Ottawa City Hall: A Government You Can’t Trust

Here’s what we need to fix Ottawa’s fiscal crisis … frank, open and inclusive conversation plus real numbers. You know, facts.

It’s doubtful we can get this from Ottawa City Hall. During the long and unfortunate reign of ex-mayor Jim Watson, everything was about politics, how to play an issue, deflection, lying and lying by omission. That culture continues. People think at city hall think that’s the right thing to do. But Watson was mayor for so long that it became ingrained in city affairs. It will take a generation to get rid of it.

And what did this culture bring us? A fiscal crisis. Oh sure, lots of big projects that don’t work or are misguided or are not given enough oversight. Great ideas, sometimes, with no follow-through. Wild spending. Uncontrolled debt.

All this wrapped in spin. Spin, spin, spin. The city communications department can’t write a grocery list without spin. And can we trust the numbers? Not a chance.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe throws out a questionable fiscal figure one day. Another the next. One thing certain, both of those figures can’t be correct.

How is all this profligate spending portrayed? It’s the federal and provincial governments’  fault.

But they aren’t in charge of the city budget (or fairy tale, if you will). The city is. This just in. Adults are responsible for adult budgets. Most people do it right. City hall can’t. We take care of our budgets we can live within our needs. City hall can’t. These people need to find a scapegoat for their incompetence. So they blame the federal and provincial governments. That shows you how foolish these people are. You don’t alienate one body that is the lifeblood of this community and another that can eliminate the City of Ottawa with the stroke of a pen. You don’t believe me? You’ll be waiting around for some time to attend another Nepean or Gloucester city council meeting.

At the City of Ottawa if things go wrong, it’s not our fault. It’s someone else’s. When did the feds and the province take over the city budget? Listen to Sutcliffe. It’s not my fault. The senior levels of government did it. That’s the tune of a certain Jim Watson.

The City of Ottawa is responsible for its own budget. The problem is, the city didn’t take good care of its own budget. When things go right at city hall, the municipality takes credit for it. When they go wrong, blame it on someone else.

The people of this city need real facts to make decisions. The city doesn’t release them or they are wildly inaccurate. How is it even remotely possible to justify that hundreds of millions of dollars of settlements with unknown parties should be kept secret?

That’s an outrage and yet another reason the people of this city don’t trust city hall. Simple equation. The municipality has been shown to lie repeatedly or withhold information.

The City of Ottawa can’t be trusted. If it released accurate figures, no one would trust them. That’s how little faith people have in the municipality.

You can’t have a government running a major city without legitimacy and trust. It’s an operation that can’t hold an adult conversation.

It is the duty of the province to oversee the municipalities. It’s time to do that in Ottawa.

Premier Doug Ford … where are you?

Ken Gray

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