President & Vice-Chancellor Lloyd Axworthy

U of W's can-do godfather

From the Winnipeg Free Press
August 17, 2009
Staff Writer

Throughout its long history, the University of Winnipeg had always seemed somewhat removed from the life of the community and the downtown in particular. Behind its castle walls, deep thinkers met earnest students, but at the end of the day everyone went home to the suburbs, tip-toeing over debris to get to their cars or the bus.

The attitudes in the Ivory Tower began to change about 15 years ago when the university became a member of the Downtown Business Improvement Zone and started to reflect on its responsibilities as an urban campus, but there was little evidence it gave a lot of deep thought to using its resources and clout as a catalyst for downtown renewal.

The university needed someone with a vision, someone who understood politics and knew his way around government and bureaucracies, someone who knew how to leverage funds and get things done. In 2004, the university got that person when it hired Lloyd Axworthy as president.

As a federal cabinet minister under Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien, Mr. Axworthy developed a reputation as Winnipeg's Godfather because of his unmatched ability to deliver the goods, including the Air Canada Building and park on Portage Avenue, the National Research Centre complex on Ellice Avenue, the Core Area Initiatives that redeveloped the Exchange District, and The Forks, to name just a few.

At 69, he is still an unstoppable whirlwind of ideas and energy. Under his leadership, the university has embarked on a remarkable building and development frenzy unmatched in its 138-year history.

The former bus depot adjacent to the university is just the latest rabbit to emerge from Mr. Axworthy's hat. The depot moved on the weekend to Richardson International Airport, but it will soon be converted to classroom space and a bookstore that will serve the campus and community at large. He also envisions it as a hub in the rapid transit network, which makes sense since the university attracts some 10,000 students, the single largest centre of activity in the downtown.

Mr. Axworthy is always looking for ways to link the campus with the community. One of his first initiatives as president, for example, was the Wii Chiiwaakanak Learning Centre on Ellice Avenue, which provides free educational opportunities and services to local residents. It was a recognition that the university cannot turn up its nose at the poverty and desperation that surround its doors.

The university is also spreading across Portage Avenue to the site of the former Army Surplus store, and west on Portage where a new student residence and day care are being built and an environment and science complex. To the east, the university is opening a new centre for theatre and film, while more green space has been added on Portage and along Spence Street.

It is, in short, the busiest site in the downtown. When complete, assuming such a word exists in Mr. Axworthy's vocabulary, it will arguably rival the University of Manitoba as the most dynamic post-secondary institution in the province. As a downtown campus, the university is not confined to its own property, but can take advantage of the huge educational opportunities within its reach, including the art galleries and museums, city hall and the legislature, the business community, libraries and performing arts, the nearby centres of science and research, the Law Courts and the diverse fabric of rich and poor who make their homes in the downtown and its shoulder neighbourhoods.

As the university expands, its students will increasingly find themselves walking through the downtown to get to class, or to conduct research, listen to a political speech or make notes for a class in sociology or psychology. In other words, they will learn from their neighbours -- the people who already work and live in the core.

The university truly is downtown Winnipeg's anchor tenant, but the other stakeholders should take a harder look at how they might accommodate students with housing, entertainment, dining, jobs and other opportunities. The godfather, after all, can only do so much.