Province Should Intervene Now To Save City: THE VOTER

This is an open letter from The Voter to Nepean MPP Lisa Macleod, the senior Tory in the area, concerning the fiscal crisis facing the City of Ottawa.

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Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is clearly stating that managing the City of Ottawa finances and, by extrapolation, running the city is beyond the capabilities of this Ottawa City Council.

They are driving the city into the ground and, before it gets any worse, the residents of Ottawa desperately need the provincial government to intervene.

Queen’s Park must appoint someone without delay to take on the job council is supposed to be doing. A commissioner has to come in and put the city back into a healthy situation both economically and administratively. Among other things, this should involve a thorough current and retrospective review of A) all facets of the LRT; B) Lansdowne 1.0 and 2.0; C) all other major infrastructure projects and D) OC Transpo other than the LRT but including the electric-bus acquisition.

The commissioner will need staff and an adequate budget to carry out his or her duties within a reasonable timeframe. They will also need the necessary authority to have their recommendations implemented.

The commissioner should look at city staffing including the large number of positions, particularly at the senior management level, that are filled on an “interim” basis for long periods of time. They should also review the findings of the LRT inquiry to determine whether anything has changed. Have any of the recommendations been implemented?

Does the city have sound planning processes in place particularly around the development of budgets at every level? Are members of council, including the mayor, being provided with all the information they require to make sound decisions and carry out their oversight obligations?

Council has been told by staff on different occasions that they cannot see all the background information for reports that they are being asked to vote on. This has been particularly the case regarding the LRT. In addition, multi-million dollar decisions such as the recent legal settlements related to LRT construction are being made behind closed doors and residents, who will have to foot the bill, are told we can know nothing about them.

It is curious at best that the mayor said, in reference to those LRT settlement agreements, that he was going to approach the federal and provincial governments to request that they pay a portion of the settlements and has now come out saying that the other two levels of government owe the city many millions of dollars because they have been underfunding the city for years. Is this an indication that he has either been unsuccessful with his request or has discovered that the feds and the province have funding agreements, which the city entered into voluntarily, that leave the responsibility for such costs with the city?

The city is in desperate straits and will only get worse as time goes on. The need for an intervention is urgent and the provincial government has the power to step in and correct the path the city is on. As Ottawa’s senior MPP, I implore you to ask Premier Doug Ford to appoint one or more people as quickly as possible to correct this situation. There are many people who have the skills, knowledge and familiarity with the city to do the job.

Thank you.

For You:

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MacLeod Notes Disgust With Sutcliffe ‘Fairness’ Campaign

Sutcliffe Blasted On X For Extra Funding Plea