City Staffers, Pols Practise Watson Avoidance
This from a municipal observer who witnessed the visit to Ottawa City Hall from the former Great Helmsman Jim Watson to the epicentre of local governance.
Watson attended a mayor’s breakfast there, causing a bit of a stir:
“Watson went up to councillor row with Kanata North ward’s Cathy Curry, after the breakfast yesterday. I expected him to do the rounds, but he didn’t. I suspect he knew he wouldn’t get a great reception. Councillors and assistants who saw him were trying to avoid him rather than trying to get close.”
Watson is not getting it. He is trying to re-enter public life too early after the catastrophic provincial LRT inquiry.
Residents haven’t forgotten that report … particularly the ones who have been stranded on the train.
Ken Gray
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Who invited JIM or was it an open free breakfast to all who knew. Where were the homeless?and who PAID for this feast?
Bruce,
It’s a monthly event put on by the Ottawa Board of Trade and attendees or, in many cases, their businesses, pay to attend. It’s seen as a good networking opportunity which it certainly can be. City staff and councillors are often in attendance and that five-minute chat usually doesn’t appear on the Lobbyists’ register reports. The tickets are $50 for members and $75 for others (tax-deductible, of course). If you want to check it out, the one at the end of March features none other than Doug Ford. It’s a safe bet that Jim will give that one a miss.
My question is what Cathy Curry is doing hanging around so publicly with Watson. She and Eli El-Chantiry were at a Sens game recently with Watson. She probably has him to thank for her job since he backed her to fill the Kanata North seat replacing Jenna Sudds. He did this to keep his nemesis, former councillor and Kanata mayor Marianne Wilkinson, away from City Hall. As well as being a knowledgeable and hard-working representative of her community and the city at large, Marianne knows where too many of his skeletons are buried and would ask the hard questions and he can’t have that.
Someone should tell Councillor Curry that his day is done and she should disentangle herself from a sunken ship.
Ottawa Board of Trade (OBOT) is suppose to help small businesses but is more political leaning and is run like another government department.