City Council Owes Ryan Perrault An Apology
Emergency and protective services general manager Ryan Perrault has almost nothing to be “extremely sorry” about when it comes to shooting off fireworks for five minutes after the city bylaw allows.
Whoopdy doo.
Five minutes? Really?
Perrault could have carted away the fireworks left over from the storm-cancelled Canada Day fete and taken the chance of someone being hurt by them in transport. But he chose the safe route to go. Explode them as the huge crowd from Bluesfest left LeBreton Flats.
The general manager didn’t want to inform the public for fear of hundreds of thousands of people converging on the flats along with the tens of thousands of people leaving Bluesfest. That many people? Somebody could have been hurt and how do you get an ambulance through that size of crowd? Perrault knows that because he’s the emergency and protective services general manager. Most people don’t give that a second thought … but he, rightly, does.
So the public had to suffer through five minutes of fireworks past the 11 p.m. sound curfew. We hope everyone is all right. No word of injuries from the momentary loud noises. Good grief.
Unfortunately, some very sensitive people, 40 or so, were offended by the five minutes of noise past curfew. This, in turn, offended councillors who are (over)sensitive to almost anything that might cost them votes in an election year.
So Perrault was trotted out to say he was “extremely sorry” for doing the right thing. Sure maybe Perrault should have told the councillors that big, bad noises were going to be made from the fireworks but that’s about all.
The people who should be “extremely sorry” are the councillors who humiliated a man for doing the right thing.
That’s a dirty method of making political hay over next to nothing. Council owes Perrault an apology, not the other way around.
Ken Gray
More Ottawa News:
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Biggest Fireworks Bang Came From Councillors
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Forty or so people? Are you surprised at city council, the group that would rather cater to the minority than serve the greater good? The smart residents of the area likely took the opportunity to step outside and enjoy the show while the curmudgeons stayed inside and stewed. To Mr. Perrault, good thinking. To the councillors lacking in community spirit, 4Q.