TRAFFIC CAMERAS: When Will Ford Act?

If you were wondering if the traffic-safety program was a cash grab, well it looks very much like it is.

That said, it is also a very effective way of keeping road speeds down. But the actions surrounding the revenue from that initiative are an abomination.

The program is collecting so much money that city staff has diverted it from the Ottawa City Council-directed road-safety program to general revenues and the police. If that’s not a cash-grab, who knows what is.

That’s not good. Staff is supposed to work for the public through city council, not fly in the face of specific directions from Ottawa’s elected officials. And if it is doing this in public, what else is it doing?

And what is the penalty for staff flouting directions from council? Our public servants (get that? public servants) go to council, after the fact, to get permission from council to do what staff was not supposed to do. And the auditor general thinks this is a good idea.

TRAFFIC CAMERAS: A Big Win For City Staff

So staff flies in the face of the will of a democratically elected body yet gets to continue doing what was wrong. And what of the money misallocated to the police and general revenue that has been collected in the past, is being collected now and will continue to be collected until staff gets permission from council to do what it was not supposed to do?

A council with backbone would censure city staff and deal with the people responsible for this very serious misconduct.

Ottawa City Council stands for the people of Ottawa and now is the time to take a stand against city staff usurping its power and, accordingly, the power of the citizens of this democratic community … or what is supposed to be a democracy. The mistake here is fundamental to the foundations of representative government.

And now to Doug Ford.

What does it take for Ontario’s premier to acknowledge that Ottawa City Hall is in crisis and temporarily needs a commissioner and board to run and fix it. Was the provincial judicial inquiry into the light-rail project not enough? Are the serious facts coming out of the special coroner’s inquiry into the Westboro bus crash not enough? Is the misallocation by staff of council-directed funds from traffic cameras for road safety to general revenue and the police not enough?

How much more anti-democratic action at Ottawa City Hall can Ford stomach?

And when will city council take charge of city hall?

Ken Gray

Journalist Ken Gray has worked at five major Canadian newspapers. He is an educator, broadcaster and at present is the editor and founder of the 16-year-old pioneering internet publication, The Bulldog.

For You:

Province Must Step In To End City Hall Rot

City Hall Is Out Of Control: THE VOTER

Your Job Is Oversight, Ariel Troster: WHOPPER WATCH

‘I’ll Get Right On This:’ TRAFFIC CAMERAS

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