Mayor’s AG-Tewin Argument Baffles: WHOPPER WATCH
“I’m not interested in revisiting past decisions. I’m interested in building more homes. If the Ontario auditor general sees a reason to look into that, then they’ll do so. They can do that at their own accord. That’s how the Ontario auditor general functions, not at the direction of Ottawa city council.”
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe responding to a motion to ask the Ontario AG to probe the Tewin project
Why not?
His Worship has rather a major league non-sequitur there.
What does building homes have to do with the Ontario AG looking into the Tewin approval? Sutcliffe can build all the homes he wants. The AG won’t stop him from doing that. The only person keeping the mayor from building more homes would be the mayor and it’s doubtful he’ll be doing that.
Furthermore, the Ontario AG won’t be stopping building Ottawa homes, not even homes the mayor wants to build. Frankly, this notice of motion from Capital Councillor Shawn Menard won’t stop home-building. That’s not the point. The point is that given all that has gone down in the Toronto area and Ottawa, Menard thinks it might be wise to probe the Tewin project. Nothing wrong with that.
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And maybe Sutcliffe isn’t interested in revisiting past decisions but this isn’t very far into the past. Menard is not suggesting probing the decision by Col. John By to not use the LeBreton lands to build the Rideau Canal. No this was late in the term of former mayor Jim Watson, Sutcliffe’s political mentor, who is quite a bit younger than Col. By and in much better shape.
Is Sutcliffe worried about what an independent auditor might find in the Tewin project? What’s the big deal? The current mayor didn’t make the Tewin decision. Or could it be cost? The provincial AG isn’t on the city’s payroll.
Anyway, a probe of the Tewin decision has nothing to do with building homes. Build all the homes you want. The city has given developers carte blanche to build most anything anywhere. We await turning the Peace Tower into condos.
So Sutcliffe could have said something like, “I don’t want to spend time discussing the cost of fish in Newfoundland. I want to concentrate on building homes in Ottawa.”
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Done, Your Worship. It’s not an either-or. Getting the Ontario AG to probe Tewin is a whole different kettle of fish than building homes.
Want to build homes? Build homes. Fill your boots.
But having the provincial AG probe Tewin isn’t a bad idea. And while that is unfolding, you can build homes.
Feel free.
Ken Gray
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SO our Mayor is not interested in responsible government.
Well, quell surprise.
A very strange comment by the mayor. Most people would want to know if there was something amiss in the process by which the Tewin lands became part of the urban area. If there was any skulduggery involved, surely it’s better to find out now rather than at some point in the future when the City and the Tewin proponents are deep in the building approval process.
When, not if, any issues come to light, won’t it be a lot more difficult A) the further they are along the road and B) if you were given an opportunity to find out there were problems and refused to take it? We know there has been some inappropriate activity in the Minister’s office which has led to the resignation of his top aide and his own departure from Cabinet, however reluctantly. I don’t think any of us are so foolish as to think that this was an isolated incident. It’s just the one where they got caught.
We also know that the province had its fingers in the design of the new map of the city’s urban area which included the addition of the Tewin lands. We need to be certain that there was no monkey business in the approvals. Particularly when we’ve just seen how a mayor, senior staff and some councillors played fast and loose with the development of the LRT. And especially when the players that approved Tewin are the same ones who withheld information and outright lied to us and to Council on the LRT file.
Sutcliffe needs to understand that public’s faith in the goings-on of the previous Council whose decisions he doesn’t want to revisit is no longer automatic. It’s easy to say that if there’s anything amiss, it’s the other guys’ fault but, if you did nothing to correct it or even question it, that’s on you. I wonder more and more if he is going to like the look of pie in his face because it’s coming.
Good on Menard for bring this forward to Council. Hopefully, there will be enough people around the table who still know what integrity is that the motion passes. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be holding my breath for that to happen. It would be nice if they proved me wrong.