Russ Wyatt won’t apologize for public comments about former city CAO

Transcona city councillor Russ Wyatt is not apologizing for comments he made about former city CAO. Photo taken November 15, 2024. (Glenn Pismenny/CTV News Winnipeg)

Russ Wyatt, the councillor representing Transcona, is refusing to apologize publicly to former City of Winnipeg Chief Administrative Officer Michael Jack after an integrity commission report found comments he made about Jack and another civil servant were ‘offensive, disrespectful and an attack.’

“I am going to stand up and speak my mind, and I am not apologizing,” Wyatt told CTV News on Friday. “I did nothing wrong.”

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

It also found Wyatt’s comments questioned Jack’s professional capacity and were a personal attack that amounted to harassment. 

Wyatt said Friday he told CTV News he was speaking his mind, which is what he was elected to do by the citizens of his community.

“We had an open matter that was discussed in the media pertaining to the fact that the city just lost a lawsuit costing the ratepayers of Winnipeg $5 million and that the employee involved, who is still employed with the city, not on an administrative leave, is still there as if nothing had happened,” Wyatt said. “Zero accountability, and I was calling our CAO at the time to be held to the account for that.”

The investigator found these actions were in breach of the City of Winnipeg’s Members of Council Code of Conduct and recommended sanctions, including a public apology acknowledging the report’s findings and that City Council issue a public reprimand of Wyatt if he does not comply before the next council meeting. 

The report references Wyatt’s comments that were published in a media article from August 3, 2023, headlined “Winnipeg councillor calls for termination of top civil servant.”

The article refers to a case where 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 at the Court of King’s Bench. Jack resigned in June 2024 and was recently appointed Deputy Minister of Business, Mining, Trade, and Job Creation with the province.

Wyatt said Friday he is now considering his legal options to file against Pytel, the investigator and author of the report, for publishing statements about him using language like “coercion and harassment.”

“I am not going to let that lie; that needs to be dealt with,” he said.

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

CTV News has requested comment from Jack and is waiting to hear back.

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