LRT Was Never Going To The Barr, Kanata: WHOPPER WATCH

07/28/2023

whopper.watch .12.26

“Premier Doug Ford is still calling Ottawa’s LRT system a real disaster and is threatening to refuse LRT stage 3 expansion funding. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe also says he’s placing stage 3 LRT on hold until the chronic problems are fixed for stages 1 and 2.”
Freedom of Information Specialist Ken Rubin

Ken Rubin has been working behind the scenes for decades searching for government mistakes and then passing them on to the media.

Rubin was the hero nobody knew behind many so-called exclusives.

But the above is a whopper. The city did an environmental assessment for stage 3 to Barrhaven to help then-Barrhaven councillor Jan Harder. She was catching heat because the train wasn’t coming to her huge ward and an election was coming. Harder couldn’t get stage 3 to her ward and she was the head of planning committee. What?

So the EA was to show voters that stage 3 was coming … except it wasn’t. Same with LRT to Kanata. Wasn’t happening no matter how many times Kanata South Councillor Allan Hubley said Moodie Drive was in Kanata. What a fool. Basic geography tells you otherwise and he was unaware that the road was named after one of Nepean’s most illustrious citizens.

Call A Special Meeting Of Council On LRT

Why no rail? Because the city had no money. Projects like these go one-third to each level of government. Former mayor Jim Watson said the province and the federal government would have to pay for light rail to Barrhaven and Kanata.

That simply wasn’t about to happen. Ottawa would have had to have some skin in the game. Watson wanted rail to the outskirts, made it look as though it was coming through EAs but had no money. There were no real plans to take LRT to Kanata and Barrhaven. The feds knew, the province knew that (Doug Ford knew) and Watson knew.

No real plans are in place to build stage 3 to those suburbs. Won’t happen now … won’t happen in the foreseeable future.

So what Ford and Mayor Mark Sutcliffe were doing was saying no stage 3 until stage 1 works. Politics. Spin.

Let’s Be Honest About Light Rail: THE VOTER

We expect that from Ford but the mayor should know better. Sutcliffe is playing politics while LRT is falling apart.

Sutcliffe will do well if he remembers his roots in journalism and stops listening to former Watson staffers.

Ottawa deserves better.

You can’t cancel or delay something that definitely wasn’t about to occur for decades, if at all.

Ken Gray

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Tags: Barrhaven Kanata light rail Ottawa

Ron Benn says:
07/28/2023 at 10:37 AM
The art of the illusionist is to distract the audience from what is actually happening. A sudden loud sound to stage left, with some smoke and then a spotlight on the glitter in the air. Meanwhile the elephant is being escorted off the darkened stage right. This was part of the stage act known as Mayor Jim Watson. Mark Sutcliffe is being managed by the remnants of Jim Watson’s old stage crew. New boss, same as the old boss (with apologies to The Who).
So, Stage 3 was and remains an illusion. The real action is what is happening on Stage 1, and how does it not get replicated in the already well under way, but way behind schedule Stage 2. Premier Doug Ford has pointed this out. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s stage crew have now picked up the same script.
Reminder to all. The problems with Stage 1 LRT are not limited to the axle/bogie/wheel assemblies. Even when the wheels are capable of turning, there is the recurring dilemma of electricity not making it to the drive train, because of ice build up on the overhead wires. My point being that until city council takes its oversight responsibilities seriously, we are faced with watching a game of whack a mole.
When will we see a complete plan to deliver reliable service year round? Not another in a long list of piece meal partial (non) solutions that are endemic to the services that city hall attempts to deliver.
It is time for council to “up their game”. To take their statutory responsibilities far more seriously.
Pierre Page says:
07/28/2023 at 3:02 PM
If I were the Premier of Ontario, I’d be cautious of granting funds to the City of Ottawa for any project it “manages”. Sort of like approving funds for the Titanic shipyard owner.