Winnipeg mayor, councillors officially sworn in

WINNIPEG — The City of Winnipeg has its first new mayor in more than a decade.

Brian Bowman and 15 city councillors were officially sworn in during a ceremony Tuesday evening.

The ceremony started with a prayer from Elder Harry Bone. Fourteen of the 15 elected councillors received their certificates of election. Charleswood-Tuxedo councillor Marty Morantz was absent from the ceremony. Bowman announced Morantz’s father had recently passed away.

“This is a most humbling experience because it’s truly an honour to be here with confidence of the citizens of Winnipeg to celebrate with the special people here,” an emotional Bowman said.

One of the first things council will do is find a new chief administrative officer, Bowman said at the ceremony.

“Now that we have a new council…we must move quickly to put new leadership in place in this most senior administrative position,” he said.

He also plans to reduce the salary top-up for members of the Executive Policy Committee (EPC), speaker and deputy speaker as well as mayor.

Members of the EPC, also known as the mayor’s inner circle, were unveiled.

Councillors Jeff Browaty, Janice Lukes, Brian Mayes, Marty Morantz, John Orlikow and Mike Pagtakhan will sit on the EPC.

Bowman was the surprise winner of the Oct. 22 election.

Longtime NDP politician Judy Wasylycia-Leis held a strong lead in polls from the beginning of the campaign until an October Global News/680 CJOB poll showed the two in a statistical tie.

On election day, Bowman won in a landslide, taking 47.5 per cent of the vote to Wasylycia-Leis’ 24.9 per cent.

READ MORE: Brian Bowman wins 2014 Winnipeg election