The report calls on Russ Wyatt to publicly apologize to former city CO Michael Jack

Russ Wyatt, the councilor representing Transcona, is refusing to publicly apologize to former City of Winnipeg administrative director Michael Jack after an integrity commission report found that comments he made about Jack and another public servant ” offensive, disrespectful and an attack’.

“I’m going to stand up and speak my mind, and I’m not going to apologize,” Wyatt told CTV News on Friday. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The integrity commissioner’s report, conducted by Edmonton-based investigator Jamie Pytel of Kingsgate Legal, concluded that Wyatt’s comments to the media about Jack, who is listed as the complainant in the report, were “an attempt to use his authority with for the purpose of intimidating, coercing or influencing Jack to fire an employee.

It was also determined that Wyatt’s comments questioned Jack’s professional capacity and were a personal attack amounting to harassment.

Wyatt told CTV News on Friday that he was speaking out, as he was elected to do by the citizens of his community.

“We had an open matter discussed in the media regarding the fact that the city just lost a lawsuit that cost Winnipeg taxpayers $5 million and that the employee involved, who is still with the city, was not is on administrative leave, it’s still there as if nothing happened,” Wyatt said. “No responsibility whatsoever, and I called our collective labor agreement at the time to be accountable for that.”

The investigator found that these actions violated the code of conduct for members of the Winnipeg City Council and recommended sanctions, including a public apology acknowledging the report’s findings and that council issue a public reprimand to Wyatt if he fails to comply would hold the next council. meeting.

The report points to Wyatt’s comments published in an August 3, 2023 media article headlined “Winnipeg councilor calls for top official’s resignation.”

The article references a case in which a judge found two city employees liable for delaying efforts to develop the former Parker Lands, and the 2023 decision ordered the city to pay $5 million in damages to the developer.

The city appealed the decision to the Court of King’s Bench. Jack resigned in June 2024 and was recently appointed deputy minister of business, mining, trade and employment at the province.

Wyatt said Friday that he is now considering his legal options to file against Pytel, the researcher and author of the report, for publishing statements about him in terms of “coercion and intimidation.”

“I’m not going to let that lie; That needs to be addressed,” he said.

Pytel told CTV News in an email Friday that she had no response at this time.

CTV News has reached out to Jack for comment and is awaiting a response.

The recommendations of the integrity commissioner’s report are on the agenda for November 21^st city ​​council meeting.