The Councillors decided (in a 15-8 ) vote split that Cathy Curry should be appointed... but this is what I said to them before they decided NOT to select Marianne Wilkinson, an incumbent...
https://youtu.be/hdWCwmbxQpo. What I said at 4:27:56.... but here it is.
Mr. Mayor, councillors, fellow candidates, Mesdames et and messieurs…
Il me fait une grand plaisir à parler à tous ce matin.
Thank you for letting me present myself …. for Kanata North councillor.
Mike Patton reminded me that whether I was given 5 minutes or 500 minutes there would be no combination of words in the English language that would sway your vote in support of me or any other but former councillor Marianne Wilkinson. At 83 years old, she will be, no doubt, your inevitable choice.
But I have been afforded the time, and I will do my best, to convince you that that there is possibly a better alternative.
Ottawa, with its $4 Billion-dollar budget, faces problems that tower above potholes, garbage, minor variances and snow clearing – there is:
• the existential climate emergency threatening the planet,
• the desperate affordable housing emergency – there are 400,000 new Ottawans, forecast, and, rate payers face doubling property taxes in 23 years which could force some of them right out of their homes.
• there is the ongoing and deadly covid pandemic emergency
• People of colour the disenfranchised fear Ottawa’s systemically tyrannical police force. This is an emergency as one was legally pummeled to death by an officer using reinforced gloves.
for any that still use it,
• there is the embarrassingly problematic transit system emergency
This is all happening during a crisis of confidence in this very council which is divided on every single matter of consequence in a 15 to 8 rural - urban vote split.
Our democracy says that only an free, fair and public election gives Kanata North the voice it needs. Present council has already decided that an appointment will give council the kind of vote it needs and it needs to save money and not give a predictable upper hand to any incumbent.
So there is no doubt that Ms. Wilkinson is the logical choice … but what difference would it make to Kanata North if those contentious council votes were cast 15 to 9 or 16 to 8 ?
Ms. Wilkinson, now drawn out of retirement, is so well loved a former councillor, there is a foot bridge named for her! …Every ward community association has cast its endorsement for her! She surely has the special sauce required to give Kanata North the leadership needed to address the looming crises.
Would his worship ever dare mute Ms. Wilkinson? as he did Ms. Deans concerning the ill-fated petition for LRT judicial inquiry? Would her gravitas sway the decision to expand the urban boundary to Taggart friendly Tewin? With her experience Ms. Wilkinson has the financial chops to dissect the looming budget with the required acumen to garner more funding for Kanata North and deliver the goods for her community and business improvement associations.
… there remains the vote split.
Does Ms. Wilkinson add to the current impasse - or worse, exacerbate it?
If you maintain the status quo, the Kubaya moment will not happen! Rural issues are not urban issues. The politics of the situation are real and intractable. Anyway, the budget has almost no latitude, the city is stuck!
Leadership is not in short supply. The problem is there are too many contentious leaders.
So, I am asking council to take a different route and choose a set of helping hands instead.
None would represent Kanata North better than Ms. Wilkinson, of that there can be no doubt but I recommend you avoid even more vested interest on council at the present time and help the city move forward towards its goals.
His worship once joked that he dreaded the call from Ms. Wilkinson on ‘line one’. There would be no need to dread a call from pragmatic and helpful me. I propose to bring Kanata North concerns to council in a fair and unbiased manner for the good of Ottawa while remaining free of acrimony.
I have already provided you with my resume- I won’t repeat it here except to say my experience supports my preference to work with staff and council to HELP bring your plans to fruition and help you all make better decisions and do more with less by acting as a social pollinator on council, helping to find common ground.
I will help move the dial on that 15 – 8 split.
We need to increase competent public engagement in municipal politics. We need more than 38% of eligible voters going to the polls. We need to lift the veil of secrecy concocted in the current LRT PPP which is the very antithesis of democracy.
If you want people to engage and volunteer then I urge you to do the unpredictable, the seemingly illogical and unorthodox thing and appoint me as the temporary councillor for Kanata North for the next ten months.
Merçi.
