O'Brien's fact and fiction
By Ken Gray, The Ottawa CitizenJanuary 20, 2010
Mayor Larry O'Brien's State of the City speech last week had more whoppers in it than a Burger King franchise.
For a disengaged mayor, O'Brien has certainly accomplished a great deal, at least according to the speech, which Ottawa mayors traditionally give at the first city council meeting of the year. Once you get past platitudes such as "the capital of the greatest country in the world," the baloney gets sliced a tad thick. Expect to see this luncheon meat regurgitated if O'Brien enters the mayoral race in pursuit of a second term.
Here are some of the quotes O'Brien made in the State of the City speech and my response to them:
"First, we approved the increase of funding for the Conference Centre to a grand total of $40 million to make that project a reality."
Didn't the momentum for funding a new congress centre come about during the days of the former Conservative government at Queen's Park? And didn't former mayor Bob Chiarelli negotiate hard before the city came on-board with the project so that the municipality wouldn't be stuck with operating losses? And isn't former mayor Jim Durrell the moving force behind the new congress centre?
"After pressing the reset button on transit in 2007, we prepared and developed a new transit plan based on LRT and a tunnel to ensure a faster, more reliable transit for our citizens from the east to the west ends of our city."
East and west ends indeed -- if you think Ottawa stretches from Tunney's Pasture to Blair Road. A tunnel and a short rail line. For $2.1 billion (and likely much more) that's not much transit. Hello, Orléans, Barrhaven and Kanata.
"We have chosen the long-term solution to transit that will last and grow for the balance of the 21st century."
Isn't that how long it will take to build?
"Just before Christmas, Premier Dalton McGuinty made a very strong statement of support for our new transit plan. He acknowledged the hard work that has been done and backed up that support with a commitment of $600 million."
Well, $600 million is far from enough to pay for this plan -- and McGuinty has spent much of his time equivocating about the tunnel and line.
"Last November we started an exciting and formal course of action that will see Lansdowne Park restored to its former, or dare I say even grander, glory."
We can expect O'Brien to take credit for Lansdowne in any mayoral campaign, but the serious council lobbying was done by College Councillor Rick Chiarelli with Alta Vista Councillor Peter Hume ensuring the final winning vote at council was decisive rather than just close. And, of course, the principals behind Lansdowne Live did the real work.
"We have also invested in our aging infrastructure at a record rate, including authorizing the spending required to address the troublesome and long-standing problem of pollution of the Ottawa River."
Didn't planning and environment committee chairman Peter Hume and city staff do the heavy lifting on that one?
"The audit budget and finance committee determined that the tax increase for 2010 should not exceed four per cent.
"I personally believe the city could get to inflationary tax increases or lower, but not without fundamentally changing the nature and extent of services that we offer."
Zero means zero.
"The recent AAA rating from Moody is no accident and we have more than enough capacity to make the investments required to continue growing our city."
Isn't the Moody's rating based on taxpayers' ability to pay?
"Another important file we will need to address before the end of the term is the refresh of our economic development plan for the City of Ottawa."
Yes, indeed. We need to adjust to the loss of Nortel, our biggest private employer and the major driver of Ottawa's tech sector. The city barely squawked when that company disappeared.
"I am optimistic that the city can complete its negotiations with Plasco (for plasma gasification of garbage) in the next few weeks, and it is my hope that construction will begin by this fall."
Again, didn't this get moving with Bob Chiarelli and city staff? Wasn't the major work done by Plasco and its executive, Rod Bryden?
O'Brien is a good salesman. He sold a city on a mayor with no experience and a promise to freeze taxes. You'd think after three years we'd get more steak and less sizzle.
Instead, Ottawa gets warmed-over baloney.
Ken Gray is a Citizen editorial board member who produces a monthly podcast, Inner City, at ottawacitizen.com/innercity and a blog, The Bulldog, at ottawacitizen.com/bulldog.
His column runs on Wednesdays.
E-mail: kgray@thecitizen.canwest.com.
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