Councillors: No Vision? No Re-Election: BENN
What is your vision for Ottawa?
A question that every candidate for mayor should respond to as they file their election papers. Think of it as a thousand-word essay on “what I will accomplish in the next four years”. Think of it as a way of communicating a tangible set of objectives to convince the voters that they should trust you with the chains of office.
Without setting the exact parameters of the answer, I would hope to hear about the following topics. Extra points for clarity of thought. Setting out meaningful metrics. Not too worried about the accuracy of costing, but very much the sources of funding.
Public transit: What will the LRT reliability level be? How will it be achieved? Same question for the buses that feed riders to the LRT stations. Ridership levels, relative to prior to the pandemic, adjusted for the increase in population. What measures will the city undertake to restore a degree of confidence that public transit will be a reliable way of travelling within the city?
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Congestion: Related in part to the public transit question, but different parameters. How will the city reduce travel time? Across the city? Within major communities?
Infrastructure: How will the city fund the approximately $11-billion shortfall in infrastructure funding? Sources of funds, with a degree of precision, please.
Infrastructure (again): Will the city upgrade existing infrastructure before high density developments add to the load on what are known to be inadequate capacity lines? Tie it back to the sources of funds.
Infrastructure (again): How will the city catch up on what is acknowledged as a major backlog on medium level or worse infrastructure maintenance. Water mains. Sanitary sewers. Storm sewers. Road repairs.
Social housing: How will the city address the lack of sufficient affordable housing? City owned versus private owned with subsidy versus privately owned without subsidies? What sources of funding will the city access to accomplish these goals?
Financial position: How much accumulated debt should the city have? What percentage of the operating budget will the annual debt service (interest and principal repayments) be?
Culture: What will you do to ensure that city staff table better quality reports to council, so that councillors can make informed decisions? Better as in objective in approach, complete in analysis, without ignoring evidence that is unfavourable to the recommendation. Better as in a full description of the objectives, the decision criteria, and why those criteria matter. Better as in a complete description of the alternatives that were considered, and why they were less favouorable than the recommended action. Better as in boiler plate process descriptions being relegated to an appendix.
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Culture (again): What will you do to ensure that staff properly consult with other members of their departments, to better coordinate projects? What will you do to ensure that staff properly consult with other departments, to ensure that an optimal decision is made. Optimal to the city, not to just to the department.
Culture (once again): What will you do to attract highly qualified managers to Ottawa?
If a candidate for mayor cannot articulate a clear vision, and a path to achieving that vision, then why are they running for office?
Ron Benn, a finance executive, has been a member of the Centrepointe Community Association for the better part of three decades.
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And “How do you plan to communicate plans, progress, and results in a timely and digestible manner to city residents? Please provide frequency of communication and location.” Bearing in mind this article contains roughly 500 words, you may need to allow candidates 2,000 words.