Replace Darouze With Doug Thompson: CRERAR

The Ontario provincial election just concluded with city councilor George Darouze now MPP for Carleton.

As the next municipal election is 17 months distant, the seat must be filled as quickly as possible so residents of Osgoode ward are represented at Ottawa City Hall. How best to resolve this issue in the quickest, most-efficient and cost-effective manner?

Darouze could stay as city councilor while working as MPP until a replacement can be found. This is not a realistic option because he’ll have enough on his plate learning his new job. Scratch this plan.

Darouze could appoint a successor although the appointee’s credentials would have to be vetted to assure no political or other favours are being granted. Probably not the best plan. Again, scratch.

The results of the most recent municipal election could be reviewed to see if a potential solution lies there.

In 2022 the final results for Osgoode show Darouze winning with 4,353 votes with Doug Thompson finishing second at 4,115 votes. This is a difference of 238 votes, or a “split” of 120 votes (i.e. if 120 of those who voted for Darouze chose Thompson instead, Thompson would have won the seat. The next candidate finished with 1,541 votes.)

At present, city council has a mayor with no prior political experience and many new councilors serving their first or second term. With 30 years experience in politics, Thompson could slip into the role on a temporary basis and mentor the current councilors who have little experience.

Another option is to hold a byelection. The time required to organize a byelection, call for candidates, and vote, at a total cost to the city of roughly $500,000 (which is considerable based on the current state of the city’s finances), would eat into the time remaining before the next municipal election in 2026. While all these activities are taking place, Osgoode residents would still not be represented by a local resident at the council table.

Provincial law provides council two options: hold a byelection or appoint someone to the seat until the next election.

In the past, council chose to replace Kanata North councillor Jenna Sudds after she won a federal seat in 2021. However, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe stated that this time around, a byelection was the more democratic choice. He was quoted as saying “I think the default should always be a byelection, unless there’s a good reason for there to be an appointment, if it’s three months or six months before the next election, something like that..” He continued “In this case I think it’s far enough from the next election that the residents of Osgoode deserve to have a voice in the decision.”

City clerk Caitlin Salter MacDonald, has been tasked with returning later this month with a report laying out a plan for a byelection which will likely take place in June. In the meantime councillors Catherine Kitts (four years experience on council) and David Brown (first elected to city council in 2022) will take over responsibility for the residents of Osgoode (who, it seems, have no voice in the decision) while the seat remains vacant. Also of note is the fact the city clerk requires 75 to 105 days to organize an election while Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently executed a provincial election in just more than a month.

The current situation should be carefully reviewed. In light of the most recent election results, the fact that Thompson served as mayor of Osgoode Township and councilor of Osgoode for more than 30 years combined, remains active in the various villages within the ward, and the cost of a by-election, it seems the city would benefit from appointing him to temporarily fill the empty seat on council.

Has anyone asked if he’d be interested?

Howard Crerar is a project manager and has worked in the software industry for three decades.

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