Alayne McGregor
Regardless of who wins on October 24, Ottawa City Hall will change, with a new mayor and more than half of city council new to City Hall.
How well that council operates, how transparent it is, and how much citizens’ voices are heard – a lot of that will depend on who is elected as mayor. In fact, how they promise to make decisions may be as important than what’s in their platform.
Of all the candidates, Catherine McKenney has addressed this most directly. Last month, they released a series of proposals to make City Hall more transparent and to give more voice to citizens.
“I will ensure that local voices are heard on the issues they care about. When I’m mayor, decisions at City Hall will be made out in the open.”
They said they will ensure that the public has “meaningful input throughout major City projects, including through equitable consultation processes.”
The current multi-billion-dollar city budget is only fully understood by about four or five people, they said. “A budget under my mayoralty would be clearer.”
Based on their experience working on the budget as both a councillor and as city staff, McKenney said “the city budget is intentionally kept opaque and difficult, so we all have a hard time understanding it. When city finances are made impossible to navigate, it’s easier to give $3M in tax breaks to Porsche dealers.”
As mayor, they said citizens would have a chance to have the budget reflect their budget priorities, without being experts in municipal affairs. Citizens should have plenty of time to tell the city what to focus on before the budget is finalized.
Currently, the city budget is written in the summer, months before it is shown to the public. Instead, they promised to start budget consultations earlier to allow for meaningful consultation and changes.
They also proposed more transparency in city finances, including using fiscal anchors – financial constraints to ensure fiscal sustainability – for managing property tax increases and city debt.
Representing the entire city
McKenney also promised to balance representation (in terms of geography and gender) on council committees and boards, so that they are representative of all of Ottawa and make better decisions.
“When you have a Planning Committee that doesn’t include councillors that represent your entire city, decisions are made that are not in the best interest of the city as a whole.”
They also said they would look at increasing the number of citizen advisory committees, which were severely cut back in 2012. “It’s a way of making City Hall more transparent, and of tapping into the expertise we know is in our communities.”
And Ottawa City Hall itself would change – McKenney undertook to remove the security barriers introduced a few years ago that required everyone wanting to watch city council in person to go through invasive security checks.
“I’ve never been in favour of them. City Hall has got to be accessible to people. We shouldn’t have to go through locked gates to get into our city council chambers.”
They also proposed a “fair wage” policy for the city, that would ensure that city contracts went to firms which offered fair wages and safe working conditions.
“Bidders for City contracts will have to compete on the quality of work they can do, rather than how low they can push down costs at the expense of workers.”
Donor list released
More immediately, McKenney released their first list of those donating more than $100 to their campaign this week, with another list expected before the election “because you deserve to know who is funding my campaign before you head to the polls.” They had already promised not accept donations from developers (as did Mark Sutcliffe).
“Over the course of my career, I have seen the influence of money creep into City Hall, and affect long-lasting decisions like the LRT,” they said.
Brandon Bay is the only other mayoral candidate to release their list of donors that The BUZZ is aware of. Campaigns do have to release lists of donations over $100 months after the election.
Other candidates
Bob Chiarelli called for a governance review of the NCC on his website, but did not address city governance.
Nour Kadri called for an “open, citizen-centered approach to good governance … and equity for underserved communities.”
Other candidates have not addressed governance issues on their websites.