The ‘Thud” heard across Ottawa

I will quote Ottawa Centre NDP MPP Joel Harden for only the second time in my life here.  In his weekly email to Ottawa Centre he writes “a loud thud was heard across Ontario.  The final report of the Ottawa Light Rail Commission dropped, and it hit the table hard”.

The sad thing is the main characters of the report were nowhere near the table. Former Mayor Jim Watson, recently resigned City Manager Jim Kanellakos and longer retired OC Transpo Head John Maconi are all gone and unlikely to be seen near City Hall any time soon. 

Transit Committee Chair Alan Hubley is all that remains, and there doesn’t seem to be much responsibility to hang onto him.  Nothing I’ve seen links the troubles to Councillor Hubley, though that didn’t stop former Councillor Diane Deans from asking for his resignation.   To be fair to Hubley his time as Transit Commission Chair only covered the final construction and testing.  There isn’t evidence, again that I have seen, that Watson, Kanellakos or Maconi ever confided in Hubley or that Hubley had much say in how the project was managed. 

Questions remain including, will Jim Watson comment on the report and will he be apologetic or defensive? Who will lead the work needed to address and implement the 103 recommendations in the report?  What are the costs to implement some of the recommendations?  How does this report affect the 2023 City of Ottawa budget? What does this mean for LRT Phase Three and will the Provincial and Federal governments be more hesitant to commit to Phase Three?

There has been some terrific reporting on this report, CBC Ottawa’s Joanne Chianello has written very comprehensively on this, writing just about as many pages on the report that are in the report.  You can catch all she’s said on the report on Twitter at @jchianello.  

Really the only people speaking about the report are former Mayors O’Brien and Chiarelli and they didn’t mince words when CityNews Sam Laprade spoke to them (https://ottawa.citynews.ca/local-news/listen-former-ottawa-mayors-discuss-lrt-report-6190568).

There remains the questions of OC Transpo’s bus system, these are being overshadowed by this LRT report, some of the issues with the bus system are because of the LRT and the cuts in local bus service.  Reduced service has caused waits for riders, fewer buses serving local neighbourhoods.  This report has put more speed bumps on the road for recovery for the buses being run by OC Transpo.

Some may have called for the report to come earlier, some wanted it to be released prior to the Ottawa municipal election, but timing is good for the city to take the steps needed to fix the system – but at a cost that must be found. The blank slate the council has is helpful, so far only Mayor Sutcliffe has commented on the report stating that he will work with the new council to implement key recommendations.   Sutcliffe’s pledge for transparency and collaboration in the end may save whatever future  LRT Phase Three has.

There is alot to follow on this, the recovery is going to be months and years into this council’s four year term. I hope the work will be a shining example of a collabotative council rather than the spotlight of a dvided and split council of the previous term..

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Thank you for reading this post; to catch all my posts and be notified as new ones come up, please follow me on WordPress.  I can be found on Twitter @robertdekker & @RedHrtBlueSign and on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/rob.dekker.54.  If you prefer email, please contact me at rdmedia@bell.net. 

Dominos

It all started Friday morning and by that evening the dominos started to fall in place. That first domino was the expected (in my mind) announcement from Mayor Jim Watson of stepping away from the mayor’s office and choosing not to run in next fall’s Ottawa elections.  Now another from the class of 2010 (https://redheartbluesign.wordpress.com/2021/11/20/ottawa-city-council-class-of-2010/)  is stepping aside leading the next council to be one of the greatest transitions around the council table.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

This announcement, within hours of it being public, has started the run for the mayor’s chain.  Councilors Diane Deans (Gloucester-Southgate) and Catherine McKenney (Somerset Ward) have announced that they will run to replace Watson.  Two more open wards lead me to suspect that this election will truly lead to a major transition at City Hall.  Councilors Moffatt and Harder previously announced their retirement from council; with two more council seats and the mayors chair now open, Ottawa is only a few strong challenges and a couple more similar announcements from sitting councilors from the largest shift in Ottawa’s municipal political scene.

Deans and McKenney were followed a few hours later with a tweet from former mayor Bob Chiarelli stating, ‘I am in as candidate for mayor’.  Ottawa area MPP Lisa MacLeod and former Ottawa Centre MP Catherine McKenna have taken their names off the list as candidates.  There will be a few others considering options including Rideau-Vanier Councilor Fleury who has stated he is thinking about it. 

Nominations open on May 2^nd, between now and then a lot can happen.  Those looking to fill the councilor seats vacated by Deans, McKenney, and maybe Fleury best wait until they have officially filed their nomination papers for mayor.  

The big question will be if Jim Watson will stay out of it and NOT endorse any one candidate?  Watson hold considerable sway (both for and against him) so any endorsement could help or hinder a potential candidate.  No member of ‘Club Watson’ has jumped into the pool, though let’s be honest so far, the declared candidates have all been vocal against some big policies that the mayor has put forward.  If a member of the club decides to run, Watson’s support could be behind the scenes pushing his supporters to his preferred heir for votes and financial contributions.

I’m looking forward to this story developing over the next few months, especially to see how Deans and McKenney use City Council to push their ideas for their run for mayor.  All three (Deans, McKenney and Chiarelli) have said Transit (and LRT), housing and climate change will be their lead issues in their campaigns.  It will be interesting to see how they line up on these issues and the cost of their platforms to support their plans for the City of Ottawa.

The dominos have started falling, and it started at least a month earlier that I expected.  I thank a few more will fall, faster now with these four announcements.

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Thank you for reading this post; to catch all my posts and be notified as new ones come up, please follow me on WordPress.  I can be found on Twitter @robertdekker & @RedHrtBlueSign and on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/rob.dekker.54.  If you prefer email, please contact me at rdmedia@bell.net. 

Ottawa Election ’22: Look who’s back – LRT

Well, the hammer has been lifted, it hasn’t come down yet, but it might do that very soon.  The hammer is the province withholding $60M for LRT Phase 1.  Why is Ontario doing this?  It is all due the issues that the “new” LRT in Ottawa is having, in fact the LRT has not been running since September 19^th when a derailment took place. There is no firm date for the return of the trains running at the time of me writing this post.  I can’t be sure even if the promise of a month of free rides in December on the LRT will happen.  The train might not be running!  

Facebook John Redins

It is not shocking that LRT will be the main topic of discussion for a third straight Ottawa municipal elections taking place on October 24^th, 2022.  What is shocking is that it will be a top issue in the election because of its failure, not success! That Councillors might have assumed that they could run on the successful implementation of LRT in Ottawa is accurate – no one plans for something to fail but fail it did. Whether it was flat wheel, doors jamming or cold weather the LRT never really had a chance.  That sink hole at Rideau and Wellington streets really was a talisman of things to come.

A successful launch of LRT would have extended the election success of incumbent councillors, what will its failure mean to councillors?  No one has really been held to account for how LRT has flat wheeled been rolled out.  Blame, by the Mayor and the City, has been laid at the feet of the Rideau Transit Group, however not one person from the City of Ottawa has been held accountable.  Should any members of our current council be held accountable? 

The official election period for the municipal elections begins in May when nomination papers are being accepted.  The unofficial election period has already started.  In this period leading up to May ’22 there may be announcements of Councillors (and a mayor?) not seeking re-election.   That runours of who will run for Mayor will begin, former Mayor Bob Chiarelli who is on record as saying ‘I am seriously considering (a run for mayor’ to the Ottawa Sun’s Sue Sherring, https://ottawasun.com/opinion/columnists/sherring-ottawans-deserve-options-and-bob-chiarellis-ready-to-oblige.  

Councillor Diane Deans, who is back to full fighting form following her battle with cancer is another serious contender.  Until Jim Watson makes his public declaration about running again, he must be considered.  In the current climate, a small ballot of 2-3 strong candidates running against Watson will seriously affect his chance for re-election.  Watson has yet to lose an election, he won’t want his last to be his first and the one that knocks him out of politics.  With two stints of Mayor under his belt, a walk in the snow is certainly something he’ll need to take to consider his political future.

The last time there was a reset around the council table was following the strike at OC Transpo. Is the public ready to make another such statement in October of 2022?

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Thank you for reading this post; to catch all my posts and be notified as new ones come up, please follow me on WordPress.  I can be found on Twitter @robertdekker & @RedHrtBlueSign and on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/rob.dekker.54.  If you prefer email, please contact me at rdmedia@bell.net. 

More than a coat of paint

Two years into its mandate it won on June 12 2014 the Ontario Liberals are seeking a reprieve on their performance. A cabinet shuffle is imminent. Three cabinet ministers have indicated their preference to leave now and according to the Premier, it is time for a reset. I would say that with an approval rating of 20% it is time for than a reset – it is time for an overall.

Between the OPP investigations, a disastrous green energy plan, ineffective ministers, out of control spending, increasing hydro rates and a healthcare system that is struggling to meet the needs of todays Ontarians a cabinet shuffle will not solve the problems. The change that is coming only puts a new face to the same old problem that this Wynne government is out of touch with the voters.

Ontario is struggling in key areas that voters rely the government to be on top of. Through the rest of the month June I will be looking at five areas and how the Ontario government’s actions are affecting voters. I will be posting separately on the following topics:

1. Healthcare

Hospitals are crying for funding while having to balance budgets after five years of no increases from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

2. Energy/Hydro

Between Bob Chiarelli and Glen Murray these two Minsters have devastated Ontario’s economy by bloating the cost of everything in this province.

3. Education

We spend almost one third of the Ontario budget on education, are we getting our money’s worth?

4. The economy/The Debt

$1 billion a month is spent on debt payments, balancing a budget is one thing but reducing the debt is something that this government has yet to tackle. The $1 billion will only grow as interest rates rise.

5. Taxpayers burden for the sins of this government

This government has been taking from taxpayers so often that it’s hard to recall anytime the government gave the taxpayers a break

So as Ministers Meilleur (Attorney General), McMeekin (Municipal Affairs and Housing) and Sergio (Senior’s Issues) leave cabinet, they can sigh (with relief?) as they head to the back benches or as in the case of Meilleur, home with a by election in Ottawa Vanier expected to be called at the same time as Scarborough – Rouge River following the fleeing from the Liberal caucus by Bas Balkissoon last month.

UPDATE: Sunday June 12th, Jim Bradley, Minister without Portfolio and Chair of the Cabinet stepped down from the cabinet and in return he will be come the Chief Government Whip a position currently held by Ottawa-Orleans MPP Marie France Lalonde.  This move of Bradley’s guarantees the Lalonde will be moving in the Cabinet to a full Minister portfolio when Premier Wynne announces her “Summer Shuffle”.

A mid-term cabinet shuffle will put new faces front and centre, but what ever is ailing Wynne and company requires more that just a coat of paint.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker, @rdmediaottawa and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97.

Sex, Mistruths and Videotape – Ontario style

What a week it has been in politics in Ontario (so far). Lets list what people have been talking about since the start of May.

1. The price of Hydro went up again in May 1^st. Why is this political? Because Premier Wynne and Finance Minister Sousa continue to say that hydro is going down! The kicker is that the price went up because Ontarians are conserving and using less electricity. Yep – this is Liberal math.

2. A fifth investigation has been started against the Ontario Liberl government. This time about deleted emails (yes again) surrounding a cancelled wind contract. Like the cancelled gas plants, this could cost taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars. The list the notorious five is:

3. Premier Wynne has created a double standard when dealing with MPP’s that are accused of misogynist comments. While she calls for Patrick Brown to fire Jack MacLaren, she has hiden the similar actions by Liberal MPP’s behind the closed doors of the Premiers’ office.

4. Premier Wynne and Child and Youth Minister Tracy MacCharles continue to defend their devastating cuts to IBI treatment for autistic children. May 5^th, the Patrick Brown and the Ontario PC Party Caucus used all 12 questions in Question Period to highlight the cost of the cuts to Ontario families and more importantly to Ontario autistic children.

5. Ontario NDP MPP Monique Taylor was kicked out of the house chambers at Queens Park for her behaviour towards the Ontario Liberals. What was it that had her so worked up? The Ontario Liberal cuts to autistic IBI treatment. I would never advocate this type of action, this is a VERY emotional issue – to everyone BUT the government. I can understand her emotion on this topic.

6. Ottawa West Nepean Liberal MPP, and Ontario Energy Minister decided to make a comment towards NDP Leader Andrea Horwath that amounted to something about urination. He says he didn’t say it, yet he was able to get the official Hansard to ‘bleep’ out the word he said. You can hear the recording here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/queens-park-pee-comment-1.3566937. Premier Wynne was noticably silent on this. Ontario and Ottawa West Nepean deserve better.

With so much taking place in the first 5 days of May at Queens Park it makes you really wonder what the rest of the month will bring.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker, @rdmediaottawa and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97.

Good News vs Bad News

I am always happy to hear good news, but ONLY if it’s anyone except Kathleen Wynne, Bob Chiarelli or any other Liberal Minister giving the good news. Their brand of good news always seems to take money out of my pocket. Their Good News/Bad News announcements are getting to be too much for Ontario taxpayers .

The Liberal Energy Minister last week shared a plan to ‘save’ Ontarians a few bucks in hydro costs.

His plan includes:

Good News: Ending the hydro “debt retirement” charge

Bad News: It should have been removed 4 years ago. We’ve paid millions that should have stayed in our pockets.

Good News: The Liberals are launching a program to help low-income families lower their costs for Ontario’s unaffordable hydro.

Bad News: To help pay for the hydro discounts, all other hydro users will have an increase in their hydro bills of an additional $120 a year – or $10/month!

Bad News: This increase is on top of previous increases already announced

Bad News: Hydro is STILL unaffordable for low income families.

It is not only the Energy Minister that is using good news to shadow the bad news.

Good News: Whales are now protected in Ontario

Bad News: Liberals that want to run in a by election are still unprotected and prone to bribe offers

Good News: The Ontario Deficit is down to $10.8 Billion

Bad News: The government is still spending almost $30m a day with money its doesn’t have

Bad News: There are NO plans to reduce government spending, the Liberals are still counting on a balanced budget by 2017-18

Good News: Those that can’t afford to save for a pension will have one with the Ontario government

Bad News: Those that can’t afford to save for a pension will now have MORE money taken off their pay so they can have a pension when they retire.

Ontario cannot take any more news from the “Bad News Bears” in Queens Park. 2018 can’t come soon enough for Ontario and its taxpayers!