This is a transcript of Harvey's speech to Council on Wednesday, October 24th, 2001
"I am voting against this budget because it means more cuts in service without identifying them. I know the mayor maintains there are no cuts in service. The mayor is playing with the language. When the mayor states there are no cuts in service, he really means we are still providing some service.
Let me give you an example. As a city we recognize our role to provide a safe environment for our citizens. We even have a safety committee delving into ways to make our neighbourhoods safe. And we recognize that responsibility by increasing the police services budget by $500,000, and I certainly support that move.
But at the same time this administration is pruning our trees every 15 years rather than the required cycle of every 8 years. Our older neighbourhoods are darker, thus inviting crime.
And we say we are fighting Dutch elm disease, but at the same time we are encouraging it. We are helping to spread this tree killer by not pruning our trees as required, thus the result of more dead branches in the elms left un-pruned, with the subsequent increase in the bark beetle breeding locations.
Now let's talk about sidewalks. When a sidewalk repair is needed we put down asphalt, supposedly temporarily, but we do not replace it with cement for years and years. And there has been no money available for replacing broken interlocking bricks for the past two years. 
And what about potholes. When a vehicle hits a pothole and damages the suspension we now do not allow a claim. And do you know why we don't allow a claim. The claims department says its because "pot holes' are "common to Winnipeg streets."
Last week I was going down Henderson Highway and I saw our green administration has replaced grass in the median with pebbles. You can see weeds growing up between them.
Now, I am sure one of you will get up and say we won the Communities in Bloom Award. The main reason for winning this award was citizen's participation and for this we have to thank the media sponsors - the Winnipeg Free Press and CKY television. I bet we won't win it next year if we continue our policy of replacing grass with pebbles.
What we are talking about is maintenance of our city. They may seem like small matters but they all add up to a city that is slowly crumbling.
Sargent Park Pool is in my ward and I get comments such as: the entrance is cleaned only once a week the Weight room is never cleaned there is a broken toilet in the woman's washroom and it has been like that for over a month.
And in closing, let me discuss Arts Funding. We have had the amount of art funding frozen for the last ten years. During this period of time we have had approx. 30 new arts organizations which meant that institutions like the Winnipeg Art Gallery have been cut. This treasure should not be treated in this dismal manner.
We must defeat this budget for Winnipeg's sake. No matter what the mayor says - there are cutbacks in this budget. We must defeat this budget for Winnipeg's sake."
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