Truth Is The First Casualty At Ottawa City Hall

“OC Transpo is committed to keeping you informed to ensure you can confidently know when you can take your first trip. We will continue to keep you in the loop of project progress through social media, the OC Transpo website, and regular updates to the City’s Transit Commission and Light Rail Sub-Committee.”

Light rail progress press release from OC Transpo

Except this entire press release doesn’t say when the Trillium and airport light-rail lines will be open.

The only “commitment” in this press release is to dodge the topic of when the two-year-late north-south line will be open. The commitment appears to be implying that the line is late because OC Transpo is being careful about safety, History proves otherwise.

Memo to the local transit operation: Lots of other light-rail projects (and projects in general) are safe — safer than OC Transpo’s to be sure — and they are finished on-time. Maybe even on-budget.

Safety? Two deadly bus crashes and repeated derailments of the light-rail line. Safety? Really? Maybe Transpo is committed to safety but the follow-through is horrendous.

Here’s a concept that might be foreign to many inhabitants of Ottawa City Hall. Try telling the truth. As in:

• The lines are two years late because … (list honest reasons);
• Our target for finishing the project (as promised in the release twice) is … (put honest target in);
• The reason, safety, given in the press release is bogus because the alternative is releasing a train that is unsafe (which is unconscionable … yet … happened when the Confederation Line opened);

Two deadly bus crashes, numerous train derailments (not to mention a destroyed transit system) and OC Transpo is preaching safety as the reason the train is late. The transit operation has proven without a doubt that safety is not its primary goal. That openness is not a goal. The goal that OC Transpo has achieved (along with the City of Ottawa) is a complete lack of trust in the transit-riding public. Oh yes, and covering their rather exposed butts (the city can’t even cover its butt well … pathetic). The city pleads confidentiality if a journalist asks what someone had for lunch. Once you lose trust, it is almost impossible to get it back.

OC Transpo and the City of Ottawa, through dubious confidentiality and outright lying, are losing their legitimacy. Both organizations are not, as was promised during the early days of amalgamation a quarter century ago, open, caring and inclusive.

These two offenders to democracy are closed, uncaring and exclusive. Dishonest might be a better word. Dishonest and incompetent in every major project this city is undertaking (we’re not exaggerating here … go through the list).

Ottawa’s residents should be demanding the truth and good government. City hall is our government, not the government of the mayor, councillors, city staff and a few powerful lobby groups … some of whom have councillors in their campaign-donation pockets.

Wonder who else lobbyists have compromised and what methods they used?

Our government on Laurier Avenue is not being conducted for the honest hard-working people who pay the bills and demand an honest hard-working municipal government.

Improper conduct must stop.

Start by telling the truth.

Ken Gray

For You:

LRT Deadline Is A Shrug: WAFFLE WATCH

Safety Has Not Been Job 1 At OC Transpo

Hurry Up And Wait On LRT: MULVIHILL