro-loans for businesses that want to make their buildings more environmentally sound.

Shake your money-maker 70s-style

Protesting the length of time some councillors have been on council, Hasselriis and supporters donned 70s-style garb and held a “protest” outside City Hall. They were eventually asked to leave because they were too close to advance polls open at City Hall.

Fix our sidewalks already

Hasselriis gathered up a gang of seniors and disabled folks and headed to “the worst sidewalk in Winnipeg”, a bumpy stretch on the corner of Gertrude and Osborne. (During a photo op, one wheelchair-bound woman got stuck on the sidewalk - and it wasn’t deliberate.) Hasselriis says sidewalks are just as important as roads and came up with a huge list of ways to see change, including sidewalk requirements for all new roads and bridges, eliminating permits for private wheelchair ramps and freezing fares for transit users.

For more information on Kaj’s platform visit www.kaj.ca.