Posted Jul 18, 2017, 8:44 PM
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Toronto
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Not sure if this is the best place to put this or if it deserves its own thread, but this is an interesting article from the Ottawa Sun. A few years ago I would've opposed this but Rick Gibbons makes some good points. Thoughts?
Quote:
Let’s make Ottawa a proper capital district — free from Ontario’s grip
RICK GIBBONS
FIRST POSTED: MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017 03:59 PM EDT | UPDATED: MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017 05:38 PM EDT
We’re entering the homestretch of Canada’s 150th birthday bash having funded everything from the sublime to the ridiculous and yet I can’t think of a single thing that’ll leave an enduring footprint the way our Centennial celebrations did.
Even that giant yellow rubber duckie is destined for the recycle bin.
Admittedly, “Sesquicentennial” doesn’t hold a candle to “Centennial” when it comes to naming a park, a school or a bridge and it doesn’t quite fit a sports jersey the way Expos or Ottawa 67s did. But, for all that money being tossed at Canada 150 celebrations, surely we should be leaving something to the kids.
How about a project truly worthy of the 150th milestone, something big, ambitious and long overdue?
I have an idea.
It’s time Ottawa left Ontario and joined the ranks of dozens of capital cities around the world by becoming an official Capital District, not unlike Washington, D.C.
The Federal District of Ottawa. Now there’s a 150th birthday project worth investing in: A Capital District liberated from Ontario’s stifling grip to take its rightful place alongside national capitals of Australia, Mexico, India, Sweden and dozens of other capital cities that enjoy proper special legal constitutional status.
Please don’t confuse the idea of a Federal Capital District with the National Capital Region, a near meaningless and arbitrary geographic designation that already exists with little purpose other than to give the NCC some idea where to send the grass maintenance crews.
A true Capital District would enjoy full constitutional authority as its own tier of government with all the existing responsibilities of the provincial government and city council.
I’m sure it was an oversight by Queen Victoria to declare a hardscrabble lumberyard as Canada’s capital without stipulating it be under the jurisdiction of neither Upper nor Lower Canada, but should instead stand alone like a guiding light on a hill, well above the fray of petty provincialism.
It’s ridiculous we even allowed our nation’s capital to be a creature of any province, let alone Ontario, which seems preoccupied by whatever Toronto thinks its priorities should be.
A federal capital that is housed within a province’s jurisdiction reeks of special status and conflict of interest. A true national capital shouldn’t be torn by such divided loyalties. I’m sure all Canadians would much prefer an arrangement that better reflects a shared custody of our national capital rather than being just another Ontario burgh.
Washington, D.C. seems to manage quite well without a state capital meddling in its business. Why can’t Ottawa?
It’s certainly big enough to manage the responsibilities currently handled by Ontario. The region’s geographical area is larger than Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montréal combined, and our local GDP exceeds that of half the country’s provinces. If P.E.I. can manage to deliver a full range of provincial services with a quarter the population and a 10th the GDP of Ottawa, then surely we can manage just fine on our own.
Democracy functions best when decisions are made closest to the people being served. A true Capital District would eliminate an entire tier of government for Ottawans as city hall assumed greater authority to deliver services ranging from garbage pickup to health care.
Think of the possibilities: Hydro Ottawa would be liberated from having to purchase Ontario-generated power in favour of buying electricity at much lower rates across the river in Quebec.
There would be no intergovernmental jurisdictional disputes and less duplication of services. Right now, three levels government meddle in land-use policy in Ottawa. I’m sure we could do just fine with a single planning department.
As a Federal District, Ottawa, not Ontario, could decide where it dumps its garbage.
It could even operate with a single police force — the RCMP — across the city rather than the current three.
Yes, with appropriate federal oversight, a Federal District of Ottawa would be more efficient and less bureaucratic — free to govern without provincial meddling in the best interests of a great national capital. Now there’s a project worth investing in.
Happy 150th Ottawa. Who’s with me?
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Gibbons is a former Sun publisher and broadcaster.
rick.gibbons@outlook.com
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http://www.ottawasun.com/2017/07/17/...-ontarios-grip
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