Opposing political groups join forces for police HQ audit

Two organizations at opposite ends of the political spectrum are coming together to demand answers about massive cost overruns on the new Winnipeg police headquarters.

The Winnipeg Labour Council and Canadian Taxpayers Federation held a joint press conference on Monday, urging Winnipeggers to push for an audit into the pricey construction project.

The new police headquarters is under construction on Graham Avenue and is already $75 million over budget.

Both the council and the federation want to see Winnipeggers petition their city councillors to demand an audit of the process to determine why the cost overruns on the project were so significant.

City officials just recently got the results of a controversial fire hall land swap deal, which directly implicated Winnipegs former CAO, Phil Sheegl, in a poorly managed and costly project.

In November, city council voted not to an audit after Coun. Paula Havixbeck and Coun. Jenny Gerbasi introduced a motion to run a full audit of how the project was handled.