Refugee Blundering Falls On City Hall
“We have to make sure we keep politics out of this. These are staff decisions.”
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe on sprung structures and refugees
No.
It is impossible to emphasize more that decisions surrounding refugees and their housing are not staff decisions.
The people of Ottawa, represented by city council, is the highest point of responsibility at Ottawa City Hall. City council has no power outside of what the people of Ottawa give it. Council and the mayor represent the people of Ottawa from whence all power resides. This is a democracy.
Staff does not do anything without being given authority of council. What goes right at city hall is the responsibility of council. What goes wrong is the responsibility of council. When council gives authority to proceed on any measure, it does not abrogate responsibility. Council is responsible to the people of Ottawa and is the body that enables actions to go forward.
And this cannot be emphasized more. Staff does nothing without the authority of council. When council gives the authority to go forward with a measure, the 17,000-member staff does that at the bidding of council, not the city manager. And council is responsible on the behalf of the citizens of Ottawa to provide oversight of the staff actions which council and the mayor empowered them to do.
Staff does not operate independently. It operates under the authority of council which obtains its legitimacy through the people of Ottawa.
The ancient Greek word demokratia, from whence our form of government is derived, means demos or people and kratia means rule. The people rule and they delegate their authority to council which is responsible for staff. There is a reason for the words public servant. Public servants serve the public. No one else. Furthermore, council derives its authority from the people and the people can take that authority away at their choosing.
So ends our civics lesson for today.
Now let’s take this argument a step further. Politics is divorced from nothing. German novelist and social critic Thomas Mann said it best: “Everything is politics.”
Declaring war is politics. A family negotiating who takes out the garbage is politics. That’s how the world works.
So Sutcliffe cannot divorce how we will deal with refugees from politics. Council, not staff, is responsible for sprung structures. Moves made on sprung structures are not “staff decisions,” they are decisions made by staff at the behest of council and for which council is responsible. Decisions over which Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is responsible with the delegated authority to represent the people in these matters. Sutcliffe must do what the people want. He represents them and they can take away this power if they choose.
Staff operates at the behest of Sutcliffe and Ottawa City Council who derive their power from the people of Ottawa.
So the point of all this lecturing is that Sutcliffe looks silly hiding behind the term “staff decisions.” Staff moves are council’s and the mayor’s decisions. Council must approve those decision and take responsibility for those decisions.
Sutcliffe says these sprung structures moves are staff decisions. No they aren’t. Staff is not responsible to the people. Council is. Staff has no power without the people giving power to council … temporarily until the next election. And between elections, the city must make decisions in accordance with the people’s wishes, not council’s not staff’s.
From all appearances, the public doesn’t like sprung structures. They are likely not the correct solution … certainly not in January in the midst of Covid season.
You see, Sutcliffe got this whole issue wrong.
The mayor allowed staff to dictate where sprung structures would go. Dictate is not how democracy works. It’s how tin pot dictators in the bowels of the earth work. That’s inappropriate in the capital of our democracy.
What Sutcliffe should have done is got the people behind him. It’s not difficult. Good people, the majority of Ottawans, would respond to an impending influx of refugees from the United States, Latin America, Ukraine, possibly eastern Europe and the Middle East. They would open their arms and their homes to them. They might have to in the future.
And if the U.S. cannot defend its southern border from illegal immigration, Canada cannot possibly defend the longest undefended border in the world and a coastline that stretches across three oceans.
So from a practical and humanitarian point of view, refugees are coming … like it or not.
And what city hall should have done is got in front of this issue with its messaging early on. We have refugees coming and they are in dire straits. We are doing our best here at city hall and we need your support out of compassion for desperate people in desperate situations. We are in a position to do this in Ottawa but we can’t do it without your support and participation.
Say that and residents of Kanata and Barrhaven would be pulling fabric over the top of sprung structures rather than protesting these “Welcome Centres.”
Instead, city hall dictated these decision to the people and, shockingly, to the councillors most affected by these decisions. And city hall got what it deserved for botching this issue. Protests.
If you can get by this bungling and lack of leadership so typical of city hall, hopefully Ottawans can find their generous hearts to help people who desperately need their help.
Often people say that Ottawa should lead by example for the rest of Canada, though it rarely does.
Now is an opportunity to lead.
And that leadership will need to come from the people of Ottawa because it is not emanating from Ottawa City Hall.
Ken Gray
For You:
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Schools Should Not Be Divisive: MULVIHILL
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The location of sprung structures to accommodate asylum seekers and refugees was always going to be politically charged. The mayor’s office (i.e. the political managers) understood that “everyone” wants to help, just not in their neighbourhood. So they developed what passed for a strategy that delegated this hundred million dollar project/program to staff, to allow the mayor in particular, and council in general to deflect the response with “It was a staff decision.”
Except it didn’t work. The proverbial has hit the fan. The toothpaste is all over the counter. Front page on the domesticated Citizen. Week after week after week. It is obvious to anyone who pays even the slightest of attention that this file has been mishandled from day one.
Kudos to Councillors Hill and Lo. They tuned in. They poked and prodded and figured out that somewhere in Barrhaven was a distinct probability. They made their concerns public. In short, they did their jobs. They advocated for their constituents. No where in Barrhaven was the conclusion. Was that because their advocacy worked? Perhaps. But they will likely be boasting about how effective they were.
On to Councillors Devine and Hubley. Both claim they were not even remotely aware that sites in their wards were being considered. Asleep at the switch? Didn’t care because it was for the ‘greater good’? Their reasons are irrelevant to those who are directly affected. Both should pay the price at the polls … but likely won’t due to the apathy of those who have wiped their brows that the sprung structure(s) aren’t that close to them.
As for all the other members of council, rest assured that they are in full damage control on the messaging, whilst trying to hide their relief that they aren’t facing the wrath of their constituents.
Finally, what happens to the people behind the curtain, some of whom hold publicly paid positions, and the others who just have a direct line to the mayor and his sycophants? Likely nothing. Because the back room ‘boys’ seldom have to clean up the messes they orchestrated. At least not in public.
Unfortunately, city councilors are not experts on all matters. As a result they oftentimes consult with city staff, hoping to receive useful information in order to make informed decisions. If senior city staff have their own agenda then the city finds itself in a catch-22 situation. Someone needs to get this situation under control, presumably the mayor and councilors, who should be vetting the information they receive and not merely acting as parrots. How to resolve this situation? I hear that version 2.0 of “city hall thinking caps” will be available on the market before Christmas. Also, there’s currently a sale on “The Buck Stops Here” desktop displays. The city budget should have enough money in the contingency fund to purchase 25 of these little nick nacks.
The Council only has control over the City Manager although it does not seem that they agree to a set of outcomes to be achieved by her and her staff, nor do they evaluate her performance or control compensation linked to performance. Please correct if I am
Not only does the City get its marching orders from “the people”. The province especially under the current Ford government exerts tremendous control over the city. The Powerful Mayors act you will recall gave Mayors the ability to appoint their friends to the public service, destroying independent meritocracy as a cornerstone of democracy. Communities no longer have a say over development and they cannot appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal. Lots more evidence of the lack of transparency and accountability without which there is little incentive for excellence.