Russ Wyatt, the councilor representing Transcona, refuses to publicly apologize to former City of Winnipeg CAO Michael Jack after an integrity commission report found comments he made made about Jack and another official were “offensive, disrespectful and constituted an attack.”

“I’m going to stand up and say what I think, and I’m not apologizing,” Wyatt told CTV News on Friday. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The integrity commissioner’s report, conducted by Edmonton investigator Jamie Pytel of Kingsgate Legal, found that Wyatt’s comments in the media about Jack, who is listed as a complainant in the report, were “a attempting to use his authority to intimidate, coerce or influence Jack to terminate an employee.

It also found that Wyatt’s comments called into question Jack’s professional ability and constituted a personal attack amounting 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 case that was discussed in the media regarding the fact that the city just lost a court case that cost the taxpayers of Winnipeg $5 million and that the employee involved, who is still employed by the city and is not on administrative leave, is still here like nothing happened,” Wyatt said. “Zero liability, and I was calling our CAO at the time to be held accountable for it.”

The investigator concluded that these actions violated the Code of Conduct for Council Members of the City of Winnipeg and recommended sanctions, including a public apology acknowledging the report’s findings and that city council issue a public reprimand to the against Wyatt if he does not comply before the next council. meeting.

The report references Wyatt’s comments that were published in an August 3, 2023 news article, titled “Winnipeg councilor calls for firing of top public servant.”

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

The city appealed the decision to the Court of King’s Bench. Jack resigned in June 2024 and was recently named the province’s Deputy Minister of Business, Mines, Trade and Job Creation.

Wyatt said Friday that he is now considering his legal options for taking action against Pytel, the investigator and author of the report, for publishing statements about him using terms such as “coercion and harassment.”

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

Pytel told CTV News in an email Friday that she does not have a response at this time.

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

The recommendations from the Integrity Commissioner’s report are on the agenda for the November 21 meeting.^st municipal council meeting.