‘IT’S NOT MY FAULT!’ City Says: BENN
The initial Confederation Line funding plan of one-third from each of the federal, provincial and municipal governments was based on a premature, faulty ‘budget’ of $1.8 billion, prepared by or on behalf of then mayor Jim Watson.
He was a man in a hurry. He wanted to show that he could get things done.
The problem was that the technical wizards, no matter how much they tried, could not design a 12-kilometre, 13-station LRT using a highly modified just-for-Ottawa trainset for $1.8 billion. It would take (at least) $2.1 billion. But the ink on the paper work with the provincial and federal government funding agreements was already dry. The $300 million difference was added to the city’s tab. So too are all the incremental costs in what Watson oft referred to as an “iron-clad, fixed-price” contract.
A not-so-minor aside is that in order to “save costs” the city decided that it would be responsible for the very challenging task of overseeing the integration of the various systems being provided by multiple parties. A city that lacked the in-house technical expertise and experience to perform such a task.
To summarize, at the heart of the city’s Stage 1 LRT financial woes is a back-of-a-napkin budget prepared without proper due diligence, rushed through to meet an artificial timeline, with the city taking on the oversight of the critical systems integration. Does this sound like a recipe for failure?
Not one willing to learn from his mistakes, Watson stage managed the Stage 2 and the Trillium Line expansion using the same failed pattern.
And here we sit today … with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe blaming the provincial and federal governments for not rescuing the city from its own, self-inflicted mistakes.
Ron Benn, a finance executive, has been a member of the Centrepointe Community Association for the better part of three decades.
For You:
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Mayor Wile E Coyote, Splat: PATTON
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– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
Good article
But if it sells in Peoria …
Sutcliffe is counting on enough people being unaware of all the facts that he can give them a carefully-curated version of the LRT history. When they accept that, it’s easy enough to elaborate on it, truthfully or otherwise, to sell them a bill of goods as he is currently doing.
It also allows him to construct a scenario that allows him to leave out the inconvenient facts such as Tewin; Lansdowne; LRT settlements; cost overruns; etc.; etc. so he can control and manipulate the information people have to base any decisions on.
You only have to fool enough of the people enough of the time to be able to advance your agenda and have them swallow it. Let’s hope there are enough people who see behind the curtain and can expose ‘The Great and Powerful Sutcliffe’ for what he is.
Seems Carleton U’s newspaper isn’t the only Charlatan in town.
Voter, your comment brought to mind the comments from then former PM Pierre Trudeau to the effect of if a lie is told often enough and not refuted equally as often it can become the truth.
PM Trudeau 1st made it clear that the so called “Night of the Long Knives” never happened. His remarks were made during the lead up to the 1995 referendum on Quebec independence. For ease of reference for some Bulldog readers, then Quebec Premier Levesque frequently told the story of how he had a deal on amendments to the Constitution with other premiers (Davis/Ontario and Lougheed/Alberta if my memory serves me correctly). However, before the night was over they reneged. Thus the “Night of the Long Knives”.
Bottom line. We need to keep reminding everyone, including Mr. Denley, that history should not be rewritten to meet the city’s current needs/wants.
Yes, Ron.
I hope his greatness Mr. Denley made an honest mistake.
cheers
kgray