Chiarelli talks control issues
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Separate board elected city-wide would end ward-driven politics at City Hall, ex-mayor says
BY PATRICK DARE, THE OTTAWA CITIZENSEPTEMBER 28, 2009 11:02 PM
OTTAWA — The city needs to return some kind of board of control to City Hall to end the ward-driven parochialism of current city politics, former mayor Bob Chiarelli said Monday.
Addressing a seniors group at Abbotsford House in the Glebe Monday morning, Chiarelli said Ottawa has grown dramatically in the last 15 years, but only the mayor has a city-wide perspective because the rest of council is only elected to represent specific wards.
He said having several councillors elected across Ottawa would support strong decisions on projects such as transit that benefit the whole city, not just some wards.
Chiarelli, who was regional chair and then mayor of the new City of Ottawa until the end of 2006, said he was amazed at how citizens and councillors lacked knowledge of different communities.
He said he made it his mission when mayor to visit all parts of the newly amalgamated city, which gave him a unique perspective that was not shared by his fellow councillors.
“I felt very isolated sometimes that I was the only person speaking to city-wide issues from a city-wide perspective,” said Chiarelli.
He said an example of how ward politics can shape city decisions is the debate over commuter rail in the 2006 election, when politicians, especially on the west side, argued for scrapping the former north-south rail-service plan and going with east-west service instead.
Chiarelli lost the mayoralty and the new council killed the north-south project, but Chiarelli points out that it will still be many years before Ottawa sees east-west service.
He said in addition to a city-wide perspective, a board of control structure would also be a good way to groom prospective mayors.
The former City of Ottawa used to have several councillors on a board of control, who were elected by all city residents.
Also, the former municipalities of Gloucester, Nepean and Kanata elected councillors to sit on regional council.
The old Ottawa board of control had its critics, some
of whom said it created two classes of council member. The structure, abolished in 1978, was designed to allow several councillors to have a more in-depth understanding of city issues. The member with the highest vote support became deputy mayor.
Clarence Dungey, a long-time observer of council and other Canadian city governments in his work with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, says a board of control structure would only work if the rest of council accepted a diminished role.
“That’s not going to happen anymore,” said Dungey.
Chiarelli, speaking with a substantial corps of reporters in the audience for the first time since his defeat as mayor in 2006, also said the city isn’t doing a strong job of communicating what it does.
He said Ottawa has countless good stories about what it’s doing — from sophisticated water and sewer systems to the improved efficiency of the power system on the
Ottawa River and state-of-the-art emergency services — but the city’s reputation is dragged down by “public mauling” in media stories about a small number of mistakes and plans that are picked apart.
Chiarelli says the city’s leaders don’t fix that because they don’t want to be criticized for spending money on communications. Instead, that’s exactly what the city should do, he said, perhaps through its own television station, or at the least through posting information on its website.
“It’s very easy to develop a sense of discouragement about your city. The substance and significance of what is working in the city every day gets lost,” said Chiarelli. “We need perspective. That perspective has to come from political leadership. We need to re-establish community pride in our city.”
Chiarelli’s possible return to Ottawa politics has been talked about extensively in area political circles. Chiarelli said he has not categorically ruled out a return: “You never say never in politics.”
But the former mayor said he is happy with what he is doing now — such as working on the expansion of Algonquin College — and his family is telling him not to try a political comeback.
Mayor Larry O’Brien said he agrees about the need to get council looking at problems with a wider perspective. O’Brien said he supports a change on council that would see the mayor and four councillors elected city-wide and 14 or 15 councillors elected with wards.
Currently, the councillors for 23 wards and the mayor sit on council.
Separate board elected city-wide would end ward-driven politics at City Hall, ex-mayor says
By Patrick Dare
OTTAWA — The city needs to return some kind of board of control to City Hall to end the ward-driven parochialism of current city politics, former mayor Bob Chiarelli said Monday.
Addressing a seniors group at Abbotsford House in the Glebe Monday morning, Chiarelli said Ottawa has grown dramatically in the last 15 years, but only the mayor has a city-wide perspective because the rest of council is only elected to represent specific wards.
He said having several councillors elected across Ottawa would support strong decisions on projects such as transit that benefit the whole city, not just some wards.
Chiarelli, who was regional chair and then mayor of the new City of Ottawa until the end of 2006, said he was amazed at how citizens and councillors lacked knowledge of different communities.
He said he made it his mission when mayor to visit all parts of the newly amalgamated city, which gave him a unique perspective that was not shared by his fellow councillors.
“I felt very isolated sometimes that I was the only person speaking to city-wide issues from a city-wide perspective,” said Chiarelli.
He said an example of how ward politics can shape city decisions is the debate over commuter rail in the 2006 election, when politicians, especially on the west side, argued for scrapping the former north-south rail-service plan and going with east-west service instead.
Chiarelli lost the mayoralty and the new council killed the north-south project, but Chiarelli points out that it will still be many years before Ottawa sees east-west service.
He said in addition to a city-wide perspective, a board of control structure would also be a good way to groom prospective mayors.
The former City of Ottawa used to have several councillors on a board of control, who were elected by all city residents.
Also, the former municipalities of Gloucester, Nepean and Kanata elected councillors to sit on regional council.
The old Ottawa board of control had its critics, some
of whom said it created two classes of council member. The structure, abolished in 1978, was designed to allow several councillors to have a more in-depth understanding of city issues. The member with the highest vote support became deputy mayor.
Clarence Dungey, a long-time observer of council and other Canadian city governments in his work with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, says a board of control structure would only work if the rest of council accepted a diminished role.
“That’s not going to happen anymore,” said Dungey.
Chiarelli, speaking with a substantial corps of reporters in the audience for the first time since his defeat as mayor in 2006, also said the city isn’t doing a strong job of communicating what it does.
He said Ottawa has countless good stories about what it’s doing — from sophisticated water and sewer systems to the improved efficiency of the power system on the
Ottawa River and state-of-the-art emergency services — but the city’s reputation is dragged down by “public mauling” in media stories about a small number of mistakes and plans that are picked apart.
Chiarelli says the city’s leaders don’t fix that because they don’t want to be criticized for spending money on communications. Instead, that’s exactly what the city should do, he said, perhaps through its own television station, or at the least through posting information on its website.
“It’s very easy to develop a sense of discouragement about your city. The substance and significance of what is working in the city every day gets lost,” said Chiarelli. “We need perspective. That perspective has to come from political leadership. We need to re-establish community pride in our city.”
Chiarelli’s possible return to Ottawa politics has been talked about extensively in area political circles. Chiarelli said he has not categorically ruled out a return: “You never say never in politics.”
But the former mayor said he is happy with what he is doing now — such as working on the expansion of Algonquin College — and his family is telling him not to try a political comeback.
Mayor Larry O’Brien said he agrees about the need to get council looking at problems with a wider perspective. O’Brien said he supports a change on council that would see the mayor and four councillors elected city-wide and 14 or 15 councillors elected with wards.
Currently, the councillors for 23 wards and the mayor sit on council.
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