LRT Changes: Give Us Some Details: THE VOTER

Here’s my question. If (not when) the provincial officials take over all or part of the Ottawa LRT, will they do their due diligence on any or all of it before taking the keys away from the city?

Will they, for example, require audits of decisions made that contributed or might have contributed to the sorry state of affairs that OC Transpo finds itself in? May I suggest they would want to start with the procurement processes that led to the awarding of the Trillium Line contract to SNC Lavalin and its partners? Then they could go back and see if it might be appropriate to add some consequences to the LRT Inquiry.

While the city seems content to have many of the people who delivered the LRT screw-up continue to work on the next stages, perhaps the province has enough sense to realize it would be a good thing to distance themselves from that crew. It might be one thing if, post-inquiry, those individuals had distinguished themselves by producing a safe, reliable and functioning train system within budget and on-time with no legal actions along the way. Since that isn’t what happened, someone needs to look at the connection between the competence of those individuals and the failed product they delivered then and continue to deliver now.

Will the province look at and seriously consider using the plans for the LRT to start a good bonfire and go back to the drawing board with some people who know what they’re doing to determine what can be kept and what’s garbage with the LRT? Will they include in that process an examination of any mitigation that’s been implemented so far, such as slowing the trains in certain locations, and determine if that’s the long-term solution or if there’s a better one?

And, of course, will they look at senior management, including general manager Renee Amilcar and her supervisor city manager Wendy Stephanson, to determine if they are qualified and competent for the positions they hold in relation to OC Transpo? Will they, as the saying goes, run them out of town on a rail if they are found not to be able to carry out their current jobs?

Or will the province just take on the existing LRT with all its problems and share them with taxpayers all across the province?

The Voter is a respected community activist and long-time Bulldog commenter who prefers to keep her identity private.

For You:

That One Missing Trillium Line Audit From AG

LRT: Better Late Than Never

Watson’s On-Time, On-Budget … Kinda: CRERAR

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