Adam: Ottawa's mayoral candidates pave the way for a campaign of ideas

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Elections are supposed to be about issues that matter to people, and that’s what we hope will happen in the municipal campaign. It’s why mayoral candidate Bob Chiarelli’s recent policy statements, including a tax freeze and suspension of the $330 million Lansdowne redevelopment project are such a welcome development. It sets the stage for a campaign of ideas all of us want.

How Chiarelli is going to freeze taxes in the face of high inflation and other challenges facing the city remains unclear. He obviously has more explaining to do. But what’s important for now is that he has put significant issues on the table for us to debate and dissect, and then decide what’s best for the city. This is what we should expect, indeed, demand from all candidates, including rivals Mark Sutcliffe and Catherine McKenney.  

If elected, Chiarelli says he’ll freeze taxes, fees and discretionary spending in his first year. He will also suspend the $1 billion purchase of electric buses, defer Lansdowne 2.0 and halt new major road projects. It’s quite a task he has set himself given the city’s poor finances, but Chiarelli says a pause is necessary to get a true picture of city’s financial health before any serious planning can be done.

So, in his first 100 days he’ll ask for a root and branch review of the city’s finances by outside experts to come up with the savings needed to freeze taxes. “The mandate will be to find efficiencies that will not impact core services and get us through the first year while we put together a solid strategic plan,” he says. 

The basic idea of getting city finances in order before big decisions are made is sound, and the other candidates may well be advised to follow suit before anyone starts throwing money at problems.

Of course, when politicians talk about finding savings or efficiencies, they really mean cuts. You can’t do something for nothing because there is always a price to pay. Chiarelli says he doesn’t like the word “cuts,” but that’s really what’s going to happen if he is going to absorb rising costs and still freeze taxes. We can only hope the cure is not worse than the disease.  

While all the attention is on the tax freeze, Chiarelli’s plan to suspend the controversial Lansdowne 2.0 is significant. The main criticism against the redevelopment, beyond whether or not it is good business for the city, is that Ottawa residents were given no chance to have a say on the second phase of the redevelopment. City council approved its key elements with public consultations to come after the fact.

Now, with Chiarelli’s plan, Ottawa residents have a chance to debate the redevelopment, and we’ll see if it has public support. Let’s not forget however, that there would be a price to pay for delaying the project. City brass would definitely not be happy with a delay, and it would be interesting to see if the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group will hang around for a year. Delaying the purchase of electric buses for OC Transpo could be contentious. The purchase is part of the city’s plan to fight climate change, and there will be concern that a delay would undermine the city’s commitment. 

Chiarelli’s plan raises a lot of questions and he will have to show us how he can deliver – just as we expect other candidates to do with their plans. But all that will be part of the debate the city would have in the coming weeks.  

Sutcliffe says he would offer “zero-based budgeting,” including line-by-line spending review, and McKenney has promised “smart spending.”  But we expect both to go beyond words and flesh out their plans in the weeks ahead. What Chiarelli has done by opening the door to a campaign of ideas is good for local democracy. Now, no candidate can get away with platitudes, and Ottawa voters have a chance to compare the plans of three evenly-matched candidates and make their choice.  

Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa journalist and commentator. Reach him at nylamiles48@gmail.com