The Pitchfork

2011-12-10T13:29:00.002-05:00

War On The Home Front

'Tis the season for Christmas concerts -- except in certain public schools in the Ottawa area where the political correctness brigade has put an end to another Canadian cultural tradition enjoyed by generations of kids and their parents. Concerts can be held in February but not too close to Valentine's Day -- St. Valentine, after all, was a Christian, and the political correctness brigade has declared open season on anything which remotely smacks of Christianity.
In Kingston, school bus drivers have been warned off displaying any Christmas decoration on their vehicles -- on penalty of death -- or the Canadian equivalent -- loss of job. They better not be wearing any elf hats, reindeer antlers or Rudolph noses either !
Apparently disciples of political correctness go into a slavering frenzy of anger when they spot a Christmas wreath wired to the grille of a school bus. The sight of a kid dressed in dad's bathrobe, gotten up as one of the Three Wise Men, causes disciples of political correctness to grit their teeth while their eyes bulge and the veins in their heads pop out. It's a wonder more of them do not succumb to apoplexy which would, in Citizen Ellie's opinion, be a good thing.
The war on Christmas seems to have heated up this year. Sadly, not enough of us are standing up to the political correctness bullies.
That's right. The disciples of political correctness are the worst bullies in our society today. Schoolyard bullies (about whom Premier Dad is having fits) are pikers compared to the adults who get themselves elected to school boards and other official bodies in order to shove their ideas down our collective throats -- whether we agree or not. And those of us who disagree do so at our peril because there are Human Rights Commissions out there just waiting to slap us into submission as journalists Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn learned -- but they fought back. Statues should be erected to honor these guys. They are heroes for standing up to the bullies !!
It's not just Christmas that's under attack. The political correctness brigade moved against Halloween this year. Kids can wear orange and black clothing, but no costumes please. Remembrance Day is in their sights -- the cowards on both the Ottawa Catholic and Public School Boards gave in this year, using the guns are forbidden in schools policy as an excuse to cancel a program which brought veterans and students together. Citizen Ellie has no problem with the policy -- of course guns should be forbidden in schools. There are a lot of things which should be forbidden in schools but where's the common sense when it comes to firearms which have been disabled, LAVs and tanks which are out of service and old jeeps ? Another piece of Cnadian history and culture flushed down the drain.
Wonder if Sir Robert Borden ever thought this would happen in his Canada as he wrapped his hands around Lord Kitchener's throat and shook the former supreme commander when the two met up after the armistice --The Canadian PM was incensed at supreme commander Kitchener's waste of colonial manpower in the trenches of France. Bet they don't teach that in schools today. Not important. Social engineering is where it's at !
Yes, there are a lot of things which should be forbidden in schools. Premier Dad's new sex-ed curriculum would be a good place to start. Think about it. Why on earth should Grade Two kids be taught how to put condoms on sex toys ? What purpose does this serve ? Why is time which should be spent teaching kids how to read, write, spell and count wasted on this nonsense ? Because the political correctness brigade is promoting it.
Citizen Ellie feels like waging war against school taxes. Obviously there are far too many school board members and school administrators who have too little to do. So to justify their fat salares, pension and benefit plans they find ways to make it look like they're working full tilt !
Social engineering has replaced teaching. That's why those of us who wrote the provincial exams and graduated from Grade 13 back in the 1950s received an education the equivalent of what a BA gets today after four years at university ! And somehow we managed to succeed in life without having learned how to put condoms on sex toys in school.

New ;post soon.

2011-11-15T13:01:00.002-05:00

Political Movement Or Hobo Jungle ?

Is the "Occupy Ottawa" camp currently situated in Ottawa's Confederation Park a political movement/demonstration or simply a hobo jungle ?
Citizen Ellie is of the opinion that it's the latter.
While the camp may have begun with the best of purposes, it is more and more evident that it has become nothing more than a haven for people who want to break laws; a haven for the intoxicated and the addicted; a haven for those who want to prey on the weakest in our society.
There have been reports of physical and sexual assaults, thefts and other activities which fall within the purview of the Criminal Code. Sanitary facilities are minimal and there is reason to be concerned about the risk of disease.
Similar camps in Halifax and London, Ontario have been closed down. The squatters in Toronto have been given until midnight tonight to move on. They've been told to remove themselves from Olympic Plaza in Calgary. And similar action is expected in Vancouver. In New York City, where the "Occupy Wall Street" movement started, the camp in Zucotti Park has been closed. Protesters may return during the day but they will not be allowed to set up tents and camp out.
So what's happening in Ottawa ?
You could have knocked Citizen Ellie over with a feather last week. Wonder of wonders ! A response from Mayor Jim within 24 hours of her sending him an e-mail regarding Occupy Ottawa. Clearly there's a new approach being taken at City Hall in regard to communication with taxpayers.
Mayor Jim explained that Confederation Park is National Capital Commission (NCC) property and it would be up to the NCC to ask the Ottawa Police to step in and clear the park. He suggested that Citizen Ellie contact the local MPs who currently occupy government benches. So e-mails went off to John Baird, Gordon O'Connor etc. etc.
The feds passed the buck back to the city. They say the Occupy Ottawa camp is a "demonstration" and because Ottawa Police are responsible when demonstrations occur it's their job to take the appropriate action.
Mayor Jim's position is correct. The "Occupy Ottawa" camp is not a demonstration in any sense of the word. Ottawa Police can't just walk in without being invited. So citizens of Ottawa who are sick and tired of the hobo jungle and its scofflaw denizens will have to wait until some high hiedin at the NCC decides enough is enough.
Ottawa ratepayers can take comfort in the fact that they will not be alone when it comes to picking up the tab for the cleanup and repair which Confederation Park will require once the hobo jungle is gone. The burden will be shared with taxpayers across the country.
Citizen Ellie has a couple of questions about this whole "occupy" movement in Canada, and especially in Ontario. In the past 12 months Ontarians have had three opportunities to go to the polls and cast ballots in elections at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. Voter turnout on all three occasions was dismal. So where were all these protesters on election day ? Too drunk or drugged to make it to the polls ? If the desire for revolution is as strong as those squatting in the parks (and their big labor backers) would have us believe, how come McGuinty in Ontario and Harper at the federal level weren't summarily turfed out of office ? How come Ottawa ratepayers put the boot to the socialists who controlled council ?
And how come these protesters can only talk about cororate greed as if corporate greed is the root of all evil ? Their only solution is to further tax the rich. In Canada the top tax rate is already 29 per cent. Keep jacking it up and the few really rich in this country will move to one of the many tax havens available around the world. Why aren't they talking about entitlements ? Why aren't they talking about waste and government programs which have outlived their usefulness ? Could it be because they're all swilling at the entitlement trough and their big labor backers fear their membership will sharply decline when governments at all levels start implementing much-needed austerity measures ?

New posts soon.

2011-09-06T08:11:00.002-04:00

Hide And Seek.......

RICE POINT, PEI: The invisible woman remains invisible.

Social Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur has declined an invitation from the Municipal Taxpayer Advocacy Group to attend the Hydro and Municipal Affairs debate the group is hosting on September 12 from 5.00 to 8.30 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall.

One would think the minister responsible for welfare in Ontario would be prepared to participate in a public forum where welfare will be one of the topics under discussion given that there's a provincial election on the horizon. What could possibly bemore important than the chance to explain what's happening with welfare reform (or the lack of it) in the province.

Perhaps Mme. Meilleur's decision not to present herself at this forum has to do with the fact it has a highly Anglophone tinge to it -- what with Steve Madely and Nick Van Der Graft from CFRA being involved and the other sitting provincial government members and the candidates opposing them who are participating in the event may very well be bilingual, but they are Anglophones or Allophones just the same.

Mme. Meilleur might do well to review the latest demographic figures for her riding of Ottawa-Vanier which can be found by accessing Statistics Canada's web site. She's in for a surprise.

It might also behoove her to instruct her constituency office staff regarding the boundaries of her riding and what areas of the city are included in Ottawa-Vanier. It ain't just Vanier, kids.

A friend of Citizen Ellie's who resides in New Edinburgh recently had occasion to call Mme. Meilleur's constituency office, seeking assisstance with a problem. Citizen Ellie's friend was repeatedly told that they could not help as New Edinburgh did not lie within Ottawa-Vanier's boundaries. After insisting that New Edinbugh did indeed lie within Ottawa-Vanier's boundaries, the staffer told Citizen Ellie's friend that she would have to look into the matter and call back. A somewhat chastened Meilleur staffer indeed called back and admitted error.

The only knowledge of Mme. Meilleur's existence posessed by many Ottawa-Vanier residents is the fact a street in the riding has been named after her. What has she done to receive this honor ? Inquiring minds want to know.

The provincial election looms. Will Mme. Meilleur carry the Liberal banner yet another time ? Again, inquiring minds want to know. If so, does she think that just having her name on the ballot will be enough ? Or the old line, "Vote for me because I'm French" (used by Liberal candidates throughout the years) will cinch it for her ? Hope she's ready for four years in opposition. That's where many of her constituents fervently hope she ends up -- across the floor where she'll truly be invisible.

Roads....

Citizen Ellie has frequently had occasion during the past weeks of her sojurn on PEI to leave her little piece of paradise at Rice Point on the Northumberland shore, and venture to other parts of the island.

Driving across the island, heading north-east to the beach at Greenwich (part of the National Park system on the Atlantic shore),Citizen Ellie once again used the Charlottetown by-pass and marvelled at the foresight of that city's elected representatives as compared to the lack of it on the part of Ottawa's city council during years past. Sadly, Ottawa lacks a ring road.

In the old days before the bypass, one had to negotiate Charlottetown's University Avenue through the downtown core to get to the bridge across the Hillsborough River which would take one to points east such as Greenwich, St. Peter's, Montague or Souris.

In Ottawa, we still must drive through the city core to get from west to east and vice vesa. A ring road would go a long way to solving congestion in the downtown core in addition to changing the Queensway from a parking lot in both directions during rush hours to a free-flowing autoroute.

Road To Recovery

2010-11-22T11:17:00.002-05:00

Road To Recovery

On November 5, Citizen Ellie underwent total knee replacement surgery at the General Campus of the Ottawa Hospital.

Some 18 days later, as of this writing, Citizen Ellie is back home, walking unassisted and, having decided to upgrade her home computer system, is trying to learn the Apple MAC operating system. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks ?

Citizen Ellie needed a new knee because back in the 80's, she suffered a sports injury and had to have the lateral miniscus (cartilege) removed. Things went well for several years, but in 2001, pain in the affected joint was starting to get to her so she consulted an orthopaedic surgeon. At that time, the prosthesis for a partial knee replacement was available (the Oxford procedure)-- provided it was the interior side of the knee which was damaged, rather than the lateral side as was Citizen Ellie's situation. The orthopaedic specialist recommended that Citizen Ellie wear an "unloader" brace to prevent the knee from collapsing inwardly while buying time until the partial prosthesis for the lateral side of the knee became available.

Earlier this year, Citizen Ellie consulted her orthopaedic surgeon again. The Avon procedure was now available-- providing a partial replacement for the lateral portion of the knee joint. At that time, about 14 of these very specialized surgeries had been performed in Ottawa, and Citizen Ellie's orthopaedic surgeon had performed one of them.

This is great, Citizen Ellie thought. One day in hospital and back on the feet within no time at all !

But it was not to be. When the cartilege was removed from Citizen Ellie's knee in the 80s, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) was removed as well. Without an ACL, a partial knee replacement was impossible. Back to the drawing board.

What to do ? Wearing the brace had allowed Citizen Ellie to function, but her world was getting smaller as she was finding it more and more difficult to keep up when walking nine holes of golf. Aerobics was too painful to continue. Walking around historic sites while traveling -- especially if an uphill climb was involved -- was no fun anymore. Standing for a three-hour shift in the auxiliary coffee shop at the Riverside pretty well wiped her out for the rest of the day.

After exploring all the options, she decided the time had come to have the knee replaced. It was not an easy decision. There are risks involved in any surgery. Would she come out of it worse off than she was before ? What about the pain ? Could she manage the stairs in her house, drive her car -- in other words, regain her independence.

The surgery went well. As a spinal, rather than a general anesthetic was involved, Citizen Ellie was wide awake in the OR to hear her surgeon tell her she had a nice new straight knee. During the course of the surgery, Citizen Ellie could also hear the sawing and hammering involved in the surgery -- all very interesting and to tell the truth, if the option had been offered to watch the procedure on closed circuit TV, she probably would have jumped at the chance.

Citizen Ellie's surgeon had booked her into the short-term rehabilitation unit at the General campus and this was a fantastic place to be for someone who had set the goal for herself of walking out of the hospital on a cane.

They make you work in short-term rehab, and it's painful -- no two ways about that. Citizen Ellie is one of those who can tolerate a high level of pain so she stopped taking pain medication two days after the surgery -- she's of the opinion that a clear head speeds the recovery process -- purely unscientific, but that's what she believes and it works for her.

Thanks to the physiotherapy program established in the short-term rehab unit, Citizen Ellie was able to meet her goal of walking out of the hospital on a cane nine days after the surgery.

She was told there might be a waiting period of as much as 10 to 15 days before getting a place in the rehab unit at the Riverside campus. Rehab in a hospital setting is covered under OHIP so there's a huge demand because many people who require physiotherapy following surgery do not have private insurance or otherwise cannot afford to go to a physiotherapy clinic. Citizen Ellie chose to get some private physiotherapy while waiting for an appointment at the Riverside because she did not want to lose the momentum gained in the short-term rehab unit. And it has paid off. She's walking without the cane, managing the stairs in her house, and can perform all the necessary functions of daily living.

Her recovery did not all happen by accident. Prior to the surgery, Citizen Ellie worked as hard as she could to be in good shape physically. She exercised faithfully -- following the routine prescribed at the pre-surgery joint-replacement class, went regularly to aquafit classes and took daily walks of at least 45 minutes' duration to build up muscle mass in the legs. Working with small weights to strengthen the upper body also became part of the routine.

If Citizen Ellie had advice for anyone contemplating joint replacement surgery, it would be this: get fit first. And lose some weight. Citizen Ellie wishes she'd been carrying ten fewer pounds because she probably would be doing even better.

We are lucky to have a world-class facility such as The Ottawa Hospital with its excellent staff of doctors, nurses and physiotherapists. The short-term rehab unit ? Couldn't ask for better ! And Citizen Ellie is lucky to have supportive family members and friends -- without whose help and encouragement the road to recovery would have been longer and tougher.

Regular posts on municipal affairs in Ottawa will resume next week.

2010-11-04T08:54:00.002-04:00

Lessons to be learned.......

S0 the new council members are attending a boot camp of sorts this week, learning the ways of city hall in preparation for taking office on December 1.
Citizen Ellie fervently hopes they're all learning how to say "NO" and working hard at the exercises required to stiffen the backbone. Rideau-Rockcliffe Councillor-elect, Peter Clark, was excused from these sessions. The former mayor of Cumberland and regional chair had plenty of practice running a tight fiscal ship in his previous incarnations.
The ability to say "No" along with a stiff backbone are prerequisites in dealing with the myriad of special interest groups which come out of the woodwork during the budget process, demanding property taxpayers fork over more and more of their hard-earned money to support these special interest groups' pet projects -- projects for which these special interest groups appear to be unwilling to go out and fundraise. After all, it's easier to pick the taxpayers' pockets than to do the necessary work required by a fundraising campaign. The failed concert hall is a case in point. It should also be remembered that some of these "special interest groups" are nothing more than a front for the protection of CUPE jobs and should be treated as such.
Citizen Ellie has always believed that if a group or organization wants something, they should finance it themselves through their own organized fundraising efforts. Start a foundation, obtain a registered charity number, promote the project, convince people to pledge funds -- if the public thinks it's worthwhile, they'll support it. Look at the success of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation's "20 in 20" campaign -- $20 million raised in 20 months for the cancer centre at the General Campus. Look at the Cornerstone Foundation's project to provide housing for 42 disadvantaged women, 20 of whom will be senior women. Construction is underway now on the Booth Street building. The public has demonstrated their support for these endeavors by opening their collective pocketbooks. The public didn't feel the same way about the proposed concert hall. And the public probably wouldn't feel the same way about many of the special interest projects they've been forced to support with their tax dollars.
The newbies joining council's ranks on December 1 should remember they were not elected because of their good looks. They won their wards because Ottawans were fed up to the eyeballs with tax-hiking lefties who thought it was their job to blab on about tanning parlors, signs in farmers' fields, cow statue on roof of a shop selling cheese and other dairy products, transfats in restaurant food etc. etc. Ottawans were fed up to the eyeballs with councillors who worked hard to demonize developers; councillors who worked hard establishing roadblocks to progress; councillors who wanted to be "nannys", interfering in and controlling every aspect of citizens' lives; and councillors who didn't recognize the importance of economic development and job creation.
Economic development and job creation should be at the top of the new council's list of priorities -- especially since unemployment figures in Ottawa are catching up with the national average. New industry, providing good-paying jobs, must be brought into the city -- to offset the job losses which will come as the public sector (federal, provincial and municipal) downsizes.
"No new money" should be the watchword and zero-based budgetting must become the norm. The Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group (OTAG) is once again calling for a financial summit and is demanding the city's auditor-general take a long, hard look at salaries and benefits paid to the city's non-union/management staff. Citizen Ellie is always shocked when the "sunshine list" is published in the spring of each year. Too many are earning above six figures. She was reminded of that again this week when the discharge of the sewer manager was announced. The person who couldn't figure out how to keep raw sewage from flowing into the Ottawa River was being paid in excess of $100,000. What's up with that ?
The auditor-general ought to have a look at the city's use of consultants. We're paying big bucks to city staff so why should we require consultants unless there are exceptional circumstances ? If consultants are being brought in because city staff can't or won't do the job, then maybe city staff should be eliminated. We'd at least save on the gold-plated benefit/pension packages.
The auditor-general also ought to take a look at staffing at the cop shop ? Are well-paid sworn officers performing work which could just as easily be performed by civilian employees at a lower rate, freeing up sworn officers to get out on the streets where they should be -- a solid review of staffing would provide answers.
What do Ottawa ratepayers want ? They want a council which will slash the bureaucracy, collect the garbage, ensure the streets are plowed in the winter and the sidewalks are safe for pedestrians, get traffic moving, and promote economic development -- in other words, a council which will look after the meat and potatoes issues as set out in the Ontario Municipal Act -- and forget the esoteric !

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Ouch ! That hurts !

Citizen Ellie won't be posting on a regular basis for the next couple of weeks. She's undergoing knee surgery tomorrow (Friday) and will be out of commission for a while -- at least until she's released from hospital and rehab and is back home where, while she's away, oldest grandson will install her new iMac computer. Citizen Ellie is pretty much of a doofus when it comes to hi-tech, so it's great to have access to the younger generation -- they who understand which USB port is for the printer and which USB port is for the wireless router. In the meantime, she'll continue to keep her eye on city hall in anticipation of the December 1 changeover.

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2010-10-27T10:04:00.004-04:00

Post-election Random Thoughts

We really need to see them in action before we can determine how far Ottawa's new council swings to the right. We have a new mayor who's been there before and 10 new councillors -- some replacing tired oldies who saw the light and decided to retire rather than go down to defeat, others defeating tired oldies who needed to be booted out.

Ottawans were clearly fed up with the chardonnay socialist elitists who thought they knew what was best for the rest of us. It's unlikely the new, young, forward-thinking councillors will continue the "nannyism" which so characterized council since amalgamation some 10 years ago. New blood brings new ideas and new attitudes toward issues such as development. What a refreshing thought ! But what will the SUN's Susan Sherring do now that she doesn't have Mayor Larry to kick around ? And her best bud, Rideau-Vanier 's Georges Bedard got himself whupped by a 25-year-old ! Quel dommage ! Councillor Diane Holmes woke up on Tuesday to find herself in a lonely position indeed. Most of the lefties are gone -- Doucet, Cullen, Legendre, Feltmate, Bedard. Maybe newbie David Chernushenko will step up -- but he looks like a one-trick pony with opposition to the Lansdowne redevelopment plan his main priority.

Judging from what's already been written about the newcomers, taxes, transit, moving Lansdowne forward and economic development are their priorities. With the exception of Peter Clark, new councillor in Rideau -Rockcliffe (where "elect me because I'm a Francophone" is a slogan which no longer resonates with voters), the newbies by and large are a lot younger than those they replaced. Some of them are political activists, having previously worked with mayor-elect Jim Watson. The aforementioned Mr. Clark is a former mayor of Cumberland and former Regional Chair. He brings a wealth of knowledge to council; he probably understands the budgetting process better than anyone sitting around the council table; and he has a reputation for carefully husbanding taxpayers' dollars.

The budget will be the first order of business facing the new council following the December 1 swearing-in. Hopefully this group will put an end to the farce of so-called "public consultations" at which residential property owners ' legitimate concerns about escalating taxes were given short shrift by councillors who favored presentations from well-rehearsed CUPE minions and their special interest compatriots.

We will all have to exercise a little patience as the new council settles in. Yes, there's a learning curve, but it shouldn't take this group long to get past that. What they need to remember is that they were elected to bring some order to the chaos that's been city council since amalgamation. People are tired of the infighting, the inability to make decisions and stick to them, and the tax and spend mentality which permeated city hall. While Citizen Ellie is not a big Jim Watson fan, she's willing to give him the benefit of the doubt -- he certainly knows how to schmooze and if he can use this talent to forge a council where concensus rather than confrontation characterizes debate and decision-making, he'll have done a good job. He and the new council have four years to show ratepayers what they're made of.

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Where Have I Been ?

In August, Citizen Ellie took off on a road trip to Prince Edward Island which included stops in Quebec City and Fredericton, NB.

The highlight of the Quebec City stop was attending the Tattoo which is part of Quebec's Military Band Festival -- a highlight of their summer tourist season.

Sitting in the Pepsi Colisee, watching 800 bandsmen and women march in and then play "O Canada" brought a tear to the eye. Those of us who've experienced the national anthem boo birds at "The Bob" in Gatineau or at the Bell Centre in Montreal had reason to be concerned. There were many tourists from other parts of Canada, the U-S, Europe etc. in the audience and it surely would be an embarrassment if our national anthem was bood. But the people of Quebec City have more class than the smart asses across the Ottawa River who think booing the national anthem gives them some sort of status. Quebec City folk attending the Tattoo (and there were many in the audience) rose and sang "O Canada" with gusto in French.

In Fredericton, we visited the Beaverbrook Gallery and saw "the Turner and the Freud" -- the two paintings which are at the core of the dispute between Lord Beaverbrook's heirs and the gallery.

Prince Edward Island is Citizen Ellie's paradise. When Ottawa becomes too pricey due to ever-increasing property taxes, that's where she'll go. Housing prices on the island are still reasonable and property taxes are still affordable.

Citizen Ellie returned to Ottawa mid-September. The municipal election campaigning was in full swing and she made a conscious decision to remain impartial and not post or endorse any candidate/s until it was all over.

Now she's back at the old stand, watching and waiting to see what develops. There will be some interruptions in The Pitchfork's upcoming schedule as she has to take some time out for knee replacement surgery.

New posts weekly.

2010-08-24T08:02:00.004-04:00

Signs, Signs, Everywhere A Sign.........

There's shock and dismay rampant today among Toronto's chardonnay socialists, self-appointed elites and other members of the city's chattering classes. En masse, they're reaching for the Valium, maybe even the Prozac, if something stronger is required.
The cause of all this anguish ? A new poll on Monday, August 23 (yesterday) indicated that Councillor Rob Ford is ahead in the mayoralty race by 10 points over his closest rival, George Smitherman.
The two couldn't be more different. Professional politician Smitherman, formerly of the Dalton McGuinty cabinet (Minister of Health, among other things) is smooth, urbane, well-educated, well-spoken, a sharp dresser. Everything one could want in the mayor of Canada's largest city. Everything one could want if one was a chardonnay socialist, a self-appointed elite, a member of the chattering classes or an editorial writer/columnist with the Toronto Star.
Mr. Ford, on the other hand, isn't an attractive-looking man. In fact, he's stocky and somewhat porcine in appearance. Not a sharp dresser. Frequently puts his foot in his mouth. In fact, he's a bit of a bumpkin, but a bumpkin who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps, built his own business and has become extremely sucessful at it. He's a man who, while rough around the edges, knows what it means to meet a payroll. As a councillor, he didn't treat taxpayers' money as though it was his own personal inheritance. While Mr. Smitherman is the darling of the downtown set, Mr. Ford's power lies in the suburbs -- he speaks for families who are paying more and more in taxes and getting less and less in return. And there are more of them.........
According to this latest poll, Torontonians are willing to forgive and forget about the Florida episode in Mr. Ford's past which resulted in a DUI charge. They don't seem to care about how he might present himself on the larger world stage. They don't seem to object to him speaking his mind -- as he did the other day when he said Toronto didn't need any more immigrants. And they're definitely not being swayed by the daily anti-Ford slant in the Star's mayoralty campaign coverage.
So what's going on ? The Toronto mayoralty race, plus the way Canadians are responding to other recent events indicates a sea change in thought and attitude is coming, if not already here.
Canadians are not opening their wallets to contribute to Pakistan's flood relief. According to recent polls, the majority of Canadians believe the latest bunch of Tamil queue-jumpers should be immediately sent back to from whence they came. This is not the generous, big-hearted Canada of yesteryear. This is the new Canada, where taxpayers are tired of being played for fools by politicians at all levels. This is the new Canada where citizens find themselves being impoverished by punitive levels of taxation, only to see their hard-earned dollars squandered through government waste and useless programs which don't benefit them and which frequently don't work. And finally, they've had enough !
There's a feeling that George Smitherman's difficulties in the Toronto mayoralty race stem from the fact he served in Dalton "The Deceiver" McGuinty's cabinet. McGuinty is not exactly Mr. Popularity in the province right now -- people hate the HST and the "eco fee" fiasco speaks for itself. If a provincial election was held tomorrow, McGuinty would have a hard time -- the most recent poll shows his party neck and neck with the PCs, but worse, it shows Ontarians are starting to like PC leader Tim Hudak -- finding him more "trustworthy" and " less likely to have a hidden agenda" than McGuinty.
What does this mean in Ottawa where we too have a mayoralty race which includes a former McGuinty cabinet minister in the person of Jim Watson. Could Watson "wear" McGuinty's shortcomings ?

Some things are happening in this town which indicate penny-pinching is on the rise. People are apparently spending less money at the Ex. Child and Youth Friendly Ottawa has only raised a third of what's required to meet the demands for back-to-school supplies from "needy" Ottawa families. Wallets are not being opened and it will be interesting to see how the United Way campaign fares this year when folks are scrambling to pay increased hydo fees , the HST, higher bus fares etc. while facing the prospect of wage freezes and possible job loss if a federal or provincial employee.
The attack on Mr. Ford's candidacy in the Toronto mayoral race by the chardonnay socialists, self-appointed elitists, chattering classes and their propaganda arm, The Toronto Star, is reminiscent of what happened here four years ago when Larry O'Brien entered the mayoral race. But in Ottawa, it didn't stop with whispers and media attacks. Mayor Larry was sandbagged with trumped -up criminal charges and subjected to that farce of an influence-peddling trial which resulted in his walking away free and clear.
Citizen Ellie is betting that Ottawans, like Torontonians, might prefer their less-than-smooth, self-made, up-by-the-bootstraps sucessful businessman who may be a bit of a bumpkin but who also knows what it is to meet a payroll and has been bloodied in his first term as mayor -- rather than a very smooth professional politician who is now trotting out the very borough idea which he pooh-poohed in his last incarnation as mayor. Whispers ! Whispers ! Citizen Ellie keeps hearing these rumors that the mayor's chair isn't really the seat he wants -- he's only come back to position himself for the Liberal nomination in some Ottawa riding in the next federal election. Parliament Hill beckons.......

Update

The little toe-rag young offender who broke into and vandalized Citizen Ellie's Cottage at Lac McFee, Quebec, last November, making off with her collection of NASCAR flags (among other things), has been arrested and charged by the MRC des Collines Police. Now waiting to hear when and if there will be an appearance before a judge so Citizen Ellie can make a victim impact statement. Meanwhile kudos to Ontario Court Justice Jack Nadelle who last week upheld the minimum mandatory sentence for armed robbery when sentencing a perpetrator who had two dozen charges related to a string of late-night armed grocery store robberies. Judge Nadelle wasn't buying the excuse that the accused was an otherwise exemplary citizen who had been brainwashed by an older man whom he met while the two were students at Algonquin College. Judge Nadelle also wasn't buying the argument that the mandatory miniumum sentence (in this case eight years with some time off for time already served in jail) constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

New posts usually on Sundays.Citizen Ellie will be on hiatus for the next couple of weeks enjoying some R & R until September 12. But with the magic of new wireless technology and a new laptop she may feel moved to send some thoughts out over the ether.

2010-08-11T09:18:00.003-04:00

Zero Tolerance for NASCAR Flag Thief !

Spent last weekend at NASCAR races at Watkins Glen, New York. Citizen Ellie is a big fan of motor racing, tracing her fandom back to the 1950s when short-track stock car events were featured every Wednesday night at Lansdowne Park during the summer months.
It was heartening to see Canadian boys do so well at the Glen this year -- Jacques Villeneuve and Ron Fellows placed in the top 10 in Saturday's Nationwide race, with A. J. Fitzpatrick placing 11th. In the prestigious Sprint Cup race on Sunday, Ron Fellows unfortunately blew his engine, but Patrick Carpentier placed in the top 25. The upcoming NASCAR weekend in Montreal should be a doozy -- unfortunately Citizen Ellie will not be attending this year. Prince Edward Island beckons.
But we digress. We camp in the infield at Watkins Glen -- have been doing it for 14 years now. Same campsite every year -- and we've made some very good American friends -- people who've been camping along side us for the same number of years.
There was something missing at our campsite this year. Our NASCAR and driver flags. Most everyone who camps in the infield has a flagpole and they run up more than one flag -- their favorite driver/s, NASCAR event flags etc. Citizen Ellie didn't have any flags this year. Her NASCAR event and drivers' flags were stolen by the piece of human garbage who broke into her Lac McFee, Quebec cottage last November. He and his companion also had a good time smashing the glass door on Citizen Ellie's kitchen range and discharging the fire extinguishers inside the cottage. And somebody's mom got a brand new boxed set of Henkel knives for Christmas.
This little creep wasn't the smartest. He and his companion helped themselves to some adult beverages and left the glasses they'd used on our dining table. Guess they figured we'd be so busy cleaning up the mess they left behind that we'd just toss the glasses in the sink and wash them. No way ! When Number One son visted the property later in the month and discovered the break-in, he carefully bagged the glasses in Ziplock as he waited for the MRC des Collines police. The CSI series on TV has been a great educator in regard to how one should preserve evidence, and we have a personal philosophy that no crime should go unreported.

In due course, the MRC police reported back to Citizen Ellie. Lo and behold, fingerprints on one of the glasses belonged to someone already "in the system". So Citizen Ellie now knows the identity of this 17-year-old threat to society. She also knows he lives in Lochaber, just north of Thurso. What she doesn't know is when or even if this individual will be brought to justice. Citizen Ellie wants to give a victim impact statement at the trial. She would like to tell the judge about how this incident caused her so much grief and upset that she no longer felt safe at the property which she had enjoyed for 32 years so she subsequently sold it and left Quebec.
Citizen Ellie would also like to know what happened to her NASCAR flags. There wouldn't be much cash value if the perp tried to sell them. But there was a huge amount of sentimental value attached to them and Citizen Ellie probably shouldn't have left them stored in her cottage but she never thought someone would be so low as to steal them. A TV set or VCR -- yeah, you expect they'll be lifted if you have a break -in. That's why all the other stuff in the cottage was permanently engraved with the identifyer "Stolen from Racegirl 3".
There were 12 in all, collected over a number of years -- representing NASCAR events at Watkins Glen and Daytona, Dodge Motor Sports, and drivers Robby Gordon, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Kyle Petty and Michael Waltrip. Citizen Ellie would fly different ones on the flagpole at her cottage during the summer months.
Citizen Ellie is not as forgiving as the Ottawa woman whose Greenboro home was one of four broken into and destroyed by teenaged vandals in April. A good day's work by this pair of turds. Their spree included cruelty to animals (roasting one family's pet gecko in a microwave, covering another family's small dog in paint), defecation, smashing furniture and appliances, slashing upholstery and mattresses and throwing paint all over walls and posessions. The crown wants jail sentences of up to two years for the one who was before the courts last week. His lawyer thinks he should get away with the usual knuckle-rapping, probation, 150 hours of community service and the extreme punishment of having to write an essay about the value of property. That should make for great reading. This poor kid (note sarcasm here) has already spent 118 days in jail. Not long enough in Citizen Ellie's opinion -- especially since he's been "in the system" since he was 13. His previous record includes breaking into a school, wearing a disguise with intent, assault and posession of a weapon.
There are young evildoers among us, no doubt about it. But we're not allowed to know who they. They're protected by the cloak of anonymity provided by that wonderful piece of legislation, the 2002 Youth Criminal Justice Act, better known as the Young Offenders' Act.
Bet you didn't know that under the terms of this act, police are discouraged from laying charges against young offenders. If they can avoid it, they are to keep those under 18 from acquiring a police record.
This piece of legislation also prohibits media outlets in Canada from publishing the names of young offenders. This is crap. Maybe the name shouldn't be published if its a first offense. But if it's the second or third ........ in Citizen Ellie's opinion, the public has the right to know.
Citizen Ellie wonders if the publication ban extends to personal blogs such as The Pitchfork ?
It doesn't extend to media outlets in the USA so what's to stop Citizen Ellie from submitting a story about her stolen NASCAR flags, naming the perpetrator and providing other information about him, to a U-S publication such as NASCAR Scene which is widely read by NASCAR fans in Canada and the U-S. If she doesn't get justice through the courts, she may have to take this step.
We now have zero tolerance for young drunk drivers in many Canadian provinces. Citizen Ellie thinks there should be zero tolerance for young criminals too. Too many of them are getting away with too much and receiving far too little in the way of punishment.

New posts usually on Sundays

2010-07-25T09:28:00.002-04:00

More Bad News.......

Yikes! How much more can Ottawa property-owners take ?
We learned this week that there's a cost overrun on refurbishing the Fairmount Avenue cop shop -- small change -- only $450,000.
Big dollars, however, will be involved when the pension plan which covers all municipal employees in Ontario increases mandatory contributions next year. The increases in contributions msde by both employees and employers are required to offset a shortfall of $1.5 in the primary plan run by the Ontario Municipal Employees' Retirement Services, known as OMERS. This shortfall is expected to grow to nearly $5 billion over the next four years. How could this happen ? Have municipal employers (including Ottawa city council) been asleep at the switch ?
The Municipal Employer Pension Centre of Ontario estimates all OMERS employers together would pay $51 annually for a 1% increase. The Ottawa Police Service alone is expecting to pay between $1 and $2 million more in pension contributions next year.
So before Ottawa's new council has had a chance to settle into their seats at city hall, they're faced with a situation which definitely will impact on the 2011 city budget. Puts mayoral candidate Jim Watson's goal of holding property tax increases to no more than a 2.5 % increase in jeopardy.
This can't go on. The next four years are going to be tough ones for the city. For all intents and purposes, the province is bankrupt and the feds have told their senior officials that there's no new money. If there's a federal election and Steven Harper is re-elected with a majority (even a slim one) watch out. Cuts will come -- maybe not as drastic as those imposed by governments in the UK and Europe -- but cutbacks and layoffs in the federal service don't bode well for Ottawa's municipal tax base, not to mention cutbacks and layoffs of provincial employees working in this area, and hospital staff as everyone tries to balance budgets and do more with less.
Citizen Ellie lives in a city ward that's number 2 in terms of being home to the city's older residents. She's starting to hear people who are coming up for retirement talk about how they're planning to move as Ottawa is becoming too expensive. She hears pensioners talk about how tough it is to make ends meet and while they'd like to stay in the homes they've lived in all their lives, it's time to go somewhere else where the cost of living (namely property taxes and municipal service charges) is cheaper. And that doesn't mean downsizing from a house to a condo in the city. It means crossing the river to Gatineau, or heading to small town Ontario.
Meanwhile the union representing city employees is paying for expensive prime time television ads touting how valuable their members' work is --a thinly-veiled tactic designed to scare voters into thinking all those services will disappear if they elect a cost-conscious mayor and council. It would be interesting to know just how many on the city's payroll (including police and fire departments) actually live within the city limits and pay city taxes; how many live in less expensive locations such as Gatineau, Embrun, Rockland, Smith's Falls, Carleton Place etc.; and how this affects attitudes of those who spend our municipal tax dollars.
There's a growing resentment among private sector workers who pay for public sector salaries, benefits and pension plans through their taxes. Private sector workers resent the fact that their public sector counterparts have, so far, escaped all the pain of the recession. Prime Minister Harper recognizes this as does Ontario's Finance Minister Dwight Duncan when they freeze their employees' wages for two years. They know that the louder public servants and their unions whine, cry and wallow in self-pity, the greater the anger among private sector workers. There's no sympathy out there for public sector workers and their unions.
That resentment is filtering down to the municipal level. And it will have an impact on the October 25 election despite all those TV ads sponsored by CUPE.

New posts usually on Sundays

2010-07-19T13:39:00.002-04:00

Citizen Ellie is thinking..........

..........about throwing her hat into the political ring ! Citizen Ellie could be your candidate for councillor in Ward 13, Rideau-Rockcliffe in the upcoming municipal election in Ottawa.
Interested in joining Citizen Ellie's campaign team ? Volunteers for canvassing/telephone tree etc. are needed. Send Citizen Ellie your thoughts via e-mail: eleanordunn@sympatico.ca
Send a common-sense, tax-sensitive, consensus-building team player to city hall on October 25.

Get it DUNN ! Right !

2010-07-11T09:05:00.005-04:00

He Loves To Tax

Back in the days when Citizen Ellie worked in the media, a picture was always worth a thousand words. Still true today.
A friend recently sent me one of those a "thousand word" pictures via e-mail. Thanks, Brad. Pitchfork readers may have received the same picture from someone they know.
As you scroll down the e-mail it becomes apparent that pigeons are the stars in this picture. Hundreds of them. They are gathered at what appears to be the foot of a statue -- or the base of a plinth if you're one of those "correct use of language" types. The caption ? "Audience anxiously awaits the unveiling of a statue of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty."
Doesn't this just say it all ! Citizen Ellie bets there are many people in this province who would dearly love to do what the pigeons in that photo have in mind for the McGuinty statue. Especially now that we've had 10 days to feel the effect of the HST on our pocketbooks and are just now catching on to the fact that we're also being hit with new "eco fees" which in Citizen Ellie's view are another form of taxation regardless of what they call it or how the Dalton Gang tries to whitewash it.
When we get our next hydro bill we'll all be howling in pain. The HST came into effect while the province was experiencing the worst heat wave in recent memory, increasing the use of air conditioners and fans. And the worst isn't over. Long-range predictions indicate we're in for a much hotter summer than we've had in previous years and unless folks are prepared to sweat it out, those air conditioners and fans will be working overtime. Let's pray for a milder winter . Maybe we can save a little on heating costs.
Perhaps this is a good time to look at what our beloved premier has done to this province in the seven years he's held office. Remember -- this was a man who ran his initial campaign on the promise that there would be no tax increases during his reign.
He'd hardly warmed the premier's seat in the legislature than he implemented what he called a "health care premium". A tax by another name -- $900.00 per year for singles and as much as $1500.00 per year for couples with or without families.
Then he increased license fees -- another form of taxation. If you own a boat or a car, if you fish or hunt, you're paying more.
Hydro charges were increased by 10% on April 1 and on May 1, the tax on liquor and wine went up by 10%
And then there are all those "eco fees" -- on electronics, tires, paint, laundry detergent, window cleaners, cleaning solvents, aerosol cans, prescription drugs -- the list is endless -- and according to a story in today's paper, even his own cabinet ministers are unable to answer questions on exactly where this windfall of cash is going, especially since us ordinary folk are still using the blue box to dispose of our empty laundry detergent bottles etc. and our black box for paper and cardboard and we're paying a through our property taxes for the blue, black and green box programs.
Sooner or later we're all going to be forced into the SMART meter program which looks like a good thing in that there will be different charges for hydro consumed at different times of the day. We will be required to pay rent for these meters. You will pay less, for example, if you turn on your dishwasher or do your laundry in non-peak periods -- i.e. late at night, in the wee hours of the morning. But we Ontarians are not stupid. In order to save a few bucks, we'll all be doing our laundry and turning on our dishwashers late and night and in the wee hours of the morning. Soon those non-peak periods will become peak periods and predictably, if the Dalton gang are still in power, the charge for consumption during those hours will be steeply increased.
And what benefits have we Ontarians received in the seven years the Dalton gang has been in power ?
There was the e-Health scandal --$2 billion wasted or paid out to friends and relatives of the principals with Dalton giving the CEO of this financial boondoggle a $300.000 severance package. Not a bad payoff for someone who'd only been in the job for seven months. Citizen Ellie bets the laid-off Nortel workers in Ottawa wish they were so lucky !
There have been countless scandals involving Ontario Lottery and Gaming.
Instead of finding a company in Canada or even in North America to manufacture the windmills for hydro generation, Dalton awards the $7 billion contract to a company in Korea. Were there no Ontarians who could have done this work ?
Emergency rooms in Port Collburne and Fort Erie hospitals were closed on the grounds there was no money yet a Toronto hospital got $3 million -- right at the time when a by-election had been called due to George Smitherman resigning from cabinet to seek the Toronto mayor's chair.
And now we have this outfit -- Stewardship Ontario -- a government regulated body which is responsible for the "eco fee" program. It's supposed to operate at arms length from the provincial government -- but wasn't e-Health Ontario opperating at arms length from the Ontario Government and don't we know how that turned out ?
While we're being bled white, MPPs voted themselves a 14% pay increase.
Citizen Ellie could go on and on. But it's sufficient to say that the Dalton gang has taken Ontario from being one of the most prosperous "have" provinces in the country to one of the poor "have not" provinces in just seven years. Thanks to the Dalton gang, Ontario now has a deficit of $27 billion and we have another 18 months before we can send this bunch back to the political wilderness. Just think, Dalton has another 18 months to feast on the Ontario taxpayers' carcass. Our bones will be picked pretty clean by the time October 2011 rolls around.
Don't forget, folks, Mayoral candidate Jim Watson was a member of the Dalton gang. Sitting on the front benches, no less. Watson's got to wear some of this !

New posts usually on Sundays

2010-07-04T09:45:00.004-04:00

Some Questions YOU Should Ask.........

Mayor Larry's decision to throw his hat into the ring has heated up the municipal election scene in Ottawa. That is a good thing. It will bring out the vote.
This could be the year of big changes at City Hall. Four council seats are vacant -- with the retirements of Councillors Legendre, Feltmate and Hunter; and Councillor Alex Cullen giving up his Bay Ward fiefdom to seek the mayor's chair. At least two other councillors -- Doucet and Leadman -- are in trouble and vulnerable.
Possibly seven (including the mayor's) new faces around the council table ! Unheard of in the living memory of most people in this city !
In Citizen Ellie's ward, four men hope to replace Councillor Legendre. Looking at the city's elections web pages, it would appear that a lot of people see a council seat in their future. That is not a good thing in those wards where an incumbent is seeking re-election. A plethora of candidates in such situations virtually guarantees re-election of the incumbent. That is not a good thing. There's a lot of deadwood among the incumbents, many of whom fall into the "councillor for life" category and need to be put out to pasture.
Citizen Ellie has developed a series of 10 questions that she's asking the councillor candidates in her ward. She will also be soliciting answers to these questions from the mayoral candidates. You can use these questions -- even if you plan to vote for an incumbent. Most candidates have e-mail. You can get their e-mail addresses by accessing the city's web site (Ottawa.ca). Citizen Ellie suggests using e-mail to submit the questions. If you don't get an answer from a candidate, then that individual isn't deserving of your vote.
Here are the questions. Feel free to add to the list.
1) What is the candidate's position vis-a-vis reducing the city's bureaucracy and keeping property taxes to a minimum? Would the candidate favor a "no new money" approach to the city's budget -- similar to the approach taken towards spending at the federal level by the current federal government ?
2) Does the candidate support the proposal to build a transit tunnel beneath the downtown core ? Or does the candidate want to go back to the drawing board again on the transit issue ?
3) What is the candidate's position on the revitalization of Lanssdowne Park ? Does the candidate favor moving forward or would the candidate support reconsideration by the new council ?
4) Does the candidate favor privatizationof those services better left to the private sector ? OC Transpo is a good example -- would the candidate support privatization of this operation which currently cannot meet its operating costs without a taxpayer subsidy ?
5) Does the candidate recognize that the city's major employer, the federal government, is shrinking and will continue to shrink ? Is the candidate prepared to support a major move on economic development which would attract businesses to the city, creating jobs to replace those which will be lost as the federal government continues to downsize ? Does the candidate see economic development as a top priority in order to maintain the city's financial stability ?
6) Would the candidate support term limits ( two four-year terms) for councillors and mayor or is the candidate a "councillor for life" advocate ?
7) Is the candidate a forward-thinker with the ability to see beyond ward boundaries and support what is good for the city as a whole ?
8) Is the candidate affiliated with a community association or special interest group ?
9) What life experience has the candidate had which would make him/her a good councillor ? Why should you vote for that candidate ?
10) Is the candidate action-oriented and prepared to respond to constituents' queries/complaints in a timely manner ?
In Citizen Ellie's view, an informed electorate makes good choices. So inform yourself.
Voter turnout in municipal elections has been abysmally low in recent years. That's why the deadwood get re-elected, year after year, ad nauseam. These are the people whose decisions have a direct impact on your pocketbook and on the quality of life in this city. It's not enough any more to leave voting to the next guy. It's not enough to say you don't understand the issues or can't be bothered b ecause you're too busy.
People get the government they deserve. We deserve better in the nation's capital.

Legendre Watch

It's now almost a month to the day since Citizen Ellie sent Councillor Legendre (at his request) an e-mail asking for answers to three questions. One of the issues is now moot -- the financial sustainability summit supported by the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group has come and gone while the Councillor was away on his cycling fact-finding tour of Copenhagen. But Citizen Ellie would still like to know a) why work on 245 Crichton has ground to a halt and how long will neighbors have to put up with this eyesore and b) when will work be done to install storm sewers and resurface The Mews ? Perhaps Councillor Legendre feels that as he has announced his retirement, he no longer has to respond to constituents' queries.

Time-wasting Boredom

Citizen Ellie spent last Monday watching city council's final "debate" prior to voting in favor of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group's private-public partnership plan for the rejuvenation of Lansdowne Park.

It was gawd-awful ! Sickening ! The same questions which had been asked at previous sessions were asked over and over again albeit in different formats as the opponents of the proposal desperately tried to throw up roadblocks to progress. Councillor Doucet distinguished himself with yet another childish tantrum -- as he packed up his stuff and left the council table he looked every bit like the little kid who takes the baseball, stops the game and goes home because he can't get his way. Hopefully the voters will pack up his stuff and send him on his way come October 25 !

Mayor wannabe Alex Cullen put forward a motion to defer the entire item until after the election so the new council (with himself, presumably, in the mayor's chair) could make the final decision. This motion sensibly was defeated by council's forward-thinkers. Citizen Ellie was enthralled by the thought that motions to defer will become few and far between at council when Councillor Cullen is also sent packing by the voters. On the other hand, this guy is slick. He'll read the tea leaves and if it looks like he doesn't have the proverbial snowball's chance at being elected mayor, he'll withdraw his nomination on or before September 10 and stand once again as a candidate in Bay Ward.

New Posts Usually On Sundays

2010-06-27T11:07:00.004-04:00

Going.........Going.......Gone !

Another city council dinosaur is riding off into into the sunset -- presumably on a bicycle.

After 19 years at the trough, Councillor Jacques Legendre is calling it quits. Despite having previously indicated his intention to run again, he announced his departure in his "annual report" to his constituents which was circulated in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward last week.

While his constituents were digesting this piece of news, the councillor was swanning around Copenhagen -- ostensibly attending a cycling conference or studying how the Danes have managed to convince their citizenry that cycling is the only way to go.

Now there's something in that. Citizen Ellie was in Copenhagen herself some six years ago and she couldn't help but notice the thousands of bikes parked on lots adjacent to the train station when she arrived in the city in the evening. The following morning, the bikes were gone and the lots were empty, only to fill up again at the end of the work day. Citizen Ellie's budget-priced hotel was adjacent to the railway station so she was able to observe this phenomena first-hand.

According to Citizen Ellie's tour guide, no one steals bicycles in Copenhagen -- thus the sucess of their "bikes in the downtown core" program. Councillor Legendre probably could have elicited this information from the Danish Embassy right here in Ottawa, thus saving the taxpayers the cost of this junket. But what's a few thousand bucks .............

Councillor Legendre knew in May (when his "annual report" went to press) or even sooner, that he was not going to run again. At the New Edinburgh Community Alliance annual general meeting earlier this month, he advised those in attendance that he was not going to give a verbal report to the meeting as his annual report was on the way and we could read about his "accomplishments" for ourselves.

So that begs the question: why, if you're not going to seek re-election, would you go off on a fact-finding jaunt when you know you aren't going to be around to present those facts to council or champion the cycling cause at the council table during the next four years ? Was this his version of the "farewell tour ?" The Tivoli is particularly nice at this time of year.

Councillor Legendre will be back at City Hall tomorrow. Never let it be said that he missed an important vote. He already telegraphed his position at the aforementioned NECA meeting where he exorted the audience to join him in objecting to the Lansdowne Live project on the basis that "if they could do it to the Glebe, they could do it to you" implying that evil developers could convince some future city council to OK construction of a football stadium and a shopping mall in Stanley Park. Enthusiastic applause from his pal, Councillor Clive Doucet, who just happened to be in the audience, having ridden to the meeting on his bicycle.

In the meantime, Citizen Ellie waits with baited breath for the councillor's response to the e-mail she sent to him (at his request) on the morning following the NECA meeting. It's now 20-plus days and counting. It's interesting that after announcing the "Legendre Watch" in last Sunday's edition of The Pitchfork, Citizen Ellie received an e-mail from one of his staffers apologizing for the fact the councillor did not have time to reply prior to leaving the city. Didn't see storm sewers and resurfacing of The Mews Lane in the list of 2010 and 2011 works projects approved for Rideau-Rockcliffe which he included in his annual report. Didn't see anything about cycling or trips to Copenhagen either !

******************

Financial Sustainability ? Not For These Dolts !

There's a certain arrogance evident when only two councillors show up for the financial sustainability summit which was held on June 22 -- especially since some 19 of them voted in favor of holding such a summit back in April.

Talk about thumbing their collective noses at the electorate, especially in an election year. They must all feel very secure in their positions. A big mistake if they thought taxpayers and the media didn't notice !

While some councillors may have had good reason to be absent, it's obvious that money management -- fiscal responsibility when it comes to spending your tax dollars -- isn't a priority for most of these people. Is it because they can't grasp the concept of money management ? Is it because they prefer not to think about the possibility of the well running dry, leaving them without the power to grant the wishes of every special interest group that knocks on the city hall doors ? Is it because they're afraid of having to take tough measures such as trimming the city's payroll ? What is it about "no new money" that they don't understand ? Questions you should ask when they come knocking on your door seeking your vote in October.

****************

Biking In The Capital

If members of city council (Councillor Clive Doucet, mayor wannabe Councillor Alex Cullen et al) are serious about encouraging people to ride their bikes to work, they need to campaign to make bicycle theft a really serious offence with an appropriate penalty. Knuckle-rapping just doesn't cut it.

Citizen Ellie suspects that the reason Ottawans aren't emulating their Copenhagen counterparts is that there are no safe places to leave one's bike in this city. Even if it's stored in your backyard, let alone chained to a bike rack or lamp post, you're at the mercy of crackheads and other low lifes.

In Copenhagen, citizens living in the suburbs take the train in the morning to their jobs in Copenhagen. Then they go to the bike lot where they parked their bike

the night before. Lo and behold, it hasn't been stolen or vandalized or broken up for parts-- the norm in Ottawa. They ride their bikes to their places of work where bike storage is provided and after work it's back on the bike for the ride to the bike lot at the train station and then it's on to the train and home.

In order to achieve what's been achieved in Copenhagen, there has to be a change in Ottawa's culture. Bicycle theft has to become as unacceptable as honor killings. The cops have to charge these people and the courts have to punish them severely. Safe, secure bike lots and bike storage areas have to be provided. Until then, those who advocate bike traffic only in the downtown core are dreaming in technicolor.

New posts usually on Sundays.

2010-06-20T09:15:00.002-04:00

Are You Contributing To Ottawa's Drug Problem ?

Yes, it's true. There are none so blind as those who cannot see -- as goes the old saying.
Maybe you're one of those who is blind ? Maybe you're an enabler ? Maybe you're a big part of the problem. Bet you didn't think of that the last time you forked over spare change to a panhandler.
Fact is, most of these panhandlers are crack cocaine addicts (tweakers) and your loonie is helping them towards their next "fix". Ottawa's got a big problem with crack cocaine and other street drugs and you're not helping matters any. When you give these people money, you make the situation worse.
Perhaps Citizen Ellie should be grateful to you. Your loonie likely has spared her from having her car broken into, with the thief stealing her sunglasses or something else which might be sold for a buck or two or traded for a "tab".
Many Ottawans believe that panhandlers are homeless and need money for food.
Please ! Rid yourself of this notion. More free meals are handed out in this town than there are eaters.
Why is the food bank seeing greater demand from suburban areas such as Barrhaven and Orleans ? Could it be because crack cocaine has now found its way into the suburbs and addicts are making choices about feeding their families or feeding their habit ?
A couple of years ago, not too long after he was elected, Mayor Larry got into hot water with the city's bleeding heart lefties and chardonnay socialists for suggesting Ottawans should "stop feeding the pigeons" when asked how he was planning to handle the growing panhandler problem in the By Ward Market and Rideau Centre areas. Apparently referring to panhandlers as "pigeons" wasn't politically correct in the minds of those who make a living from the poverty industry and the other self-appointed apologists for the so-called "weak and downtrodden" .
Last week, Ottawa's Police Chief Vern White addressed the issue when he appeared before a senior citizens' group. While he didn't mention "pigeons" in his talk, he didn't mince words about the city's growing drug problem and how those who dole out spare change to panhandlers are contributing to it. Stop giving them money, he said !
Chief White produced some eye-openers. There isn't a high school in this city that doesn't have its student drug dealers. There isn't a 15-year-old kid in this city who doesn't know where to get drugs at his/her school. Some kids as young as 10 are coming to school with prescription medications pinched from the parents' medicine chest -- which they sell to classmates. You'll be able to read plenty about this crisis in our midst in a major series by reporter Chris Cobb in The Citizen this coming week. If that doesn't open your eyes, Citizen Ellie doesn't know what will !
Crack cocaine and oxycontin are the scourge of our times. Perhaps you've noticed large signs in your local pharmacist's window advising that oxycontin and other narcotics are not kept in the store any more. Those with prescriptions for these meds must call in advance and the pharmacist will order the necessary amount from the secret pharmacy supply house. Why is this happening ? It's because there's been a rash of pharmacy hold-ups by tweakers looking for drugs. Hopefully the signs will discourage this activity and prevent something worse from happening to store staff and innocent shoppers during the course of these robberies.
So, folks ! Take off the blinders. You can be the solution instead of the problem. Keep your spare change in your pocket or purse. Don't feel sorry for them. They don't want your money for food. They want it for drugs ! Don't feed the pigeons.

********

Legendre Watch

It's now 13 business days since Citizen Ellie sent her councillor, Jacques Legendre, an e-mail containing three questions. Citizen Ellie had attended her local community association meeting on June 1, had spoken to the councillor and at his request, fired off the e-mail the following morning.

Citizen Ellie has sent previous e-mails to the councillor -- rarely has there been a response.

In the e-mail in question, Citizen Ellie asked:

1) Why has work ground to a halt on the apartment building at 245 Crichton Street and how long do neighbors have to put up with the current eyesore ?

2) What is happening with the sustainability summit proposed in a motion by Councillors Wilkinson and El-Chantiry in April -- which Council Legendre supported. When is the summit going forward and when will the public be advised?

3) When is the city going to install storm sewers and resurface The Mews Lane so that pedestrians do not have to wade through ankle-deep water during the spring melt and whenever there is a heavy rain ?

None of these are questions which require copious and lengthy research in order to provide answers. Three phone calls from the councillor's office by the councillor's highly-paid staff to the appropriate city departments (also staffed by highly-paid people) should have elicited answers forthwith.

Citizen Ellie thinks 13 days is surely enough time to provide a response. So she's going to keep track of exactly how long it takes. Watch this space. The "Legendre Watch" starts on Monday, June 21.

New posts usually on Sundays

2010-06-06T09:05:00.002-04:00

Increase our taxes....Please.....Please !!!!

Earlier this week, The Ottawa SUN trumpeted on its front page that the majority of Ottawans are quite prepared to pay more property taxes and user fees in order to maintain city services. According to the SUN's exclusive Leger poll, some 43 per cent of us don't mind being bled white by the bloated bureaucracy on Laurier Avenue.

Those of us who are familiar with polling techniques know that the responses depend on how the question is formed. In this case, the question was: Which of the following statements most accurately reflects your view on city taxes today ? a) The city must maintain its current level of city services, even if that means some increases in user fees or taxes; b) I would be willing to see a significant cut in services in order to hold the line on taxes; and c) Neither statement.

This question was put to some 600 adult Ottawans (over age 18) during the period between May 14 and May 21 and according to Leger, their polls are accurate to within +/- 4 per cent 19 times out of 20.

Forty three (43%) of those polled answered "yes" to (a); 28 per cent answered "yes" to (b);

27 per cent answered neither (a) nor (b) and two per cent said they didn't know. Wouldn't these figures indicate that rather than the majority of Ottawans being OK with a tax or user fee hike, the majority falls into the groups which are either not in favor or haven't made up their minds yet. Citizen Ellie suspects that those who haven't made up their minds yet are likely to be opposed to tax and user fee hikes when they finally do make up their minds. If these folk were hoo-haw happy with tax and user fee hikes, they would have answered (a) in the affirmative -- without stalling.

So before the tax-and-spend chardonnay socialists at city hall start dancing, rubbing their hands together and salivating with glee at the prospect of yet another automatic budget increase without having to undertake any measures which might bring relief to ratepayers, they should think again.

City politicians and bureaucrats have long used the spectre of cutting services to justify their laziness with the red pencil and their unwillingness to change the way they do business. Give the public a good scare -- we'll have to close your library; no indoor rinks will operate next winter; your house might burn down because there won't be enough firefighters -- and Joe and Jane Lunchpail will fall into line. Citizen Ellie has heard them all over the years she's been following municipal politics. And it never ceases to amaze her at the number of well-educated, thinking Ottawans who routinely fall for this guff. Could it be that because Ottawa is a civil service town and the bureaucratic mentality of never changing the operating methodology permeates every segment of life in this city ? Would things be different if the private sector dominated Ottawa's economy --like Windsor, for example ?

Some councillors -- Eli El-Chantiry, Marianne Wilkinson and Rick Chiarelli -- are not averse to looking at new ways. Councillors El-Chantiry and Wilkinson moved the motion back in April supporting a " financial sustainability summit" proposed by the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group (Ottawa TAG) and slated for June 22. This motion, to gather input from the public pending review of the Long Range Financial Plan and future budget process, was supported by Councillors Legendre, Feltmate, Deans, Hunter, Wilkinson, McRae, Desroches, El-Chantiry, Bloess, Monette, Bellemare, Bedard, Jellett, Leadman, Quadri, Cullen, Doucet, Hume and Chiarelli. Nays were Councillors Harder ( a surprise) and Holmes (no surprise).

Ottawa TAG has prepared a series of questions for the summit, questions which examine departmental costs with a vew to maintaining services while at the same time implementing a two-year budget freeze -- i.e. "no new money" -- which is what the federal government has done in its budget process.

There are those who say this is impossible -- including the SUN's city hall columnist Susan Sherring -- on the basis that the city's unionized employees won't accept pay cuts or wage freezes. Non-acceptance of taxpayers' financial realities on the part of unionized city workers is a given. but that doesn't mean throwing up one's hands in defeat ! A wage freeze is one potential tool, but there is no need to be concerned about job losses. If staff reductions are necessary, they can be achieved by attrition or staff can be absorbed by a service which needs to grow. Under a "no new money" program, funding for wage increases would have to be found from within a department's existing budget. That's what the feds have told their employees, and Citizen Ellie would not be surprised if something similar occurred at the provincial level. It would mean department heads would have to work harder to eliminate waste and featherbedding. And there's no reason why non-union, management and executive wages can't be frozen. There are too many on the "sunshine list" anyway !

In order to move away from the generic response that a two-year budget freeze would mean taking fire, police and snow plows off the streets, an Ottawa TAG member who holds a Master's degree in Business Administration, has spent a month conducting a line-by-line review of the city's budget. A herculean task and a volume of information has been amassed. Fifty core services, non-core services and administration costs were identified and each of these was broken down into 20 subgroups. There are efficiencies to be had by taking a serious look at spending on promotional items, performance measurement, communications, planning, billing, processing expense claims, office stationery and furniture, procurement, record-keeping etc. Non-core service items. And there's the all too familiar technique of continuing to carry unfilled positions on departmental personnel rosters in order to bolster departmental funds.

Ottawa TAG has determined that $243 million can be found by implementing a 10 per cent reduction in these areas: executive/board/management; non-service administrative excluding Hydro); non-departmental costs (excluding Hydro); administrative costs for core and non-core services; outsourced legal and consulting services (excluding Hydro); some capital costs; some core services (five per cent cut); and non-core services.

Ottawa TAG also believes the city should look at innovative ways of providing services by putting some of these services out by tender to the private sector. Ottawa contracted out its garbage services long ago. And Windsor is currently looking at outsourcing its parking enforcement branch.

One of Ottawa TAG's suggestions which caught Citizen Ellie's eye was using cheaper civilian employees to conduct police reference checks rather than have highly paid police officers do this job. Citizen Ellie knows of at least one jurisdiction in North America where volunteers are used for this purpose -- Yavapai County in Arizona, where the sherriff's department makes good use of volunteers in a number of capacities, including police reference checks.

Financial sustainability is not something to be sneered at, nor should its proponents be summarily written off as a bunch of kooks who know not of which they speak. Citizen Ellie just sent the city her second property tax payment -- total this year was $7,261.20. In return, she gets the bare minimum of snow removal in the winter. In the spring, summer and fall, when snow melts or it rains, her street is ankle-deep in water as there are no storm sewers. Citizen Ellie supports Ottawa TAG's efforts to force serious public discussion of the city's financial sustainability prospects. It would be better for the city to act in a studied fashion now than react in a panic at some later date when the well truly does run dry.

New posts usually on Sundays

2010-05-30T09:29:00.003-04:00

Random Thoughts During an Unseasonal Heatwave........

Reconsider ! Postpone ! Delay ! These are the words which immediately jump to mind when contemplating the decision-making process currently in favor in the council chamber at Ottawa's city hall.
So Councillor (and mayor wannabe) Alex Cullen did not disappoint when he took a look at the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG)'s magnificent plan for Lansdowne Park and loundly proclaimed that any decision on moving forward with the plan should be left to the new council which will be elected on October 25.
We can only hope that he, along with several other councillors who also exhibit a reluctance to make the hard decisions, are put out to pasture by weary taxpayers who've had a bellyful of tax, spend and nothing to show for it.
Citizen Ellie likes the OSEG plan. She also likes Plan E which is one of the five plans for the parkland adjacent to the canal which were released earlier. All of these plans can be viewed on the city's web site and Citizen Ellie suggests that before you make up your mind, take a good look at what's on offer so you'll be in a position to make an informed decision.
Citizen Ellie is also sick and tired of efforts made by certain community groups, aided and abetted by their elected representatives, to "demonize" the principals of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group in the hope that this demonization will turn the citizenry against Lansdowne development.
On the contrary. While public-private partnerships are hated by unions and their left-leaning supporters, most thinking people see such partnerships as a reasonable way of getting things accomplished at a time when public funds are stretched to the limit. It's time everyone realized that the property tax base is not cash cow which can be milked incessantly. When homeowners' property tax payments exceed their mortgage payments, something is drastically wrong with the system.
Citizen Ellie believes it's time to get on with it at Lansdowne. OSEG's design for rehabilitation of the stadium/Civic Centre along with retail and residential components is good for the city and will turn the current wasteland into a showpiece. OSEG has met all the city's requirements, and for someone who wants to be mayor to suggest at this late date, after OSEG has spent a ton of money on architect's fees etc., that decisions be delayed until a new council is in place is a slap in the face to Roger Greenberg, Jeff Hunt et al, and tantamount to asking for another lawsuit. It's no wonder Ottawans shake their heads and snicker when talk turns to municipal affairs.

Shall We Dance ?
Try as hard as he might, Councillor (and mayor wannabe) Alex Cullen can't get his chief opponent (some say shoo-in) for the mayor's chair, Jim Watson, to engage in debate.
Earlier this week Councillor Cullen had a campaign ad in the local newspapers setting out some of the things he would do if elected mayor and he's miffed that Jim Watson hasn't done the same.
One of these items is giving Citizen Ellie and her property taxpaying friends heartburn.
Due to the province uploading some of the costly services it downloaded on municipal ratepayers a decade ago, the city will have approximately $23 million in revenues which it doesn't have to send to Toronto.
One might reasonably expect that this $23 million could come back to the ratepayers in the form of a rebate cheque or perhaps a reduction in next year's taxes. Not if you elect Councillor Cullen as mayor. He has plans for that $23 million and it does not include benefitting Joe and Jane Ratepayer.
He wants to use this money for the homeless. This begs the question: why is homelessness still an issue, given the amount of money governments at all levels collect in the form of taxes, given the much-vaunted social safety net we all pay for, and given the generous donations made to charitable organizations set up to help the less fortunate ? Citizen Ellie is tired of being "guilted" about homelessness by politicos, social agencies and professional do-gooders. How about you ?
But back to Cullen vs. Watson. Jim Watson is a very skilled, wiley politician and he ain't going to engage himself in a pissing contest any time soon

Ottawa Voters' Coalition Event
Citizen Ellie will be MC-ing a "Candidate Focus Session" being presented by the Ottawa Voters' Coalition (OVC) on Saturday, June 12 from 10.30 a.m. to 12 noon at the Royal Oak (800 Hunt Club Road at Uplands Drive).
Ottawa SUN columnist Walter Robinson will open the event, outlining what voters will expect of candidates in the upcoming municipal election on October 25. He will also review the Ottawa Voters' Coalition founding principles which include revamping the governance structure at city hall and establishing term limits for mayor and councillors.
This is a "by reservation only" event -- you can get your name on the list by contacting OVC at: www.ovc.name/candidatefocus.html

New posts usually on Sunday

2010-05-10T08:58:00.003-04:00

Fighting Crime in Ottawa......

A New Edinburgh resident whom we'll refer to as "Citizen Mark" normally stores his bicycle in an area beneath the rear deck of his home. This area is usually secured with a padlock as Citizen Mark's property backs on to one of New Edinburgh's "lanes" -- used by himself and his neighbors to access their garages or other parking for their cars.
Unfortunately for Citizen Mark, the padlock was not in place on the day his bicycle was stolen.
But luck was with Citizen Mark. A couple of days later, he saw an individual riding his stolen bicycle on his street, in front of his house. Imagine the nerve! Talk about criminal returning to scene of the crime !
Citizen Mark, a man of action, immediately jumped into his car and commenced following the stolen bicycle. The first stop -- parking lot of a coffee house on Springfield Road near the Beechwood corner -- where Citizen Mark watched as the guy who'd stolen his bike tried the door handles on about 20 vehicles. Finding none left unlocked, and no easy access to helping himself to stealables, the bicycle thief took off, with Citizen Mark following in his car.
Next stop -- the Union Mission downtown. The thief parked the bicycle outside and went in. Citizen Mark used his cellphone to call Ottawa Police, reporting that he'd not only found his stolen bicycle, but the thief as well.
You'd think that Citizen Mark would be happy he got his bicycle back. He is, but he's also angry that the thief received little more than the proverbial slap on the wrist -- go and steal no more -- after claiming he'd "found" the bicycle.
Turns out that the thief was a tweaker -- one of those crackheads who needs to feed his habit on an almost hourly basis and steals other people's property in order to obtain the wherewithall to do it. In Citizen Mark's view, property crimes are not treated seriously by either the police or the courts and if this continues, it will lead to other types of criminal activity, namely vigilante justice meted out by ordinarily peaceful, law-abiding citizens who are tired of being ripped off.
If you are familiar with the By Ward Market, you're familiar with tweakers. They're the ones with the glassy eyes who hang around at the Pay-n Park kiosks menacing old ladies such as Citizen Ellie who just want to park their cars and buy veggies from the market's vendors without being harassed or threatened. They're the ones who lurk in the stairwells of the city's parking garage demanding "spare change". They're the ones who are quickly turning the By Ward Market area into a "NO GO" zone.
Tweakers are also the ones who break into your home or your car looking for change or anything of value which can be sold on the streets or given in exchange for drugs.
Nowadays we have to turn out homes into fortresses -- motion-sensor security lights, expensive alarm systems, burglar bars on basement windows, stockade-type fences around our yards, gates padlocked from the inside, solid oak entry doors with stainless steel hardware, peepholes in the solid oak entry doors (including the door from garage into house) so we can see who might be trying to get in. We have alarm systems in our cars, not to mention locking wheel nuts and gas caps plus steering wheel and pedal "clubs".
Citizen Ellie knows of what she speaks. She's been the victim of property crime on seven occasions since purchasing her Val-des Monts cottage 30 years ago. In the past two years, she has experienced two break-ins. Last November's, with the attendant vandalism (discharging fire extinguishers inside the place) was the straw that broke the camel's back. Call the MRC des Collines cops ? Might as well forget it -- they can never find the place without a family member leading them to it (strangely the criminals don't seem to have this problem) and they never seem to catch the perpetrators. The solution ? Cottage now sold.
In Citizen Ellie's view, the next logical step in home security is the installation of wrought iron entry/exit door enclosures. If you've seen any news clips on TV from east L.A. or other major U-S citizes, you 've seen these. Citizen Ellie's sister who lives in Cottonwood, Arizona, purchased hers at the local Home Depot. They haven't started to carry them yet at big box home improvement stores in the Ottawa area, but they can be obtained here -- look in the yellow pages under Home Security.
The police budget in Ottawa is huge. The force always seems to be expanding and demanding the latest in technological crime-fighting tools. Chief Vern White now has his own LAV (light armoured vehicle) at a substantial cost to the taxpayers. Despite all the property tax dollars being consumed by policing, ratepayers can't help but feel they're on their own when it comes to protecting their property and their persons from light-fingered tweakers and home invaders.
When Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York City, he made it a priority to change the city's image and set about doing this by ordering the city's various law enforcement agencies to start cracking down on even the smallest offence. People who normally avoided paying for their subway tokens by leaping over the barriers suddenly found themselves being arrested. Obnoxious and threatening beggars were carted off to the slammer. Sleeping in cardboard boxes on 45th. Street was no longer tolerated. Curfews were enforced. Lo and behold a majority of those picked up were found to have criminal records, had jumped bail or were wanted for other offenses. Of course there was the usual hue and cry from the ACLU and other bleeding hearts, but Mayor Rudy persisted and even though he's no longer the mayor, New York City is still a great safe place to visit.
With the municipal election looming in October, it would be interesting to hear what the mayoral and council candidates have to say about cleaning up the city of Ottawa -- please don't pretend that its' reputation as "the big easy" for tweakers, panhandlers and vagrants doesn't exist.
PS: this is a warning to watch your purses and wallets when shopping in area supermarkets. Citizen Ellie knows of three older women who recently had their wallets stolen out of their purses while shopping at the local grocery store. The thieves' modus operandi will be familiar to anyone who has travelled in Europe. One of the thieves distracts the shopper by asking for assistance in finding something or helping to get something down from a high shelf while the other -- sometimes a child -- lifts the wallet from the unsuspecting victim's purse. In Spain, the woman offers a flower or sprig of rosemary to distract the unsuspecting tourist while the child steals the wallet. In Europe, they will come to your front door and use a pretext to get into your house -- emergency need to use the phone, for example -- and if your purse is nearby, your wallet will be taken while you are distracted. Coming soon to Ottawa, perhaps ?

New posts usually on Sundays

2010-04-25T09:56:00.004-04:00

Election Off To Slow Start

Must be hard to come up with a political platform when your one great claim to fame is taxing and spending. Could that be why mayor wannabe Alex Cullen has taken refuge under the cone of silence -- keeping Ottawa ratepayers in the dark as long as possible about what he plans if elected to the city's top job in October ?
Jim Watson, considered the frontrunner in the so-far yawn of a campaign, held his kick-off event a week ago without much fanfare -- but at least we know he's leaning towards the cautionary and the conservative when it comes to new programs and more spending. Watson -- the uncrowned king of the city's new culture of frugality ?
One good thing about this campaign is that property owners are taking more interest. There are now three credible taxpayer organizations on the scene and this is good news for the beleaguered ratepayer.
The Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group (OTAG) has been around the longest and while the organization got off to a slow start, it has come up with a sensible "litmus test" for incumbents and newbies vying for council seats.
"No new money" is their theme -- not "zero means zero" which is unattainable. "No new money" is now the operating imperative at the federal level, and has been somewhat replicated by the province in its latest budget.
"No new money" means that if there's to be a new initiative, it must be funded out of existing departmental budgets. At the federal level, there's a two-year departmental budget freeze and deputy ministers know that new programs and new hires mean staff cuts and program cuts elsewhere in the department in order to fund the new program and new hires. No more automatic dipping into reserves, running a deficit or hands deeper in taxpayer pockets.
OTAG sees no reason why something similar couldn't be implemented at city hall. The Ottawa Citizen's municipal affairs columnist Randall Denley, who's not been an OTAG fan, supports "no new money" and noted in a recent column that such an initiative was an important tool in a move towards fiscal restraint. OTAG is proposing a two-year departmental budget freeze and uses the recent decision to purchase 226 new buses using borrowed money as an example of how it would work.
If the city gave the New Flyer company 226 old buses and received 226 new buses in exchange, it would be a good deal. However in order to get the 226 new buses, the city must cough up $155 million for a depreciating asset. On the assumption that this purchase meets long-term LRT needs, that the costs are accurate, that the interest on the borrowed money is included in the cost, and "long term" means five years, then in August, when the new buses are expected to arrive, OC Transpo should be reducing its parts and labor budget by 15% and taking other measures to ensure that these buses will pay for themselves within five years. The salient point here is that in the private sector, money would not be borrowed to purchase a depreciating asset unless in the long-term, said asset was going to make more money than it cost to buy it with the borrowed money. If OC Transpo can't find the funds through cost reductions within its own house, then because it's a core service, there is a business case to find the money by postponing some capital projects such as the new central library or, by (heaven forbid !) cutting the budgets in other non-core services at city hall such as communications, HR, corporate services, administration, finance etc. Simple. No rocket science required here ! You can learn more about OTAG by accessing their excellent web site at http://www.ottawataxpayer.com/ .
The Ottawa Voters' Coalition (OVC) how has its very professional-looking website up and running and it can be accessed at http://www.ovc.name/ . This organization is interested in governance, recognizing that the current council set-up does not work. OVC advocates redrafting ward boundaries, reducing the number of ward councillors and re-establishing a Board of Control or executive committee which would see the mayor plus four others elected city-wide. Why does the current council set-up not work ? Too few of the current bunch can see beyond their ward boundaries. No " big picture" vision among this crowd and that's been the curse of amalgamation.
The third ratepayer group which has come to the fore is the Carleton Landowners' Association. It represents rural ratepayers who believe (and rightly so) that they were shafted by amalgamation -- in that they're now paying for city services which they don't receive. These are people who chose to live outside the city's boundaries, who chose to live with septic tanks and wells and do without other amenities in order to have lower property taxes. They were dragged into amalgamation kicking and screaming, they've seen their property taxes increase and they're mad !
These three organizations have come together to host a "Taxpayer Cocktail" this afternoon from 3.00 to 5.00 p.m. in the Hungarian House at 43 Capital Drive in Nepean. They're invited all the candidates in the upcoming municipal election to attend and present their platforms.
Only three incumbents -- Councillors Marianne Wilkinson, Doug Thompson and Rick Chiarelli -- are among the attendees but some 17 hopefuls have signed on. Representatives from OTAG, OVC and the Landowners will talk about their respective organizations, MP Pierre Poilievre will address the federal government's departmental budget freeze, MPP Norm Sterling will discuss reforming the municipal electoral process and MPP Lisa MacLeod will speak about the "Truth In Government" Bill coming before the provincial legislature.
Is the poor showing on the part of incumbents a reflection of what seems to be the view held by more than a few of them that they can't be unseated ? Some of them will learn, come October, that this was not the election year to treat voters with disdain. Arrogance doesn't cut it when taxpayer anger reaches the level it has now reached in Ottawa. A lot of us will be going to the polls determined to vote for anyone but the incumbent !

New posts usually on Sundays. Next post on May 9.

2010-04-11T09:51:00.002-04:00

A Fable For Our Time.......

It's the summer of 2011. Ottawans have lived for a year now with a 25 per cent increase in hydro rates which was introduced in the summer of 2010. Interesting things have been happening as the citizenry struggles to make ends meet, having also been burdened with a huge water rate increase, property tax hikes in excess of inflation and a new provincial HST which has added an additional cost to just about everything they purchase, including funerals -- the latter having caused a near-stampede at funeral homes by senior citizens trying to make their "arrangements" prior to the new tax coming into effect.
In an effort to effect economies, lights and electricity-consuming devices have been turned off all over the place.
Canadian Tire can't keep up with the demand for hurricane lanterns, kerosene lamps, lamp oil and candles.
COSTCO outlets are mobbed when gas generators are on sale -- Joe and Jane Lunchpail having learned that it's cheaper to run certain appliances off a gas generator than it is to use hydro.
More people are doing the bulk of their cooking outdoors -- on barbecues, hibachis, turkey fryers and two-burner camp stoves. The smell of propane and charcoal hangs in the air.
The clothesline has made a comeback.
The freezer has become a repository where electricity-sucking X-Boxes, WIIs, PS3's, Game-Boys, computers etc. are stored under lock and key -- only to be brought out on special occasions.
Teenagers no longer hang out at malls. They're needed at home to hang out the laundry which they've washed by hand after they've washed the family's dishes by hand.
In winter, thermostats are turned way down and Stanfield's one-piecers are the latest fashion accessory. People learn to live with sweltering summer temperatures -- movie theatres are packed for every showing because they have air conditioning.
Folks shop for perishable foods and dairy products on a daily basis, having converted from the 15-cubic foot fridge to the bar-sized model which sucks far less juice.
City council no longer frets about cow statues on fromagerie roofs. The problem of unsightly clotheslines in Kanata and Rockcliffe, not to mention the increasing number of rooftop and backyard electricity-generating windmills has their collective knickers in a twist.
Senior citizens are now in demand to give advice and guidance -- especially depression babies who remember what it was like to live with the icebox, the daily shopping, the outdoor clothesline and the hand-cranked radio.............
The premier of Ontario and the mayor of Ottawa congratulate the citizenry for their efforts to conserve electricity. The comes the bad news. Efforts have been so successful that Ottawa Hydro is no longer generating sufficient revenue to meet its operating costs ! Ottawa Hydro must increase its base rate !
Think it can't happen ? Well it just did-- with Ottawa's water/sewer rates. Bad enough that taxpayers are hit with a nine per cent increase in these rates, but now we're going to have to pay a higher base rate because we've taken water conservation to heart and are using less of it in our daily lives.
Citizen Ellie always believed conservation should be rewarded. Silly me ! Apparently this is not the view held by elected officials in the city of Ottawa -- where conserving is deserving of a penalty in the form of an additional hike in water/sewer rates.

Urban Chicken Update

Popular Montreal chef and TV personality Ricardo Lavallee (Ricardo & Friends, 7.00 p.m. Mon.-Fri., The Food Channel) has come out in support of the urban chicken movement.

In the most recent edition of his glossy magazine (Ricardo -- which is found everywhere French-language magazines are sold) he writes of his love for his "poules" (hens), his childhood memories of his sisters feeding the hens his father had introduced to their Quebec backyard and how he hopes to see Montreal and Chambly follow cities such as New York and Vancouver in allowing residents to keep small flocks of hens. Nothing better than stepping out the backdoor into the garden henhouse and gathering some nice fresh eggs for breakfast. If it happened here, in Citizen Ellie's neighborhood we'd have to figure out a way to keep the urban raccoons from getting to the eggs first.

New posts usually on Sundays

2010-03-28T09:20:00.002-04:00

Show Some Leadership

Councillor Rick Chiarelli is to be commended for putting together a motion which calls on city council to freeze wages of all union-exempt city employees . Said freeze would affect the 700-plus members of the city's "sunshine club" ( persons earning more than $100,000.00 per year) along with the mayor and councillors.
In calling for such a freeze, Councillor Chiarelli is following up on actions already taken at the federal and provincial levels. Unfortunately his motion does not go far enough in that unlike what's happened at the senior levels of government, it does not speak to the issue of a wage freeze for the city's unionized staff.
Federal and provincial unionized employees now know their existing collective agreements will be honored until expiry date. But in the next round of negotiations there will be zero, zilch, nada on the table for wage/benefit increases. In fact federal employees may also face an employer proposal to change how their pension plans are funded.
Councillor Chiarelli's motion should be ammended to contain the same language -- collective agreements honored until expiry date. No wage/benefit offers in the next round of bargaining.
Even though Councillor Chiarelli's motion is silent in regard to a wage freeze for the city's unionized workforce, Councillor (and mayor wannabe) Alex Cullen (who's never met a special interest group or union he didn't like) jumped right into the fray stating that he didn't see why unionized city employees ("little guys" as he calls them) should have to bear the burden.
His thought was echoed by Ottawa and District Labor Council boss Sean McKenny, who did a bit of mild sabre-rattling of his own. Boss McKenny is remembered for his involvement in the trumped-up influence-peddling charges brought against Mayor Larry O'Brien which resulted in that farce of a trial in which all charges against Mayor Larry were dismissed.
Why should the city's unionized work force be exempt from a wage freeze after their collective agreements expire ? Why should they be so privileged when just about every ratepayer in the city has had to or will have to make sacrifices and adjust their lifestyle as a result of the recession ? Why are they any different from the seniors who are trying to make ends meet on fixed incomes and fear being forced out of their homes by ever-increasing property taxes ? Why are they any different from unemployed former Nortel workers and Nortel pensioners ? Why are they different from the working poor -- the folks who toil in retail and the hospitality industry for minimum wage ? Why are they any different from young families where one or both parents are working two jobs to keep up, while at the same time seeing their property taxes exceed their mortgage payments ? What makes the city';s unionized workers so special ? It's time they too stepped up to the plate.
Freezing the wages of elected officials an union-exempt staff is the first step the council has to take if it is serious about bringing wage costs under control.
It's an absolute MUST if the city, as the employer, looks ahead to arbitration in the next round of bargaining. An employer has to justify its position, and if union-exempt staff continue to enjoy wage/benefit increases and bonuses, it makes it very hard to argue that unionized workers should be treated differently.
Arbitrators have to consider the following criteria when making awards: a) the employer's ability to pay in light of its fiscal situation; b) the extent to which services may have to be reduced in light of an arbitrator's decision, if current funding and taxation levels are not increased; c) a comparison of the terms and conditions of employment and the nature of the work performed between the affected employee and other comparable employees in the public and private sectors; d) the economic situation in Ontario and its municipalities; and e) the employer's ability to attract and retain qualified employees.
It's no secret that arbitrators in Ontario -- who are mostly university professors or retired judges -- have been picking the taxpayers' pockets for the past 20 years with their wage awards in the province's public sector which includes health care, education and municipalities. The employer's ability to pay has been honored more in the breach than in the observance. Arbitrators charged with the duty of settling labor disputes in the municipal sector seem to view the property owner as having deep pockets just crammed with dollars to pay more and more taxes and user fees.
Citizen Ellie is optimistic that this attitude is about to change. In centres such as Windsor and Oshawa, populated as they are with scores of unemployed auto workers, teachers are having a hard time justifying their wage/benefit demands to their neighbors who are trying to exist on the dole. Not a pretty situation and likely to spread elsewhere in the province.
The wage/benefit award to the first union past the post usually sets the percentage increases for the next one up. So it would behoove council, as the employer, to ensure that whoever is arguing the city's position before an arbitrator is well-prepared, can negate all those arguments that Ottawa's employees should have parity with their Toronto counterparts, and doesn't forget that the property taxpayer is the true employer of the city's workers. The propoerty owner is the "ghost" at the bargaining tasble. If the city's legal and human resources staff are not up to the task, then this would be THE occasion where the hiring of an outside, experienced employer-side negotiator (i.e. a consultant) would be justified.
So lets hope the current bunch warming the seats at the council table demonstrate they have the guts to take on the task. This is way more important than LRT, BRT, Lansdowne Live etc. all lumped together. Please -- no more of this "we can't take on the unions" crybaby attitude. Yes, you can. Freeze the wages of union exempt staff. Set an example by freezing your own wages. Get a negotiating team which is ready to fight hard for a better deal with the unions. Show some leadership !

New posts usually on Sundays

2010-03-20T14:09:00.003-04:00

Scofflaw (1)

Mayor Larry O'Brien is on the right track with his call to move OC Transpo into an "arm's length" relationship with city council.
Mayor Larry envisions OC Transpo operations overseen by a group of appointed "commissioners" -- something like a hospital board but with a bit more power.
The troubled transit operation was in the news again earlier this week -- the Canadian Human Rights Commission levied yet another fine because some bus drivers are still failing to comply with the Commission's order to call out the stops. While $12,000 is pretty small stuff in the grand scheme of city spending, it's giving taxpayers a hissy fit.
The apologist for the bus drivers, Councillor Alex Cullen who, in addition to chairing the city's transit committee, is one of the mayor wanna-be's, appeared on the local TV news to speak to the penalty issue.
Just a few more months until the new fully automated equipment which will announce the stops (equipment which, incidentally is costing taxpayers a bundle) is installed, he advised. It will be operational in the fall. Besides, it's only a few (about 20 per cent) of the drivers who are not calling out the stops. Some 80 per cent are complying. Nothing to worry about here.
Wonder how the councillor would feel if only 80 per cent of the taxpayers paid their property tax. Wonder how he'd feel if his stipend was reduced by 20 per cent. Bet he wishes his visually-impaired nemesis (the gentleman who should be awarded an Order of Canada for his work on behalf of the differently-abled) would take his white cane and his seeing eye dog and disappear into the woodwork.
This situation should have been resolved long ago. And it would have, if only, if only OC Transpo management and their bosses on city council had brass balls.
It would appear OC Transpo management and their city council bosses believe workers who are union members can't be fired. Not true. It may take a little longer to do it and managers need clear support and direction from their superiors.
"Progressive discipline" is how it's done. First comes the verbal warning, then the written warnings, then the 1-day suspension, then the 3-day suspension and if all that fails to correct the peoblem, the discharge. Arbitrators have recognized the difference between "can't do" and "won't do" and there are plenty of precedents for the discipline and eventual discharge of employees who "won't do." Bus drivers who persist in refusing to call out the stops despite being told by their employer to do it fall into the "won't do" category.
Obviously the will to implement progressive discipline in this instance hasn't been there given the fact this has been going on since 2007, when the Canadian Human Rights Commission ordered stops to be called out on OC Transpo routes. Apparently the view at city hall, is that it's easier to stiff the taxpayers for the cost of an expensive automated stop-calling system than it is to insist the workers do the job for which they are being paid. If, back in 2007, city council had advised OC Transpo management that "won't do" wouldn't be tolerated and heads would roll, the stiuation today would be very different. Bus drivers would be calling out the stops and taxpayers wouldn't be shelling out the dough.
Visually-impaired Ottawans are not the only folk who benefit from having bus operators call out the stops. During the winter months, this city's bus windows are so coated with grime that one needs Superman's X-ray vision to see through the dirt and read the street signs.
The mayoral campaign will be in full swing and we'll have heard from Councillor Cullen ad nauseam just about the time Ottawa's buses are supposed to start rolling equipped with the new automated stop-calling system. By October, it will have taken nearly four years for the city to comply with the Camadian Human Rights Commission directive. This was a transit committee matter. Councillor Cullen heads the transit committee. It's not something to be proud of. Where was the leadership ?
Meanwhile, kudos to the visually-impaired complainant who has persisted despite the odds, and to the Canadian Human Rights Commission for making Ottawa's city council look like a bunch of eunuchs.

Scofflaw (2)

Good news this week that the city now has the power to add unpaid fines to property tax bills. Guess what -- there's $23 million of these fines on the books -- enough to pay for a new arena with four ice surfaces, or part of the LRT system, or the Lansdowne Park restoration.
Bad news. There's another $12 million in outstanding fines which the city has more or less written off -- although the city's deputy-treasurer was quoted as saying that these won't be forgotten.
When the news broke earlier in the week a couple of scofflaws (people who scoff at the law by not paying fines levied against them when they've committed an infraction) appeared on local TVnews compalining about the unfairness of it all now that theyll have to pay up.
In Citizen Ellie's view, the only unfairness is that the rest of us taxpayers, who pay our fines promptly, have been carrying these bozos for years. One could perhaps understand it if the scofflaw was destitute. The ones who allowed themselves to be interviewed appeared to be well-fed and well-dressed owners of cars.

New posts usually on Fridays

2010-03-06T10:14:00.002-05:00

New Era Ahead ......As Feds Tighten Belt

"Canadian families and business have accepted the need for restraint. Fairness requires the government too should have to keep costs under control."
Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance

Oh, if only more of our esteemed city councillors had espoused a similar view when the budget decisions were taken last month.
But there's good news on the horizon. The municipal election will be upon us in seven short months and there's every indication there will be a trickle-down effect from the feds' plans to have their employees (who make up a large chunk of this city's labor force) share some of the recession-fighting pain.
Mr. Flaherty's budget couldn't have come at a better time for those of us who want a thorough housecleaning at city hall. It couldn't have come at a worse time for the tax-and-spend chardonnay socialists who dominate council.
Imagine this: Joe Public Servant and his wife Jan (also a public servant) are sitting at their kitchen table looking at the city's interim property tax bill which has just arrived -- payment due on March 18, thank you very much !
Joe and Jan have just learrned that while they will still receive their 1.5 per cent negotiated wage increase this year, they are staring at a two-year wage freeze down the road. Their benefits could also be in for a revamping. Joe and Jan have just learned that their 1.5 per cent wage increase has to come out of their departments' existing budget. There will be no extra monies for wage increases. Wage increases can be covered in only a few ways -- elimination of fat and waste in existing programs, elimination of existing programs or (oh shock !!!) layoffs. Not good news.
Joe and Jan are looking at a property tax increase of 3.77 per cent, and a whole mess of so-called "rate increases" which are, in fact, tax increases which the dunderheads at city hall think they can hide under euphemisms such as "water and sewer charge". Not good news either.
Joe and Jan never thought much about municipal politics in the past. Never bothered to vote in municipal elections. Thanks to regular wage increases, excellent benefit coverage and iron-clad job security, they were able to afford the mortgage on their lovely Glebe home and property tax was just another unpleasantness which had to be faced twice a year. Not any more.
Mr. Flaherty's budget has changed all that. Fearing the worst, Joe and Jan now have to control their costs and suddenly property taxes, sewer and water charges, increased OC Transpo fares and paying for waste removal are front and center. Who are these people who represent us at City Hall ? How come it costs so much to live in this city ?
Joe and Jan are going to start asking these questions now -- starting with their ward councillor. Info, including councillors' e-mail addresses and phone numbers is readily avilable on the city's web site -- www.ottawa.ca. Joe and Jan plan to educate themselves in order to be ready to vote in October.
Joe and Jan also are heeding what economists are saying; next year's federal budget will be even tougher. Those who toil for the feds will be thinking very carefully about the folks they send to city hall for the next four years. There's no place for tax-and-spend social engineers in the reality of the new Ottawa environment. We need real engineers and successful private sector types at city hall who'll go out and really sell Ottawa as a place to do business, attracting good-paying jobs to replace all those which are going to disappear in the federal service, in health care and in education. Something at which the current council has been a dismal failure, just lackadaisically coasting along, thinking the good times would last forever.
We need to elect tough, hard-nosed people who will tell all those organizations which think its their right to tap into the property tax base to get off their duffs, to get out and raise their operating funds in the community or fold up their tents and disappear if they can't make it without a grant or loan from the ratepayers.
Yes, Ottawa was relatively cushioned from the ravages of the recession. But people in other parts of the country who bore the burden have made their feelings known to the Harper government. And while the economy is looking better, happy days are not here again in Ottawa.

Did My Ears Deceive Me ?

Did Citizen Ellie hear it right ? Was that council's queen of social engineering Diane Holmes telling the Great Canadian Theatre Company that they should do a better job of garnering community support when they came to council with their hands out looking for $175,000.00 of taxpayers' money ? Must be an election year, the taxpayers are getting restless and the geriatric councillor is looking for another four years at the trough.

New posts usually on Fridays

2010-02-26T13:52:00.006-05:00

IOC Needs Reforming

Don't normally comment on matters other than municipal, but the International Olympic Committee's snit about our hockey gals' gold medal celebration has really got up my nose.

So some champagne was consumed and some cigars were smoked -- on the sacred Olympic ice surface ! Shame ! Shame ! Couldn't have been worse if the audience had still been in their eats -- which they weren't as they were all out on Vancouver streets cavorting in public places with beer cans in hand !

Guess that in the special world populated by Jacques Rogge, Dick Pound and the rest of the geriatric sexist pigs who dominate the IOC, champagne and cigars are reserved for men only.

But what should we expect from a bunch of has-beens and never-weres who don't think women's ski jumping should be an Olympic event and who now have set their sights on getting rid of women's hockey -- for one reason and one reason only -- it's not considered a seemly sport for women in European countries ! Wonder what the Chinese will have to say about that ?

Paying For Punishment

When was the last time a 70-year-old granny stormed an airplane cockpit, took over the controls and crashed it into a tall building ? Or tried to ignite a shoe bomb or an underwear bomb on a plane for that matter ?

Perhaps Citizen Ellie can be forgiven for thinking that the Canadian Air Traffic Safety Agency believes 70-year-old grannies are a danger to the travelling public --

but her recent experience (not to mention that of several of her elderly friends) travelling to the U-S might suggest otherwise.

Departing Ottawa on her recent travels to the Southwest, Citizen Ellie was pulled out of the security line for the infamous (and very invasive) pat down. As she was at the front of the line waiting in the holding area for U-S Customs and Immigration to open shop at 5 a.m., she had the opportunity to watch the screening of other passengers heading south of the border. Many grey-haired ladies, including a couple in wheelchairs, were pulled over for the pat-down.

Later, on her travels, she encountered other senior ladies from Canada who had similar stories to tell about their experiences with security at other Canadian airports. Two of her Calgary friends were heading to Portland, Ore. for an Anglican Church event. One was given the pat-down and the other was given the pat-down plus had her hands scanned for traces of explosives.

In Citizen Ellie's opinion, this is nothing more than political correctness gone mad. In order not to be accused of racial profiling, innocent people are being subjected to all sorts of indignities at airports in the name of security. Apparently we all have to suffer because some useless twit allowed the underwear bomber to get on a flight in Amsterdam with no luggage and no return ticket.

The Israelis have it right. Shortly after the underwear bomber's failed attempt, while airport security was being ramped up in North America, an Israeli security official told CNN that in his country, they knew who the terrorists were and they were not, as he put it, "holocaust survivors" -- in other words, they were not elderly people. And what's more, as they know who to single out for extreme security measures, he said these suspect individuals don't even get into the airport building !

Yesterday Transport Minister John Baird announced new "taxes" to pay for increased airport security in Canada. That, along with the knowledge that all 70-year-old grannies have been put through the pat-down just in case they might be up to no good makes Citizen Ellie really feel comfortable about flying.

A word to the wise: if you want to avoid having the bells and whistles go off when you walk through the scanner, don't wear the underwire bra while travelling. No underwear means more joy during the pat-down !

New posts usually on Fridays

2010-02-26T09:22:00.004-05:00

Sustainability Is Important

When the money runs out, bad things happen. Hard decisions have to be taken. This is the lesson city managers and elected officials are learning in many U-S cities today.

Citizen Ellie recently returned from a month-long sojourn in the southwest. Her travels took her to Arizona and California -- states which are virtually bankrupt -- like Florida and others in the sunbelt which based their local economies on construction.

"If we build it, the snowbirds will come" was the mantra. Build they did, and the snowbirds came -- lured not only by the prospect of sunshine during the cold winter months, but by attractive sub-prime mortgages which meant Joe Lunchpail, toiling on the line at General Motors, could not only afford his suburban Detroit home, but a little place in the sun which could become the permanent residence after retirement.

But the bottom fell out of the sub-prime mortgage business. General Motors went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Joe Lunchpail joined the ranks of the unemployed. He could barely keep up the mortgage payments on his suburban Detroit home let alone carry the place in the sun.

That's why cities such as Phoenix, Arizona are in such deep doo- doo. Too many foreclosures. Too few people paying property, sales and the myriad of other taxes which keep the city going.

What's to be done ? Drastic cutbacks, that's what.

The good citizens of Phoenix are contemplating the closure of five senior centres, six libraries, 15 recreation centres and two arts centres. Approximately 1,379 city employees, including police (353 sworn officers and 56 civilians) and firefighters (144 sworn and 31 civilians).

Public safety in Phoenix now finds itself on the chopping block because other city departments have been cut to the bone in previous years in order to close budget deficits. And the city's much-vaunted light rail system will not be spared. It's share of funding could be cut by more than $1 million, cancelling late-night weekend service and increasing wait times during some weekday hours.

Phoenix's 90 executives and middle managers have been leading by example. They've pledged to take five days of unpaid furloughs and forgo cost-of-living increases, bonuses and other extra payments totalling seven (7%) per cent over two years. (Citizen Ellie nearly had a heart attack when she read this gem in the Arizona Republic.)

If all these cuts are approved when the city's budget is set in March, it will help close Phoenix's $242 million deficit, balancing the general fund budget through fiscal year 2011. Unlike Ottawa, there's no talk of municipal tax increases here. Nor are they looking to the senior levels of government for help. The state of Arizona is in serious trouble -- to the extent that over half of the state parks will be closed come June of this year -- this in a state which depends greatly on tourist dollars as its revenue base.

Meanwhile, the same type of budget exercise is going on in the city of San Diego, where police horses are being put out to pasture as their contribution towards balancing the budget.

Could we find outselves in the same situation in Ottawa ? Think about this: Dr. No is now in charge at Treasury Board. Stockwell Day's record of managing Alberta's spending speaks for itself. The public service (Ottawa's major employer) won't be expanding during his watch. In fact, it probably will shrink through attrition as retiring baby boomers aren't be replaced, thus sparing Dr. No from nasty encounters with the PS unions, but his Alberta record also indicates he's not shy on this score either. There won't be new government programs as erasing the deficit takes priority. And there will be more pensioners living on fixed incomes in the city.

Think about this: Dalton "The Deciever" McGuinty's government has saddled Ontario with a record deficit. Cost-cutting will soon become necessary at the provincial level and that doesn't bode well for municipalities which have been counting on the province to "upload" more of the social services it "downloaded" on to the property tax base back in the recession of the early 1990s.

Think about this: Ottawa's high-tech sector is a shadow of its former self. As it declined, there hasn't been any movement towards enticing good-paying jobs to the city to replace those which have been lost. The service industry employs a lot of poeple but these are mostly minimum wage jobs -- not good news for the property tax base.

So where is all this expansion going to come from that our city councillors keep talking about -- to justify their pie-in-the-sky tax-sucking projects ? Thank goodness common sense seemed to prevail (for once) when it came to taking a decision on expanding the city's boundaries.

And is anyone at city hall listening to the Parliamentary Budget Office and its message about the greying of the population and its corresponding efffect on revenues ?

In the meantime, Ottawa ratepayers are paying through the nose -- a 3.9 property tax hike PLUS a 10 per cent increase in water and sewer charges, PLUS a new green bin charge, PLUS a hydro meter charge, PLUS an OC Transpo fare increase PLUS a smart water meter charge PLUS those wonderful market value assessment increases. Taxes under any other name are still taxes.

If we're stupid enough to re-elect this same bunch of tax- and- spenders , then we're in for trouble down the road. Maybe not trouble of the magnitude which has befallen many of the major cities south of the border, but trouble just the same. Our councillors would do well to get on their computers and read some U-S newspapers such as the Arizona Republic, the San Diego Times-Union and the Orlando Sentinel and educate themselves as to what can happen when the money runs out. Better yet, most of them should do us all a favor by announcing they're not seeking re-election in order to spend more time with their families.

New posts usually on Fridays.

2010-01-27T11:09:00.002-05:00

Dispatch From The Southwest

(COTTONWOOD, AZ.) Citizen Ellie has been reading the Arizona Republic of late and it's surprising how many similarities can be found between what's going on here in Arizona and what's going on back in Ontario.

Arizona is in deep financial doo-doo. So much so that state parks are being threatened with closure as a budget-balancing measure. Given Dalton "The Deceiver" McGuinty's provincial deficit, can our provincial parks be far behind ?

In Phoenix, the police force expects pink slips to be handed out next week. Currently some 300 police officer positions (vacant due to attrition) remain unfilled and with the pink slips, a total of just over 400 officer positions will be eliminated.

The chickens have come home to roost here and surprise, surprise -- the League of Arizona Cities and Towns (which met yesterday to discuss how local governments are managing unprecedented budget shortfalls) is calling on state government to live within its means during these tough economic times.

Apparently during the past year, cities and towns in Arizona have cut staff, scaled back services and learned to be more efficient to navigate a drop in revenues due to the recession.

According to Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane, city governments "got fat, dumb and sloppy" when times were flush, creating inflated staff levels. Doesn't this sound familiar ! Look at what's happened in Ottawa since amalgamation. Dowries (surpluses) from the smaller municipalities forced by the province into the shotgun marriage with Ottawa have been squandered, staff and salaries have increased and taxpayers, especially those in the rural parts of the city, are royally pissed off ! Taxpayers in the urban areas (where market value assessment hits hardest) are angry too.

Scottsdale's Mayor Lane says the downturn has allowed his city to "go back to where there is a SUSTAINABLE level of government which will carry forward savings for years to come."

In Phoenix, they're talking about recalibrating the city's economy -- moving away from being a second option for Californians and speculative real-estate investment, focusing instead on economic diversity and creating good jobs.

In Citizen Ellie's view, Ottawa needs to get beyond dependency on the federal government (which will shrink over the next few years as the feds cut programs and services in order to eliminate the deficit), construction and the tourism industry for job creation. Ottawa should become more like Houston, Tex., which has moved its focus beyond its core energy sector to fields such as international trade and medical services. Inertia -- the tendency to wait for things to come back the way they were -- doesn't cut it any more.

Ottawa's city council is currently in the midst of budget deliberations. Any tax increase beyond the rate of inflation is not acceptable to the majority of ratepayers, and in this election year, councillors would do well to remember that. "SUSTAINABILITY" should become the new mantra especially when there is evidence that times are not so flush in Ottawa after all !

New postings after February 16

2010-01-19T11:50:00.002-05:00

Random Thoughts....

Councillor Marianne Wilkinson is bringing a very important motion to city council tomorrow, calling for a financial sustainability summit involving council members, city staff and members of the public. She has the support of nine council members. Notably, the chardonnay socialists, the "tax and spend" gang are not on this list.
What's the purpose of such a summit ?
It would determine if current property taxes plus user fees plus the current debt load are affordable -- in other words, can Ottawa ratepayers continue to meet these costs. To do this, a comparison would be made between growth in costs to date resulting from amalgamation and projected growth over a long-term period into the future.
It would examine core services, non-core services and capital projects from the perspective of what the ratepayer can afford. A variety of service delivery models would be looked at as well as financial controls for high-value projects.
It would generate a list of recommendations as to how property tax affordability can be achieved, and it would be left to present and future councils to implement some/all of the recommendations. Today's budget process is based on the current calendar year's rate increase along with new revenue opportunities. The summit would focus on long-term affordability for property taxpayers, reducing costs and achieving high value for tax dollars.
The time is right for such a summit and Citizen Ellie hopes councillors will see the benefit of achieving a ratepayer buy-in for future tax planning.
While it's generally thought that Ottawa's been recession-proof, the truth hardly bears out that belief. One would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to get the message that times are bad for a lot of Ottawans. This message was pounded home on a daily basis in December by the various NGOs operating in the city as they tried to raise funds for Christmas relief.
And those who think the city will continue to grow at the rate seen over the past 20 years should give their heads a shake. The tech sector has lost jobs. And while there have been some small tech start-ups, they don't make up for the loss of Nortel and the disastrous impact that company's shut down has had on its few remaining employees and its pensioners. The feds now have a huge deficit, thanks to a variety of bail-outs which saved this country from the worst of the recession's effects. But make no mistake about it -- steps will be taken by the feds to reduce the deficit and that means cut-backs in programs and services with a corresponding cut-back in number of employees. They may be able to do it through attrition as large numbers of federal public servants are due to retire over the next few years. But this means those retired federal employees will be living on reduced incomes and far less likely to support property tax increases which outpace the rate of inflation. Ottawa has the second-largest senior population in the country --only exceeded by Victoria, BC. The only sure growth coming our way is increased numbers of pensioners on fixed incomes and this surely must be a major consideration when looking at financial sustainability along with the fact that good-paying jobs are disappearing from the Ottawa scene.
There are several costly projects on the drawing boards, not the least of which is the proposed LRT system. The province has earmarked $600 million as its share and Premier Dalton "The Deceiver" McGuinty has made it clear that there ain't no more coming from that source. The feds haven't spoken as yet -- when they do, they probably won't exceed $600 million either. The LRT's costs are already way beyond what was initially projected and if it goes ahead as currently planned, there will be a humungus shortfall to be shouldered by Ottawa ratepayers.
If for no other reason, the LRT's cost alone justifies a financial sustainability summit. Let's hope all councillors do what's right for the taxpayers who are paying the freight.

++++++++++++++++++++++

If the proverbial "Man from Mars" had descended on Ottawa last week, he could hardly be blamed for thinking he'd arrived in the midst of a coronation or a second coming, at least. And second coming it was -- the second coming of Jim Watson, lately a provincial cabinet minister, now a mayoral candidate.

While his entry into the fray will make the campaign more interesting, Citizen Ellie finds the fact he's being joined by three former staffers to be truly fascinating. A "Watson slate" ? Not on your life says he, with his three former minions joining in a chorus of protest.

Citizen Ellie likes these guys. They're youngish, but not as young as now long-in-the-tooth Peter Hume, Rick Chiarelli and Michel Bellemare were when they were first elected.

Perry Simpson is going after the Kanata South seat; Mark Taylor wants to fill Councillor Alex Cullen's shoes in Bay Ward; and Stephen Blais is having a go in Cumberland.

The three all support term limits for councillors -- two four-year-terms is sufficient, they say -- sitting on council should not be a job for life. That in itself is a good reason to elect them.

If only there was an ex-Watson staffer to run against Councillor Jacques Legendre in Rideau-Rockcliffe. Perhaps Citizen Ellie will have to bite the bullet !

++++++++++++++++++++++

Citizen Ellie departs early tomorrow for the southwest where, among other things, she'll have the opportunity to get a first-hand look at LRT systems in Phoenix and San Diego -- where the taxpayers are now complaining about these systems' operating costs -- electricity being somewhat more expensive in the southern U-S than it is here. Posting will resume mid-February.

Posting will resume on February 19

2010-01-08T12:42:00.003-05:00

Another OC Transpo Screw-Up

Wonder why OC Transpo can't meet its operating costs through farebox revenues ?
Turns out the new electronic fareboxes aren't working half the time -- so those wishing to use tickets or pay cash get to ride for free !
Taxpayers screwed again ! And judging from OC Transpo boss Alain Mercier's smirking interview with CTV Ottawa's Norm Fetterly last night (Thursday, January 7)
it's nothing to be concerned about. In fact, Boss Mercier gave every appearance that it was a laughing matter. Well it ain't no laughing matter to Ottawa ratepayers -- who are subsidizing this transit "service" through their property taxes.
Thank goodness for Councillor Bob Monette. He's demanding answers. Where is the chairman of the city's Transit Committee on this issue ? Guess he's just too busy out on the stump promising that if elected mayor next October 25, Ottawans need not worry about another bus strike. There won't be one on his watch, he says.
Now this is one of the finest pieces of political prevarication Citizen Ellie has come across in a long time. Puts one in mind of similar promises made in Toronto during the last municipal election campaign four years ago -- when David Miller and a half-dozen others promised a new era of labor peace if they were elected. Torontonians fell for this garbage -- and what did they get in return ? Garbage ! Great mounds of it ! During the hottest period of the summer ! During the height of tourist season ! That's when Toronto's garbage workers went on strike !
It's interesting to note that David Miller is not seeking another term as mayor. It's also interesting to note that Toronto's council has now prohibited both corporate and union donations to municipal election campaigns so there won't be any in the upcoming campaign. Obviously somebody learned something down there in the "big smoke".
Mayor wannabe Cullen is the very same person who last year trumpeted good news on the transit front -- a deal had been reached between the city and the Amalgamated Transit Union to the effect that all future contract disputes would be settled by binding arbitration. Too bad he didn't have a good pipeline into the union rank and file. We all know what happened to this one. Firstly, union president Andre Corneillier (who apparently committed himself to this binding arbitration deal without consulting his membership) narrowly escaped defeat in last summer's union election. In September, Brother Andre was slapped down again when ATU members voted to retain the conciliation/strike option.
But back to the fare box issue. Presumably Boss Mercier recommended installation of these devices to the city's Transit Committee, which, as we all know, is chaired by Councillor Cullen who is all set to spare no expense on building a light rail tunnel on the fault line which runs beneath the city.
On Wednesday past, the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group (Ottawa TAG) sent a letter to City Council demanding Auditor General Alain Lalonde be empowered to undertake an audit of all activities related to transit.
Their concerns: cancellation of routes and service levels due to maintenance problems; purchase of articulated buses which can't handle Ottawa winters (who was the great genius who chose these ?); doubling costs of capital projects such as the garage-mahal currently under construction; doubling costs of projected projects such as LRT; doubling costs of automated bus announcement system(a cost made necessary by refusal of operators to call out bus stops and the apparent inability of OC Transpo management to discipline operators who refuse to do this part of their job ); expenditure on fines due to OC Transpo management's failure to enforce human rights tribunal decisions re announcing bus stops; questionable fuel purchase contracts; failure to properly monitor sick leave usage; failure to take steps to prevent scheduling operators to ensure maximum overtime; failure to take steps to prevent scheduling of operators when there are no buses to drive; and procurement of fare boxes that don't work -- among other things.
Ottawa TAG's request for a thorough audit has merit, especially since the city is ready to embark on a huge LRT project. Are those in charge at OC Transpo ready to manage a multi-billion dollar LRT system ? And what about the city's Transit Committee ? C'mon, councillors -- let's have a thorough examination of this operation. You want our property taxes to subsidize OC Transpo's operating costs ? Then prove to us with a thorough audit, as Ottawa TAG is requesting, that our tax dollars are being wisely spent by a tough, effective management team.
When citizens are left stranded at bus stops in January because buses aren't running -- allegedly due to maintenance problems; when fareboxes don't work -- resulting in free rides for those who don't use passes; when operators can still get away with refusing to call out stops despite Human Rights tribunal decisions and subsequent fines; when sick leave and ovetime costs are through the roof -- the average taxpayer gags at the thought of what will happen to his/her property taxes when this lot have electric trains to play with.

New posts usually on Fridays

2010-01-01T09:53:00.003-05:00

And So It Begins.....

To all my bl-eaders: health and happiness in 2010.
The editor of the late, lamented, satirical magazine, Frank, coined a well-appointed phrase to describe election campaigns: "the running of the reptiles".
And given that this is the first day of January in a municipal election year, January being the month when candidates for city council normally declare themselves, we can safely say the "reptiles" are in the gate, waiting for the starter's signal.
Councillor Alex Cullen has already made a declaration of sorts -- but he could back off, especially if current provincial Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson decides to seek the mayor's chair. Watson and Cullen would split the liberal/leftie vote, leaving the field clear for Mayor Larry or some other right- of -centre candidate to fill the position. No doubt political strategists for the Cullen and Watson camps have already put their heads together to discuss who has the better chance of unseating the incumbent.
Rumor has it that at least eight of the current councillors will be replaced. At least one has already indicated he plans to retire. Others may choose to go this route too -- retirement being preferable to a trouncing at the polls. Let's see some new faces: some new blood; candidates from among the real movers and shakers in this community; candidates with solid business backgrounds, records of success in their chosen fields; candidates who are prepared to serve two terms and no more.
October 25 is the big day. That's when taxpayers have the opportunity to exact their revenge on a council which, since amalgamation, has squandered taxpayers' money; turned Ottawa into the highest-taxed municipality in the country; turned ratepayers into paupers; where homeowners' property tax bills exceed their mortgage payments; where seniors on pensions have to sell up and move to Smith's Falls or some other location where property tax is still affordable.
It will be an exciting year. Nothing of import will be accomplished at city hall as the "reptiles" attempt to solidify their positions in their wards-- but what the hey -- there's nothing new about that ! That's all this gang has done since amalgamation.
If you're looking to make a New Year's resolution, resolve to vote on October 25. By making the individual effort, you help to ensure a large turnout at the polls. Become a "revolting ratepayer" by joining the growing movement for change at city hall. Better yet, run for office. You are an army of one !

New posts usually on Fridays

2009-12-27T09:01:00.003-05:00

Only A Dream......... ?

It's mid-January 2010. Citizen Ellie is attending a news conference at City Hall. It's the day the BIG announcements are made -- who's planning to run in the upcoming municipal election and who's going to say "goodbye" to municipal politics .
Citizen Ellie is in for a big surprise. She had anticipated that every single one of them --all 23 -- would run again, having become used to life at the trough.
But no ! Here are Councillors Doucet, Brooks, Holmes, Hunter, Wilkinson and Thompson announcing they're leaving city hall in order to spend more time with their great-grandchildren, having missed out on their children and grandchildren's formative years as a result of their committment to civic politics.
Here comes another surprise ! Councillors Hume, Bellemare and Chairelli announce they too are leaving. Time to pursue careers in the real world before it's too late and they're too long in the tooth.
And what to make of this ? Councillors Legendre and Bedard state that tending to city business takes too much time away from their true calling -- ferreting out what they consider to be slights against the Francophone population in the Natonal Capital region. They have decided to become a language police force of two.
What's up here ? Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson isn't quite ready to step up to the microphone to make his announcement. He's tormented by this question: which is better -- being mayor of Ottawa or sitting on the opposition benches at Queen's Park after Dalton "The Deceiver" McGuinty's government is defeated in 2011 ? He's waiting on his personal augurer from Ipsos-Reid to provide the answer. Here comes the carrier pigeon now -- clutching a plain brown envelope in its beak. A hush of anticipation falls over the gathering........
And that's when Citizen Ellie woke up !
Only a few more days and we'll be into 2010. January is the month when we can anticipate electioneering to begin. If you thought the current bunch warming seats at city hall are far too ward-centric, you ain't seen nothing yet ! What's good for the city as a whole will take a back seat -- far, far back -- to ward issues as incumbents work to solidify their re-election prospects.
City finances should be the main issue in the coming election. Councillors are currently wrestling with budget issues -- hoping to limit a tax increase to 4%. But as Walter Robinson wrote not long ago in his Ottawa SUN column, a 4% property tax hike is "hardly an homage to fiscal prudence." A 4 % property tax hike is almost three times the rate of inflation. Many Ottawa ratepayers are already struggling -- witness the increased demands on charitable organizations during the current holiday season and the decrease in contributions from the public and business community. One doesn't have to be a sorcerer's apprentice to read these tea leaves. Friend Walter believes a 4% increase will result in ratepayer revenge at the polls. We can only hope he's right !
Citizen Ellie would like to see electoral reform as a major election issue. Maybe an even bigger issue than city finances. Especially since the current Ontario government led by Dalton "The Deceiver" McGuinty prefers to leave reforms at the municipal level in the hands of those elected at the municipal level. Talk about having the fox guard the henhouse. Does anyone really believe that a bunch of people who sustain themselves by sucking on the public teat are going to vote to limit themselves to two four-year terms ? Certainly not in Ottawa where 13 of the 23 muncipal councillors have been around since before amalgamation -- since before Hector was a pup ! Ottawa's the place where a seat on city council means having a job for life. Only one of the current bunch, Steve Desroches, stated when he was first elected four years ago that he planned to leave after two terms. This is already an election issue in Kingston, where a few councillors took a run at reform earlier this year, only to be defeated by their council colleagues at a city council meeting. Given how city business has been conducted since amalgamation, many Ottawans are beginning to think two four-year terms are more than enough and a wholesale housecleaning is needed at Disneyland on Laurier Avenue.
Ottawa badly needs an executive committee structure -- a return to a Board of Control type of structure where four members of council, along with the mayor, were elected city-wide. Decisions which were good for the city as a whole got made in those days. Things got done. There was no backtracking resulting in expensive lawsuits. There was less posturing by councillors. We lived in a well-run city, not the financially-challenged laughingstock it is today. But this is another decision on governance that the provincial government prefers to leave in the hands of those elected at the municipal level. Mayor Larry brought a high-profile group together (who, incidentally, worked for free) to look at governance but their report now languishes on city hall shelves due to the indifferance of current council members.
Then there's the question of election financing. Currently corporations and unions can give more than one donation to municipal election campaigns. As a corporation/union, then again on an individual basis. You and me -- ordinary ratepayers -- are limited. We can only donate once and it seems to Citizen Ellie that the ordinary ratepayer is left at a disadvantage especially when the situation arises where a councillor can participate and influence the adjudication of property matters where the developer has been a contributor or where the councillor can participate and influence wage/benefit decisions where the union has been a contributor.
The feds, when Jean Chretien was in power, put a stop to this sort of thing. Two provinces. Quebec and Manitoba, have done likewise. Dalton "The Deceiver" McGuinty's government isn't interested in including any such provisions in its propsed "Good Government" Act (Bill 212). Could it be because the provincial Liberals need those corporate and union donations for their election campaign in 2011, especially since "The Deceiver" has lost his teflon coat ?
It will be interesting to see what happens in Toronto where corporate and union donations have been banned in the 2010 municipal election. How can Toronto do it and Ottawa can't ? Didnt'cha know Toronto operates on a special set of rules which allow it to do things on its own while the nation's capital, Ottawa, is lumped in with other Ontario municipalities, major connurbations such as Spencerville, and must wait on the provincial government to act.
Corporate and union donations are very important in a mayoral campaign which can cost upwards of $200,000. Mayor Larry financed much of his campaign (over $150,000) from his own pocket. Mayoral wannabe Alex Cullen prides himself on never having taken a corporate donation for his council campaigns. Citizen Ellie can attest to this fact, having obtained a copy of the councillor's election donation declaration through the city's access to information program. The donors all appear to be private citizens. Whether Councillor Cullen will be able to resist the lure of corporate/union funding should he make good on his promise to seek the mayor's chair remains to be seen.
Given the provincial government's reluctance to move on any of the above issues, where does this leave Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson, who, it is said, is contemplating a return to municipal politics. If he wins the mayor's chair, he isn't likely to promote municipal electoral reform and the report on governance will continue to gather dust. After all, he's had ample opportunity to do it as Minister of Municipal Affairs, what with the Good Government Act and all, but he's always backed off. Something to consider at the polls in the fall.

New posts usually on Fridays

2009-12-14T14:16:00.003-05:00

Public Consultation ? HUMBUG !

City councillors are occupying their next few evenings attending special interest suck-up sessions, otherwise known as "public consultation" -- the idea being that the public is given the opportunity to comment on the city's proposed budget prior to its adoption.

Citizen Ellie attended a couple of these affairs during last year's budget process and came away so disgusted with the whole thing that she just had to take up blogging.

Councillors greeted the special interest presentations with ears pricked up and eyes wide open. But let an ordinary taxpayer take the microphone and seek for relief from incessant spending, eyes glazed over, papers were shuffled and pencils were rolled back and forth -- sending a clear message to the ordinary taxpayer that his/her pleas were falling on deaf ears.

The special interest types were well-prepared. Many had statements printed in large type on cards which they read out when their turn came at the microphone. Many speakers represented the same special interest. Interesting though -- when these folk were asked to explain something or expand on their statements by one of the councillors or city officials in attendance, they couldn't do it. Instead, these special interest group trained seals (who turn up at every budget meeting) repeated the statement which they'd already read out. Citizen Ellie wondered who had prepared the statements, printed up the cards and coached the trained seals. City employees who might suffer dire consequences if council decided to give taxpayers a break and do some cutting ? The mystery remains to this day.

There are many in this city who have genuine needs. But there are also many who adopt the view that they are "entitled " to pick your pocket. They have all sorts of swell ideas about how your hard-earned dollars should be spent. It is from among this group that the socialist cadre on city council derive much of their support.

Take Councillor Alex Cullen's idea that no one who performs a job for the city (whether employed directly by the city or employed by a contractor working for the city) should be paid less than $13.75 per hour. Councillor Cullen put forward this idea earlier this year. In the past couple of weeks, an anti-poverty group known as ACORN, was promoting the same idea. Is it just a coincidence that ACORN's municipal minimum wage position should see the light of day at the same time budget deliberations are under way ?

And what do we know about ACORN ? It's an American outfit that has opened a branch plant in Ottawa. If you followed last year's U-S presidential election, you'd know that ACORN was credited with Barack Obama's election sucess. Indeed, ACORN was President Obama's favorite special interest group -- until some enterprising journalists, equipped with hidden cameras and microphones, walked into a couple of ACORN offices in different U-S cities to discover just what the organization was doing with the tax dollars the organization received for job creation and the like. According to news items about the "sting" which appeared on CNN, FOX News and other media outlets, ACORN job creation counsellors didn't flinch when asked how one could get funding to establish a stable of call girls, not to mention setting up a brothel. They just went ahead and gave advice on how to do it.

Once this juicy stuff hit the media, the ACORN apologist was trotted trotted out -- there would be an investigation, there would be firings, heads most certainly would roll and it was all a plot by conservative, family-values Republicans anyway! It would appear, however, that President Obama has backed away from ACORN, just as he backed away from his long-time pastor, Rev. Josiah Little. President Obama has no time for political liabilities.

If city council wants to save money and give taxpayers a break, it should take a look at a couple of departments where salary/benefit costs are high. The city solicitor's department, for instance. One would think the lawyers employed by the city would be expert in property and contract law. Why then, during the full council's debate on the Lansdowne Live project which, after all, was a property matter, was it necessary to bring in three high-priced lawyers from Borden, Ladner, Gervais LLP to advise council during the process ? If council has no faith in the city's own lawyers, then why bother to maintain a legal department ? Instead, every time a legal issue comes up, retain a lawyer from Borden, Ladner, Gervais. Probably would be cheaper in the long run. No employee benefits, no pension obligations.

Same thing goes for the planning branch. Seems it's necessaryto bring in outside consultants every time the city is involved in a major project. So why maintain a planning staff if second-guessing by consultants is necessary before council approves a plan ? To the person on the outside looking in, it would appear that council has absolutely no faith in its own employees. So why does the "sunshine list" grow longer each year ? That too is a mystery which needs solving.

An Apology

No I was not stricken with H1N1. The fact I haven't posted in a couple of weeks is due in some part to certain obligations which go along with the holiday season when one has a family and is also involved in volunteer activities in the community. I've also had to deal with a major piece of unpleasantness -- my cottage at Lac McFee, Que. was broken into for the second time within an 18-month period. As there was nothing of value left to steal, the criminals resorted to vandalism. I'm not a spring chicken any more and after much soul-searching, I concluded the best course of action would be to put the place on the market and say au revoir to la belle province. So to my loyal bl-eaders, sorry. I'm back -- at least until mid-January when I am off to Phoenix to get all the info on their LRT system, including what the good citizens of that city have learned about how much it costs to run LRT dependent on electricity.

New posts usually on Fridays

2009-11-27T10:15:00.005-05:00

They Say It's Getting Better.....

The city's auditor-general, Alain Lalonde, released his annual report earlier this week. No one was surprised at the details of abuse, scamming and outright fraud perpetrated on the taxpayers by municipal employees who are supposed to be serving the ratepayers rather than picking their pockets.

What Citizen Ellie can't understand is the lack of concern expressed by various councillors. Bay Councillor (and mayor wannabe) Alex Cullen was quoted as saying "It's outrageous." Was this real outrage or was it of the nudge,nudge, wink, wink variety ? Other councillors expressed the view that sick leave abuse and other scams are to be expected, but "things are getting better" since the auditor-general was hired and most managers are now "buying in".

"Things are getting better" isn't good enough for this taxpayer and it probably isn't good enough for most of you who are reading these words at this moment.

Frankly, the rot starts at the top. With a couple of exceptions, the majority of current council members have been around since amalgamation, and a goodly number have been around prior to amalgamation. They are well beyond their "best by" date and hopefully many will be put out to pasture in 2010.

With few exceptions, these councillors have distinguished themselves with their laissez-faire, minimalist approach towards careful husbanding of taxpayers' money.

This laissez-faire, minimalist approach has also been allowed to creep into the bureaucracy at city hall. Lip service may be given to attendance management, but the facts set out in the auditor-general's report, detailing sick leave abuse, speak for themselves.

One wonders what the 174.6 staff in the city's human resources department are doing to earn their keep ? The auditor-general says much of the sick leave is of the Friday/Monday variety. This in itself should be a red flag to any supervisor or manager worth his/her salt. Seasoned HR people will tell you that someone who consistently displays a pattern of sickness on Fridays or Mondays or both has a problem with substance abuse. It likely means you have a boozer on your hands who takes a sick day on Friday to get a head start on the weekend's drinking and needs a sick day on Monday to recover from the hangover and probably is not a 100% performer when on the job.

Seasoned HR people will tell you that in addition to "assisting employees who have problems with sick leave", a good attendance management program should be set up in such a way as to help the employer constructively dismiss the employee who has breached the employment contract by constantly being absent.

Citizen Ellie never ceases to be amazed at the number of people working in the public sector -- a majority of whom are union members with gold-plated sick leave coverage enshrined in their collective agreements -- who see sick leave as an entitlement rather than wage insurance to cover absence from work when one is really and truly sick.

There was a point in time where employees in the federal service could accumulate sick leave which would be paid out at time of retirement. When this practice was abolished, Citizen Ellie's late husband, a federal public servant, had some 360 unused sick days in his bank. Did he lose out ? Those who regularly take their 1.4 sick days per month and use them to visit Aunt Miniie in Buckingham or for some other frivolous purpose would likely say he was a chump for not taking time off.

An attendance management program will never work unless how well/poorly a supervisor/manager is managing his/her employees' attendance becomes part of the supervisor/mnager's performance appraisal and the supervisor/manager's salary is based on how well he/she is performing the job.

It's not that hard to set up, presuming the city has a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) in place. (PeopleSoft is the one Citizen Ellie is most familiar with.) A good HRIS can be used to track absenteeism on a daily/monthly, annual basis. Monthly reports should be provided to the supervisor, the manager, the manager's manager, the city manager, the mayor and councillors. Reviewing absenteeism on a regular basis makes more sense than useless discussion of tanning parlors and whether Shannon Tweed needs a day in her honor. Errant employees should be tracked, sick leave documented, warnings issued and eventually enough evidence is gathered to justify a constructive dismissal.

The real problem at city hall is that no one gets fired. Apparently everyone who leaves gets a golden handshake. Severance is provided even when employees are "invited" to leave for failing to perfom their jobs. Take this example, uncovered by the auditor-general: an employee who spent 95% of her time on the internet texting family and friends and 5% of her time actually working at the job for which she was being paid is kissed goodbye with nine months' salary. What really galls is the fact this person was replaced. Why ? Obviously there wasn't enough work so why hire a replacement ?

HR department staff can't be overworked handling grievances and arbitrations involving employees who've been disciplined since it's apparent that no one -- even the most egregious offenders such as the nine who used sick leave and claimed overtime while moonlighting for their manager's little business on the side -- is ever disciplined. At city hall, the monkeys are running the zoo; the employees are in control; and the taxpayers just pay and pay and pay !

Does This Mean I'll Get An Answer ?

There's new blood in the city's communications department. A triumvirate of seasoned journalists has been hired to put the proper "spin" on doings at city hall.

Chris, Derek and Patrick have their work cut out for them. Making the current council look any better than the sow's ear that it is will be a task of Herculean proportions.

Citizen Ellie has one question: does this mean she will finally get a response to her e-mail query sent months ago to the communications department asking for the number of Ottawa seniors who are currently taking advantage of the city's property tax deferral program.

And Citizen Ellie has this supplementary question: will Chris, Derek and Patrick spend any time educating councillors on just how important it is to answer e-mails from their constituents -- and can Citizen Ellie soon expect a response from Councillor Jacques Legendre re his positions on the city's censorship of the Ottawa Taxpayer Advisory Group's bus ads and a proposed sustainability summit ?

New posts usually on Fridays

2009-11-17T07:51:00.003-05:00

Boo Hoo.............

It's been reported that Councillor Clive Doucet was in tears last night as the Lansdowne Live vote came in. He fought hard against the proposal, misguided or not, but he had the courtesy to apologize to those he may ( may ?) have offended during the campaign and the subsequent grilling of Roger Greenberg during yesterday morning's council session. No such apology forthcoming from that other councillor (and mayor wannabe) whose attacks on the Lansdowne Live proponents were also offensive, to say the least -- but more of that for another day when we examine that individual's fitness to be mayor.

Councillor Doucet had this to say in his final remarks:

"If I have any hard feelings, it's towards the succession of governments that have allowed it (Lansdowne Park) to decay so badly that the public says even a mall is better. It's been misused and abused, but still has wonderful potential."

Councillor Doucet was first elected in 1997 and has warmed a seat at the council table to this day. So doesn't that make him a member of the "sucession of governments " who allowed Lansdowne Park to decay and become a blot on the city ?

It's pretty hard to sympathize with a guy who was part of the problem.

Those who've had the opportunity to get inside the now vacant baseball stadium at the corner of the Vanier Parkway and Innes Road say it's being allowed to go the same route as Lansdowne Park. Decay and disrepair.

If that is true, the current members of city council are allowing it. Will we, at some future time, when there's a debate over what to do with a derelict Lynx Stadium, witness the councillor for the ward in which it sits cry crocodile tears because a "succession of governments" sat back and let it rot ?

New postings usually on Fridays

2009-11-13T09:27:00.003-05:00

Dirty Words....?

Citizen Ellie never knew there were so many dirty words beginning with a "p" until

the Lansdowne Live proposal came down the pike.

Words like "public", "private" and "partnership", especially when combined together. And nothing beats "profit" on the scatology scale according to the jumped- up, "it's all about me", johnny-come-lately's from the Glebe, egged on by their poet-councillor, who've been mouthing off at the two-day "public consultation" sessions at city hall and on the city's website where opinion on the future of Lansdowne Park has been solicited. Some of the comments are not only outrageous, they're flatly untrue.

Opponents of the Lansdowne Live proposal have subjected the four Ottawa community leaders who brought forward to proposal (on their own dime) to character assassination of the worst sort. It's one thing to object to the process -- if sole-sourcing sticks in your craw, say so. But to paint Roger Greenberg, Bill Shenkman, John Ruddy and Jeff Hunt as bad boys who are out to screw the taxpayer is beyond the pale. Personal attacks are the weapon chosen by those who know they can't win their case because their case lacks merit and/or credence.

Wonder if "philanthropy" is one of the dirty "p" words in the Clive Doucet army's lexicon ?

The Greenberg and Shenkman families have contributed more to this city than Doucet and his army ever will in their lifetimes. The amount of philanthropic dollars these two families have poured into Ottawa -- into health care, the arts, sports, culture etc .-- boggles the mind. John Ruddy and Jeff Hunt are no slouches either in the philanthropy business.

We wonder why the best and brightest from Ottawa's business community or from the ranks of the senior public service prefer to give back to the community by serving on the boards of hospitals, United Way etc. rather than seeking election to city council. The excoriation of Roger Greenberg, Bill Shenkman, John Ruddy and Jeff Hunt -- just because they want to do something good for the city -- should answer that question.

Strength In Brotherhood ?

They're not singing "Solidarity Forever" down at the Amalgamated Transit Union hall these days.

Rumor has it that a significant portion of the membership wants Brother Andre Corneillier and his executive removed from office. They also want a forensic audit of the local's finances. And a petition to the International Union is being circulated.

Citizen Ellie spotted trouble ahead after union election results were announced in June. Usually, when union members are satisfied with the work of their executive, said executive is returned to office without opposition. This didn't happen. Brother Andre was opposed in his bid to retain the presidency, and while he did, his opponent got almost as many votes -- the local was clearly split down the middle.

This is not a good sign and if any members of city council think the next round of contract talks with this union will be a cakewalk, they'd better think again. As for the bus-riding public -- prepare to find other means of transportation sometime during 2011 !

Censorship Is Alive and Well in Ottawa

The Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group (Ottawa TAG) has run into a roadblock regarding its proposed bus adverts which were slated to appear this month. Officialdom has imposed censorship -- dictating to the group that unless it changes the content of its ads there won't be any ads. Why aren't the major media and all those "rights" groups picking up on this ? Why is it that ratepayers in this city are being denied their rights ? Is a ratepayers' organization no less a special interest group than a powerful city hall union ?

The issue ? Ottawa TAG wanted to advertise total compensation growth in the city since amalgamation. The city wants the group to advertise salary growth only. What rot !

How can one make sense of municipal spending if total compensation ( benefits, pensions, sick leave, statutory holidays, maternity leave, long-term disability and the like) is not included in the calculation ?

One can only conclude that officialdom doesn't want Ottawa ratepayers to know the truth about what amalgamation has really cost.

And what about the fact that city staff who earn 15% more than private sector employees (and way, way more than pensioners on fixed incomes) are setting tax levels for the rest of us. How many of these tax setters live within the city's boundaries ? Is it fair that people who don't live in the city set tax levels for the rest of us ?

New posts usually on Fridays

2009-11-06T09:22:00.002-05:00

Nail In The Coffin ?

Bad enough that we're forced to separate paper and cardboard, bottles and cans, chicken bones and cabbage leaves. Now they want us to pay for the privilege.

News this week that our esteemed city council plans to impose a "user fee" -- tax by any other name -- had Citizen Ellie looking at her personal budget to see what could be cut in order to cover the $195 extra the city will be charging her to dispose of her trash. Funny ! Citizen Ellie thought garbage collection was a mandated item under the terms of the Municipal Act and thus a service included in what the ratepayer gets in return for his/her property tax dollars.

In order to meet the costs of last year's property tax increase, Citizen Ellie gave up her Ottawa 67s season tickets. Given the latest predictions re next year's city budget , looks like the United Way contribution will now have to go, contributions to her church will be slashed by 50% , and she will have to forego the glass of wine with Sunday dinner in order to ante up the wherewithall to meet the demands of the Laurier Avenue graspers.

News about the new garbage "user fee" came along at the same time as news about the OC Transpo pension shortfall which alone will add another 2.1% to the property tax bill. (The money-losing transit service is seeking a 12.7% increase in its budget, and despite this increase it will still require taxpayer subsidy of 50% of its operating costs.) Just about every other city department is seeking an increase in its budget. And we haven't heard from the really costly ones yet -- social services, fire and police.

Speaking of police, are we getting value for money ? Property owners find themselves responsible for their own security -- installing expensive alarm systems, burglar bars, and stockade fencing with padlocked gates to protect their homes; installing expensive alarm systems, "the club" and other security devices to protect their vehicles -- while at the same time empire building goes on apace at the cop shop.

With regard to the OC Transpo budget, Councillor Alex Cullen (and mayor wannabe) had this to say: "It's a reasonable budget and reflects costs we can't avoid."

Why is it, in Ottawa, that excessive requests for budget increases by city departments are always "costs we can't avoid" ?

Why can't our elected representatives demonstrate they have the balls to start avoiding these costs by emulating their Toronto counterparts who have instructed all departments and agencies in that city to get out their red pencils and start cutting.

Toronto aims to slash $343 million from its operating costs in what's being termed a "big hurt" budget. From the early figures, it would appear that city officials are planning "big hurt" budget in Ottawa too -- but in this city it's big hurt for the taxpayers -- just the opposite of what's going on in Toronto.

Apparently elected officials in that city are not afraid of immediate spending controls, reductions in services, a prolonged hiring freeze, possible layoffs and no new initiatives. The ultimate goal is to shrink their 2010 budget by 5 % compared with this year, with another 5% drop in 2011.

Citizen Ellie would not object to paying $195 extra to cover garbage removal if she believed this additional revenue was really necessary to keep the city going. Citizen Ellie would be a prime candidate to purchase swampland in Florida if that's what she believed.

Fact is that the current council hasn't been taking care of business. Taxpayers' dollars have been frittered away because money management hasn't been their number one priority. What's been their number one priority ? Useless debate over stupidities such as Shannon Tweed Day, pothole inspectors, tanning parlors, Ottawans' consumption of salt, farmer signage requirements, street furniture, city donations to political parties, and such "significant" by-laws covering tree cutting, locking pools, and settling neighborhood squabbles. No talk of line-by-line budget analysis or wage freezes or reduction in services or spending controls of any sort.

This new "user fee" for garbage collection may very well be the final nail in this council's coffin. Judging from letters to the editor in local newspapers this week, plus comment from citizens on local radio talk shows, this one isn't sitting well with taxpayers. It's probably scotched Councillor Peter Hume's chances at the mayor's chair as people tend to blame the messenger who brings the bad news. Unlike Lansdowne Live or the LRT where the figures boggle the mind, this is one cost Joe and Jane Lunchpail understand and they don't like it. At least Ottawa's rural residents have been spared -- chalk one up for the Carleton County Landowners' Association.

New posts usually on Fridays.

2009-10-24T12:06:00.002-04:00

Time for Trusteeship ?

Were you shocked by yesterday's news that the estimated cost of Ottawa's proposed rapid rail transit scheme is now $2.1 billion ? And there's likely more to come. This is only the cost of the first phase.

Those of us who thought the initial price tag of $1.8 billion was beyond reality are no longer fazed by cost predictions coming from city hall. We've come to accept that no one down at the "hall" seems to understand (or care, for that matter) that ratepayers want to know what they're getting into in terms of immediate and future impact on their property taxes when major projects are proposed. In this case, a $700 million increase apparently is a mere bagatelle to those in charge.

Transit Committee Chair (and mayor wannabe) Alex Cullen opined after yesterday's committee meeting that thanks to funds raised by the city going into debt, plus contributions from the other levels of government and gas tax revenues, there would be no immediate impact on property taxes. The key word here is "immediate".

Earler in the week, Councillor Cullen was quoted as saying he wouldn't be falling down from a heart attack once the rapid rail transit cost figures were announced. Of course he wouldn't. Tax and spend is his mantra.

The news about spiraling rapid rail transit cost projections came on the same day we learned OC Transpo needs another great whack of our money next year. Those running this dreadful operation want a12.7% increase in their budget. They say they need more cash from our pockets to pay wage increases, cover Para Transpo costs related to the growth of this service and to make up a $8.1 million employee pension fund shortfall due to stock market fluctuations.

This last one really irritates. What does this say to ratepayers who saw their pension plans and retirement savings eroded by fluctuations in the stock market a year ago ? What does this say to ratepayers whose employers have told them the employer can no longer make pension contributions ? What does this say to former Nortel employees who don't know from one day to the next if they'll be receiving that pension cheque ? What does this say to the countless number of ratepayers in this city who don't enjoy gold-plated pension plans ? Maybe it's time some of those well-paid OC Transpo employees, and that includes bus drivers, bit the bullet.

OC Transpo is the same outfit that will run the rapid rail system if it ever gets off the ground. That's guaranteed to turn it into an even bigger albatross around the necks of ratepayers who are currently subsidizing its operating costs to the tune of more than 50%

OC Transpo doesn't pay its way now and one has to wonder what crystal ball the proponents of rapid rail transit and tunnels under the downtown core are consulting if they think OC Transpo will pay its way in the future. Maybe Tarot cards are telling them OC Transpo's ridership will magically increase to the point where fare box revenues will cover all costs and a subsidy from property taxes will no longer be required. Fat chance !

Ratepayers in Phoenix, Arizona bought into a rapid rail transit scheme a few years back. The cost of the electricity required to run this system has turned out to be prohibitive and Phoenix ratepayers now rue the day they ever went this route. Citizen Ellie obtained this information from someone who lives in the Phoenix area.

Fortunately for us, Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson is standing on guard. He says the $2.1 billion price tag for the first phase is likely unaffordable.

Once again he's expressed the provincial government's concern about what appear to be never-ending cost increases. But no one down at the "hall" is listening.

The province's finance minister, Dwight Duncan, outlined Ontario's serious financial situation earlier in the week. The province is looking at cutbacks -- including cutbacks to social services, health care, education etc. and even the Ontario Drug Benefit isn't sacred. The feds aren't in a much better position and we haven't heard Transport Minister John Baird jumping up and downj with glee over the fact this mass transportation project is going to cost more ....much more ! So why would anyone in their right mind think the two senior levels of government are just panting to pour money into into the rapid rail transit sinkhole in Ottawa ?

According to Ottawa Sun columnist Sue Sherring, the city's on a rapid road to financial ruin. She notes that already $1 million has been allocated in the city's 2009 budget and this will be spent by the end of the year just to get us to this process.

"The money," she wrote in today's column, "appears to flow faster than citizens can pay. Without traying to be alarmist -- it's incredibly scary. And there's no one there leading or reassuring the taxpayers this plan will both work and be affordable."

Right on, Susan. It's downright scary. And since nobody down at the "hall" is listening to Minister Jim's warning, maybe it's time he dusted off his copy of the legislation which allows the senior level of government to step in and take over, putting the city under trusteeship. Unfortunately some fiscally sensible councillors would be impacted, and some councillors' pet special interest groups would howl, but most Ottawa ratepayers would probably welcome the move. They've had it with this council and its free-spending ways! A previous provincial government took such a step when The Ottawa Hospital couldn't get its financial house in order and it turned out for the better. The timing is right -- the next municipal election is a year away -- time enough for a thorough housecleaning.

New posts usually on Fridays.

2009-10-16T12:54:00.002-04:00

Beyond Boondoggling

Citizen Ellie does not normally comment on provincial affairs, there being no dearth of municipal hoo-haw to fill this blog and then some. The E-Health scandal, however, bears comment.

You may think that Ontario Premier Dalton "The Deceiver" McGuinty's management of the province has no direct impact on you. Wrong. As a result of a previous Ontario government downloading a number of formerly provincially-funded social service programs on the municipalities, our property taxes have skyrocketed. (Citizen Ellie refers to Premier McGuinty as "The Deceiver" because he deceived Ontario voters in his first election when he promised there would be no new taxes but implemented the Ontario Health Tax almost immediately after taking office.)

There's a provincial funding formula to guide municipalities in regard to their share of the cost of these social services -- 80% paid by the province, 20% paid by the municipality. That's how it works in most Ontario municipalities -- not so in Ottawa where the generous chardonnay socialists on council thought 20% was not enough in some instances and increased the city's percentage.

Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson ( who may be contemplating another run at the mayor's chair) likes to crow about how the McGuinty government is taking over the funding of the social service programs which were previously downloaded and relieving the poor property taxpayer of this onerous burden. In 2008, that amounted to some $12 million. In 2009, the province will pick up $7 million. In 2010, $19 million will become the province's responsibility, with a further $19 million beling picked up in 2011.

You might think that the uploading would lead to a reduction in property taxes or perhaps no increase. Not on your life ! Ottawa's Long Range Financial Planning Committee directed that these savings be used to first replace unsustainable (one-time) revenues which had been built into the budget; secondly to fund an increase to the contribution for capital works; and thirdly to reduce the impact of inflation on the city budget. No one at City Hall apparently gave thought to reducing the impact of inflation on the property taxpayer's budget. They will, however, tell you that if the city hadn't used the uploading savings to offset elimination of one-time revenues, ratepayers would have faced a 6% increase rather than a 4.9 % in 2008. In other words, we were given these savings back in the form of a lower tax increase. But it should not be forgotten that property tax revenue earmarked at the municipal level to pay for social services freed up loads of bucks the McGuinty government could spend on other things !

And spend they did at E-Health ! With no controls. According to the province's auditor-general, the folks running E-Health had an expense account field day, swanning off to the dog races at Sarasota and other exotic places; billing for every second spent on their coffee breaks -- where they consumed designer muffins and $7 lattes while us taxpayers counted our pennies to find $1.49 for our once-a-week treat of a small double-double and donut at Tim's. Expensive consultants were hired -- who also billed for every second of their coffee and lunch breaks, mileage, and lord knows what else !

It turns out no one was minding the store. It also turns out people were playing fast and loose with E-Health's $800 million computer -- downloading games and using it for other personal activities. The one Citizen Ellie likes best is the Toronto doctor who used the computer linkup in his practice to download an "extreme fighting" series through the $800 million computer. But all is well, taxpayers. The doc has promised he won't do it any more.

Has anyone been fired as a result of all this ? The provincial health minister has resigned, but continues to warm his well-paid seat in the legislature. The E-Health executives have all been sent on their way with golden handshakes. But that's government for you. Heads roll uphill or out the door, pockets stuffed with taxpayer dollars.

Meanwhile the premier smirks his way around the province refusing to call a judicial inquiry into the activities at E-Health. "The Deceiver" faces the electorate in 2010.

Let's hope the electorate has a long memory.

Ottawa ratepayers are invited to a gathering at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Saturday, October 17) on Parliament Hill to protest the E-Health scandal.

Election Help From "The Beyond"

November is municipal election month in Quebec. You've got to hand it to those Quebeckers. They know how to liven up an election campaign.

News from the Saguenay this week that one mayoral candidate has artists in the communities (Chicoutimi, Jonquiere, La Baie) which make up this regional municipality creating voodoo dolls in the likeness of the incumbent mayor, who he hopes to defeat. The dolls are being distributed among the electors. Presumably they come with the necessary pins.

What an idea ! No doubt some of you would like to see Mayor Larry's likeness on voodoo dolls come election time. Citizen Ellie thinks there are other, far more worthy candidates for the honor both at the provincial and municipal levels.

New posts usually on Fridays

2009-10-06T11:39:00.003-04:00

They're Damned Mad !

No one should be surprised at the level of anger being expressed at the Lansdowne Live public consultations.

The future of Landsowne Park is not entirely the cause of this anger. It's the catalyst that's bringing it to the fore. And Citizen Ellie hopes it continues into the upcoming round of public consultations on the budget.

What's the real cause ?

For the 100,000 or so who voted for Larry O'Brien in the last municipal election, they're mad because nearly three years of this council's term has been wasted thanks to a small group of conspirators who decided they didn't care for Larry's politics and set out to "get" him. Instead of dealing with important issues, council sessions became platforms for those who hoped the heat would be such that Mayor Larry would step down, leaving an opening for someone from within to fill the mayor's chair.

For others, the current punitive level of taxation is the bugbear. Pensioners, in particular, are especially concerned because no matter how well one plans for retirement one must face the fact that city taxes are the biggest uncontrolled expense faced by any household because property tax is not tied to household income.One of Citizen Ellie's sources says the city's current operational model results in at least a 5-plus percentage increase every year. The "official number" might be 4.9% as it was last year, but that doesn't take into account the additional bucks flowing into city coffers from that great money-grab, market-value assessment. It doesn't take into consideration the additional bucks flowing into city coffers from water and sewer charges,development fees, user fees and the myriad other surcharges the current council has imposed on taxpayers in recent years.

For others, its the never-ending waste and boondoggling surrounding city projects such as the LRT.

And for others, especially those living in the rural parts of the city, they're angry because they haven't seen any benefit from amalgamation. They are paying city-sized taxes for services they have yet to see. Paved roads, sidewalks, water and sewer come immediately to mind. Most chose to live in what have now become the rural areas within the city's boundaries because they didn't want to pay for a whole mess of services (such as OC Transpo) which they would never need. They've seen their taxes skyrocket.

The good news is that people are starting to organize. There are at least two groups which have taken up the taxpayers' cause -- the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group (Ottawa TAG) and the Carleton County Landowners' Association. And it looks as if these two groups are joining forces. Great. There is strength in numbers.

You might be surprised to learn that Ontario has never completed Ottawa's amalgamation process and there will be a city-wide forum on governance for Ottawa next year. Mayor Larry, mindful of this, commissioned a study on governance which is gathering dust on a shelf at city hall bcause the "lifers" on city council take the poition that they, and only they, know what sort of governance is best for the citizens of Ottawa. (The sort of governance which keeps them in their jobs !)

The Carleton County Landowners have organized three events to help prepare rural input for said forum. Retired Senator Eugene Whelan will speak at the meeting on November 19 at 7 p.m. at the Carp Fairgrounds. Ade Olumide of Ottawa TAG will speak at the November 26 meeting at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Ciommunuity Centre. Councillor Clive Doucet (who has embraced the cause of de-amalgamation) will speak at the meeting on December 3 at 7 p.m. at the Kinburn Community Centre.

One of the problems Ottawa TAG and some members of the Carleton Landowners' Association have is a lack of knowledge of the Ontario Labor Relations Act and its impact on such approaches as privatization. And this goes to the credibility of the organization/s. Take OC Transpo, for example. Some think the solution is privatization -- sell it to a private sector operator who will lower wages, cut staff and implement efficiencies, making the system profitable.

Unfortunately this won't work. When an operation such as OC Transpo is heavily unionized, successors' rights clauses in the Ontario Labor Relations Act come into play. Unless the private sector operator is prepared for and can afford war, the private sector operator has to take the current employees along with their current union contract. Not too many private sector operators are prepared to do this. And unlike Britain's Margaret Thatcher who took on the miners, there are few, if any, politicians at the provincial and municipal levels in Ontario with the brass balls to take on sucessors' rights.

Credibility is a key issue for any organization wanting to take on the "lifers" on city council. And the least little gaffe which opens the door to councillors and their friends in the major media to point their fingers and adopt the familiar oh-so-patronizing attitude that while they work for us, we're too stupid to understand what they do. This can be the killer for any organization trying to change the status quo.

Citizen Ellie's advice to both Ottawa TAG and the Carleton County Landowners is to be very sure of what you speak. Building credibility is the key to success. And the time is ripe for a taxpayer revolt !

New posts usually on Fridays

2009-10-02T15:13:00.006-04:00

Random Thoughts.....

Tooting own trumpet: In a June 27 post, Citizen Ellie quoted a source who told her the membership of the Amalgmated Transit Union (OC Transpo bus drivers etc.) were not interested in giving up their right to strike. The source said the union membership was divided on the issue of arbitration right from the get-go. Citizen Ellie also noted that union president Andre Corneillier and Councillor Alex Cullen were forgetting something important when they trumpeted that a new era of labor peace had arrived at OC Transpo. Like bloodhounds on the scent, they just had to rush to the media with the news that an agreement had been reached. What they forgot to say was that while they might have reached an agreement, it would have no weight until the union membership had the opportunity to vote on it. Given that Brother Andre barely escaped being put out to pasture by his members in June when the local election was held, Citizen Ellie opined that this did not bode well for an agreement substituting binding arbitration for the right to strike. ATU members voted on the issue last week. They didn't give up their right to strike. Was Citizen Ellie right, or what ?

******************

They're not getting it: Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson has tried everything. He's raised the issue of costs. He's raised the security issue. No matter what he says, the powers that be at City Hall forge ahead with LRT planning which includes a tunnel beneath the downtown core. Time for a little plain speaking --in clear language so there can be no misunderstanding. Time to state once and for all that the province has no interest in a tunnel from the Bayview Yards to the University of Ottawa. Time to state once and for all that the province will not be contributing one red cent to the cost of building said tunnel from the Bayview Yards to the University of Ottawa. Time to state that the province recognizes that Ottawa property taxpayers are already overburdened. Save the taxpayers from this folly and they'll be erecting a statue in your honor. Get on with it, Minister Jim !

*******************

A sad sight: Citizen Ellie drives by the baseball stadium (previously known as Lynx Stadium) on an almost daily basis. It's been sitting empty for over a year, and it's reported that the facility is not being properly maintained. It's been suggested by some who've been in the place that the city is allowing it to deterioriate just like the city allowed the Civic Centre complex to deterioriate.

So there's no professional or semi-pro baseball in Ottawa any more. That doesn't mean the stadium couldn't be used for other revenue-generating activities. It would make a wonderful venue for small festivals, such as the jazz and folk festivals. It could have been used as the site for the provincial Little League championships which were held in Ottawa this past summer. It could have been used by a variety of baseball leagues in the city. A deal could have been struck with the nearby Hampton Inn re late night jazz sessions if the jazz festival was held there. A deal could have been struck with the Hampton Inn to accommodate and feed the Little League teams and their parents. These are the kinds of activities a private sector entrepreneur would organize at the stadium. These are the kinds of activities which would generate reveue for the city. Instead, it sits idle. That's what happens when you have a bunch of social engineers running the city. Maintaining assets owned by the taxpayers takes a back seat to exercises in wealth redistribution.

New posts usually on Fridays

2009-09-25T09:47:00.002-04:00

Overbudget ? What's New ?

They haven't even started boring the Alex Cullen Memorial Tunnel deep into the centretown core and we learn that the LRT project is already $100 million over budget !

That same Councillor Cullen, who apparently won't rest until the taxpayers are bled white by this costly transit project, is the same man who earlier this week castigated the mayor and some of his fellow councillors for setting budget efficiency targets for 2010 which he says are "too ambitious."

These folks, he told The Ottawa SUN, want savings instead of resorting to a tax increase. Shame ! Shame !

The council-directed budget efficiency target for 2010 has city staff looking for about $138 million in savings. Almost $47 million has been found, and it's predicted another $22 million can be achieved in 2009 with another $19.4 million in 2010. That leaves the city some $50 million short of reaching its goal. Four city departments -- as yet unnamed -- are missing their targets and the city has created a group to help managers meet the goal. Given the city's penchant for hiring consultants at the drop of a hat, have consultants been hired to oversee this process ? Inquiring minds want to know.

Citizen Ellie wonders if the city's managers are subject to annual performance reviews and if so, surely meeting (or not meeting, as the case might be) departmental budget efficiency targets would be part of the review. It certainly would be in the private sector where managerial fortunes rise and fall on the manager's ability to either meet or exceed budgetary expectations.

Given this bit of news, and the word that the LRT project looks as if it's going to be waaaaaay over budget, Citizen Ellie can only conclude that this extremely important aspect of a manager's job isn't on the line when performance is being reviewed.

One good bit of news is that those councillors keen on saving tax dollars staged a revolt over giving committee chairs an additional $10,000 to spend on consultants --to help these poor overburdened chairs with their new budget duties -- i.e. membership on the audit, budget and finance committee which is headed by Mayor Larry and is supposed to streamline the budget process which, as everyone knows, is a huge joke, except that the taxpayers aren't laughing. This demand for extra cash closely followed the granting of additional funding so committee chairs could bring in an extra person to work half-time in their offices. The money was offered up by Mayor Larry -- money from his office budget which he didn't spend on mayoral activities while off on leave during that farce of a trial.

It's interesting to note that the councillors who wanted to save taxpayers' money are not committee chairs. It's also interesting to note that the money isn't going to be saved anyway. Mayor Larry apparently is going to take those dollars and -- guess what -- hire a consultant who'll be made available to the committee chairs. Just goes to prove old Polish proverb -- if you want to beat a dog you can always find a stick.

On the LRT issue -- enough's been said and written about what all the fumbles are doing to the city's credibility with its two potential partners --the federal and provincial governments. Those current members of council who are contemplating a run for the mayor's chair are probably going to be left twisting in the wind which is likely to sweep through city hall in November 2010.

One Way To Save Taxpayers' Dollars

Apparently charging taxpayers who want to use meeting rooms at city hall to hold budget consultation forums involving council members is the new way to inch a step closer to finding budget efficiencies -- especially if the group organizing the forum favors frugality when it comes to spending taxpayers' dollars.

The Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group (Ottawa TAG) hosted such a forum at city hall on September 15 and subsequently received a bill in the amount of $142.50 from Councillor Alex Cullen -- presumably Ottawa TAG's share of splitting room rental costs.

Ottawa TAG sees this as a cheap shot and Citizen Ellie joins the group in expressing gratitude to Councillors Bob Monette and Rob Jellett for stepping in and picking up this tab. These Councillors have demonstrated that they believe public engagement in the city's governance is a good thing.

Is Ottawa TAG correct in its view that certain members of city council would prefer to see the organization as a threat which must be silenced because its members hold opposing opinions on how taxpayers' dollars are spent ?

Citizen Ellie wonders if a social agency or one of certain councillors' pet special interest groups would be charged a room rental fee if it wanted to hold a budget consultation forum in a city hall meeting room ? What do you think ?

Regular postings usually on Fridays

2009-09-18T09:27:00.002-04:00

It's Budget Time Again.....

Citizen Ellie has returned from a well-deserved vacation in the world centre of civility -- Prince Edward Island -- where the biggest problem confronting Charlottetown's civic leaders was the infestation of wasps in the city centre.

One could not walk on the streets with impunity. Indeed, Citizen Ellie was attacked and stung as she made her way past Province House.

But this was a minor matter when compared to what confronts Ottawans over the next couple of months.

Are we to take a hint from the fact that councillors need to hire extra outside help to assist them through the budget process ? One wonders if this bunch are so clueless that they need to hire outsiders to assist them with their household budgets? Seems simple to Citizen Ellie. Money comes in (salary, wages, pension or the like), money goes out (mortgage, taxes, groceries, car payment, hydro, phone, water, heating, cable/satellite) and what's left over is for savings or discretionary spending. Don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that when more money goes out than comes in, serious trouble lies ahead.

One also wonders what all those six-figure salaried city employees are doing to earn their top dollars ? There's a huge bunch of them. Surely one or two of these folk must understand the budget process and have the ability to present it to council members in the simple terms that they will understand.

The city currently faces a situation where more money is going out than is coming in. A deficit of about $12 million is predicted for the current fiscal year. That doesn't include the $37 million to settle the LRT lawsuit. That doesn't include cost of the bus strike or the arbitration award for which we're still waiting. That doesn't include fixing the west end sewers to put an end to flooded basements. That doesn't include the cost of cleaning up the Ottawa River. Then there are the pie-in-the sky items -- the new transit system (haven't heard a peep from the province or the feds re their share of the funding), and the planned rejuvenation of Lansdowne Park (another money-sucker which is going to make lawyers rich as injunctions are filed to prevent the handing over of one of the choicest pieces of downtown property to a consortium of developers without tender). All of this bodes ill for the residential property taxpayer.

The charade of public consultation regarding the budget will no doubt occur again this year. The charade takes the form of public meetings where the budget is presented and members of the public ostensibly have a say in how their property tax dollars are to be spent. What a farce !

Citizen Ellie attended one of these "consultations" last year. It was presided over by Councillors Michel Bellemare, Jacques Legendre and Georges Bedard. They listened intently when representatives of special interest groups made their presentations. Their eyes glazed over when overburdened taxpayers pleaded for restraint.

It became evident as the evening progressed that some of the special interest group representatives were well-coached and armed with printed statements which they parroted at the microphone/s. If asked to elaborate by one of the councillors, they resorted to re-reading the printed statement over again. One suspected that perhaps they'd had some assistance from CUPE 503 as the special interests being promoted employ numerous CUPE 503 members.

Citizen Ellie is a CNN fan and it's interesting to watch how our neighbors to the south are behaving at "town hall" meetings. Politicians of all stripes are having a hard time of it at these public sessions -- which citizens now refer to as "tea parties", the historical context being the famous Boston Tea Party which gave birth to the slogan "No Taxation Without Representation". Ottawa ratepayers could learn something from this. We've been sheep for far too long. It's time we stood up at a budget session or two or three and told councillors flat out to quit pissing on our legs and telling us that it's raining.

Fiscal restraint. Frugality. Those are the words Ottawa ratepayers want to hear.

Speaking of frugality, Citizen Ellie practised some herself in PEI. Instead of spending $130.00 green fees plus another $20.00 for share of cart, she contented herself with a soda on the clubhouse verandah at plush Crowbush Cove. That's cutting the coat in accordance with the cloth !

New postings usually on Fridays

2009-09-11T12:23:00.002-04:00

Meeting Alert !!!

"Zero means zero: is it possible ?"

Interested Ottawa ratepayers will have the opportunity to hear the issue debated at a meeting on Tuesday, February 15 at 7 p.m. in the Champlain Room at City Hall, 110 Laurier Ave. West.

The meeting is sponsored by the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group and will feature a debate between two Ottawa TAG members and Councillor Alex Cullen plus another individual of his choice.

Ottawa TAG says this will not be a debate about personalities or style. Rather, it's an opportunity to inform the public about the current city council's spending record and its impact on the average household, providing information so that when the next municipal election rolls around in November 2010, ratepayers will be able to judge past and current anti-zero- means- zero actions on city council's part. For some Ottawans, property taxes now exceed their mortgage payments. Unless there's restraint, spending growth means property taxes are likely to double in the next 10 years.

Can you afford that ?

Regular postings will resume next week

2009-08-27T19:49:00.002-04:00

Things To Ponder

Citizen Ellie is off on Saturday to the world centre of civility -- Prince Edward Island -- for a couple of weeks of much-needed R & R. Trying to make sense of the machinations at city hall takes its toll.

In the meantime, September is upon us, people are back from vacation, schools are re-opening and serious trouble may lie just around the corner.

Do you have confidence -- confidence that our civic leaders will not fall apart at the first signs the influenza pandemic has returned ? The response to the recent mini-disaster in the west end of the city left an awful lot to be desired. To be sure, they ordered the garbage trucks out fast enough to clean up the Katrina-like appearance of the afflicted neighborhoods. Some comfort to those who were flooded out for the third time in a dozen years and there's still no word on when the problems which gave rise to the flooding will be rectified.

Citizen Ellie recently re-read John Barry's definitive history of the 1918-19 pandemic, "The Great Influenza". It's grim reading, but it's also useful to learn about the so-called "Spanish flu" killed its way around the world. As they say, those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.

Barry writes about what happened in the U-S. On its first go-round in the spring of 1918, the flu was relatively mild. But when it returned in the fall, it returned with a vengeance. The H1N1 virus of 1918-19 is the same H1N1 virus which started to appear in the spring of this year in different spots around the world -- including Ottawa. It was relatively mild in the spring......

It pays to be a regular CNN viewer. Citizen Ellie learns many things from CNN.

Earlier this week the U-S Surgeon General and the Secretary of Health held a news conference in Washington at which time they advised that some 90,000 Americans could be killed by the flu which is now starting to appear again. They also announced that there might not be enough vaccine to provide the required two doses for everyone. Even worse, there are not enough health care workers to administer the vaccine and it may be necessary to train pharmacists so that they can administer it. There are not enough hospital beds in the U-S to accommodate the numbers who might require them, nor are there enough ventilators. There was an item on CNN the following day stating that H1N1 is now making its presence felt in student residences on U-S college campuses -- 100 students quarantined at Georgia Tech.

We're fortunate in Ottawa to have a steady hand at the helm in the city's health department in the person of Dr. Isra Levy. He advocates regular and vigorous handwashing, sneezing into the elbow

and immediate bed rest if one feels ill. According to medical evidence in Barry's book, those who fared best in 1918-19 were those who took to their beds at the first sign they were sick, and stayed in bed for several days even after the symptoms had disappeared.

No level of government in Canada has as yet released any figures re potential deaths from H1N1 in this country. We are told that there is plenty of vaccine. But given the hospital closures and the corresponding cutbacks in health care, one can't help but wonder if there are enough health care workers here to administer the vaccine. One wonders about hospital bed availability and whether there are enough ventilators.

In the 1918-19 pandemic, pneumonia killed the people. It was not a good death. They gasped and choked. Cyanosis (lack of oxygen) caused victims to turn blue -- dark blue in some cases. They coughed up blood, bled from the nose, ears and eyes. They were unrecognizable. They became delerious and they died. Entire families were consumed. Children were orphaned. In Philadelphia, the gravediggers were either sick or dead which meant that family members of other deceased had to take up shovels and dig the graves for their loved ones. There was a shortage of coffins. Eventually the dead were wrapped in sheets and buried in mass graves.

John Barry concludes that a virtual conspiracy of silence -- i.e. failure by politicians at all levels, and by the media to tell the public the truth about what was happening, contributed greatly to the panic which swept over America. Given the candor of the U-S Surgeon General and the Secretary of Health at this week's news conference, there will be no secrecy this time.

There was a little item on the Business News Network report a couple of weeks ago which caused Citizen Ellie to sit up and take notice. The manufacturing sector in Ontario is in bad shape, but there's a ray of sunshine in the fact that a small company in the Toronto area is working overtime. What 's being manufactured ? Disposable body bags, that's what. Apparently some municipalities are stocking up on these things. Is Ottawa among them ? What do they know that we don't know ?

One last zinger. What bright spark on the opposition benches has concluded that just what the people need in a time of plague and pestilence is another federal election ? Was it the intellectual giant who leads the Liberals or the Obama wanna-be who heads the NDP ? Rather than waste money on a needless election, what the people really need is for the opposition to pressure the government into issuing free boxes of tissues and hand sanitizers ! Now that would be taxpayers' money well-spent !

Regular Friday postings start again on September 18

2009-08-21T11:45:00.002-04:00

Announcements and Pronouncements

People are talking about Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson. Is he or isn't he planning a run at the mayor's chair in 2010 ? He's keeping mum -- only saying that if there's an announcement to be made, he'll be making it in January. In the meantime, we pundits have to keep guessing. It's enough to make one turn to augury (i.e. the study of birds' entrails a la ancient Greeks and Romans) for the answer.

Jeff Polowin, who watches city hall for CJOH, is of the opinion that Minister Jim should state his intentions now. Reason being that the minister has been making spending announcements in regard to projects which directly affect the city. He's also been making pronouncements, some of which do not reflect kindly on current mayor and councillors.

Citizen Ellie reads something else into what's going on.

Citizen Ellie thinks Minister Jim is sending council a very clear message on the proposed LRT system. And that message is: FORGET THE TUNNEL ! He's probably been listening to people like Andy Haydon, and to others who share the same opinion -- the tunnel is a giant sinkhole into which boundless amounts of taxpayers' dollars will be poured to enhance a transit system which does not have the ridership to justify such an expense. Surface LRT is the cheaper alternative and that's what the province wants to see in the plan prior to committing its money. Transport Minister John Baird probably shares similar thoughts.

One does not require the ability to read tea leaves in order to figure this out. The problem is that having come up with what they think is just a dandy little plan, there's a reluctance on the part of councillors to back off, try some sober second thought, and admit it might be just a tad too rich for Ottawa ratepayers. It's unfortunate that the current council has the bad reputation of being indecisive. It makes it extremely hard for those who've supported the tunnel from the get-go to admit that while it would be nice to have, there are other, less costly methods of moving public transit users through centretown. It makes it extremely hard for those who believe cars will immediately disappear from the downtown core once the tunnel is operational to admit they've been living in a fool's paradise.

There was another interesting pronouncement from Minister Jim, one worth examining. This one came right after Mayor Larry was acquitted. The Minister opined that Ottawa's council would do well to work together and concentrate on two or three achievable goals, instead of being all over the place. Citizen Ellie took a hint from this. Could it be that the Minister was issuing a warning -- i.e. get your act together or there might be a trustee sometime in your future ?

Refunds ?

During the past week, Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson reiterated the province's pledge to continue uploading former provincial programs currently being funded through residential property taxes.

By 2018, he said, almost $4 billion worth of these programs, including the really expensive ones --delivery of social services, affordable housing and child care -- will once again be the sole purview of the province.

In 2009, the province will have uploaded $2.3 billion in previously downloaded services -- taking back 75% of the cost of administering public health, half the cost of delivering land ambulance service and the entire cost of Ontario's drug plan and the Ontario Disability Support Program.

Residential property taxpayers throughout the province have been fuming ever since the Mike Harris government effected the downloads in the late 1990s. But none have been fuming as much as those in Ottawa -- where council has consistently ignored the funding formula (80% paid by province, 20% paid by municipality) by generously exceeding the 20% required of municipalities.

If, by some miracle, this burden was lifted from taxpayers' shoulders tomorrow, do you think residential property ratepayers in Ottawa would see a tax reduction or maybe even a freeze ? Not on your life as long as the makeup of council isn't changed. Citizen Ellie bets that the chardonnay socialists see uploading as a windfall and have already spent the money -- in their minds. Another good reason for the winds of change to sweep through city hall in November 2010.

Regular Friday postings will resume after September 14

2009-08-05T12:45:00.003-04:00

Victory for the Right ! Woo-Hoo !

Don't know what's the best way to cook crow -- boiled, broiled, barbecued, sauteed, roasted -- feathers off, feathers on -- but it's a sure bet that more than a few in this town are dining on that particular dish tonight following Justice Douglas Cunningham's "Not Guilty" verdict in Mayor Larry O'Brien's influence peddling trial today.

Citizen Ellie always believed it was a set-up. That Mayor Larry was a marked man from the get-go -- the day he announced he was seeking the mayor's chair. A self-made millionaire, a man who knew what it meant to meet a payroll, a man who expressed concern about the tax and spend mentality prevalent at city hall, a man from the right of the political spectrum -- his candidacy didn't sit well with the lefties who've run things for far too long in this town.

But their hand-picked candidate coudn't defeat him at the polls. So another way had to be found.

Rumor, innuendo, media manipulation, speculation about election misconduct -- these became the weapons of their sneaky game. And it was fun while it lasted. But it went too far.

Ottawa and District Labor Council boss Sean McKenny suddenly found himself in posession of an affidavit from one Terry Kilrea. Good heavens ! What to do ? The media was already all over it. The council members who had indicated to McKenny that they were going to move on it failed to act. Sober second thought, perchance ? So McKenny promptly sent it off to the provincial Attorney General and the Municipal Affairs minister. In the affidavit Kilrea alleged that Mayor Larry had promised him a goodie if he dropped out of the mayor's race.

It was interesting to watch McKenny dancing around outside the courthouse after the verdict this morning. No, no, he told TV journalists. He wasn't motivated by the fact Mayor Larry could be contemplating taking a pitchfork to the Augean stable on Laurier Avenue -- with resulting loss of employment to CUPE 503 members. Of course he wasn't. He was just a good citizen, doing what all good citizens should do -- bringing possible wrongdoing to the attention of higher powers. It was also interesting to see McKenny dance around the question of who supplied him with the affidavit in the first place.

Naturally the sending of the affidavit to Queen's Park was the subject of a McKenny news conference. Score another one for Kilrea, who Justice Cunningham referred to as a "master manipulator of the media." Shortly afterwards, fed up with the blizzard of attacks, Mayor Larry dropped his bombshell. Go ahead, he told authorities, Charge me. And so they did.

Mayor Larry has come out of this with his reputation intact. He fought to keep his good name and in the process he gained the respect of many, many Ottawans for the way he handled himself throughout this sad, unfortunate and totally unnecessary exercise. They were the ones doing the cheering when the "Not Guilty" verdict was handed down.

So go ahead -- enjoy your crow dinner tonight you members of council who worked to undermine Mayor Larry from the day he took office. Enjoy your crow dinner tonight, Terry Kilrea and ODLC bosses. Enjoy your crow dinner tonight you employees at city hall who, with bad grace, cheered every time you thought Mayor Larry received a mortal blow during the trial. As for some of Ottawa's major media types who whipped it into a frenzy -- enjoy your crow dinner tonight too.

What did any of you achieve ? Nothing -- except wasting taxpayers' money, not to mention the court's time, on a trial which if nothing else has vindicated the good judgement of the 141,000 Ottawans who voted for Mayor Larry in the first place.

Posting usually on Mondays during the summer months

2009-08-03T09:59:00.002-04:00

Blame Game

You wouldn't be faulted if, last week, while passing through parts of Stittsville, Glencairn and Beaverbrook, you thought you'd travelled back in time and found yourself in New Orleans Lower 9th. Ward after the Hurrican Katrina catastrophe.

Deja vu all over again. The smell. Sewage-logged clothing, furniture and personal posessions on front lawns. Soggy carpets and mouldy drywall. All the detritus left behind after a flood.

If you were among the 900 affected families, you wouldn't be faulted either if you thought you too had travelled back in time and were in New Orleans' Katrina-ravaged Lower 9th. Ward -- waiting for help which never seemed to come.

The flooding on July 24 -- after a month of almost daily heavy rainfall -- was a disaster of major proportions to the families now dealing with the aftermath.

But it wasn't the proverbial 100-year storm which caused the damage. And calling it that was a pretty shabby attempt by city bosses to absolve themselves of any blame for the situation.

For your information, "100-year storm" is a term used by civil engineers when designing a structure -- whether it be a bridge, a building, a levee etc. "Will it withstand the 100-year storm" they ask as they contemplate the blueprints. The hurricane which devastated Galveston, Texas back in the 1890s -- with a tremendous loss of life -- was a 100-year storm. Hurricane Katrina wasn't a 100-year storm -- but it had something in common with the Galveston storm. In both cases, the cities involved had allowed urban development in areas which would be ravaged if the big one hit -- a fact well understood by experts of the day but ignored by municipal authorities and the developers who were allowed to go ahead and build. Just like the city of Ottawa has allowed development on flood plains and wetlands.

The city dropped the ball on July 24. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Those supposedly in charge didn't enact emergency measures despite hundreds of calls to the 311 emergency number.

It became apparent early on that there were cracks -- chasms even -- in the city's emergency preparedness system

Why did it take five days for city staff/councillors to get to where they should have been after only one or two days at the most. Why couldn't city staff communicate with each other ? Countless tax dollars and staff hours have been devoted to emergency preparedness training over the years. Is the system breakdown in this case an indication that such training has been a waste of money ?

It begs this question: if city staff and councillors didn't realize they had a crisis on their hands following the torrent of 911 calls on July 24, how will they react when the really big disaster/emergency situation occurs ? Doesn't leave one feeling confident they're taking care of business down at city hall -- especially when we may be facing a real emergency if the H1N1 flu has a resugence in the fall, as many experts predict.

Are Ottawa ratepayers getting good value in return for the ever-escalating salaries and wages paid to city staff ? The July 24 fiasco would indicate the negative.

Here are some figures for you to contemplate from the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group:

In 2007, the City Manager's office had a salary/wage/benefit budget of $3,913.000 for 35 FTEs ( FTE==Full-time Equivalent). That's $118,800 per person. The average city salary is $78,000.

In 2008, Emergency Measures salary/wage/benefit budget was $502,127 as compared with $215,653 in 2001. That's a 132% increase.

In 2007, Emergency Management had a salary/wage/benefit budget of $482,000 for 5.33 FTEs.

That's $90,431 per person.

In 2008, the salary/wage/benefit in Public Health Services was $36,806,448 as compared with $13,750,490 in 2001. That's a 167% increase.

In 2008, the salary/wage/benefit budget in Protective Inspections was $20,470,438 as compared with $3,707,382 in 2001. That's a 452% increase.

Now some of these percentage increases can be explained away by amalgamation. But we should still be asking if we're getting value for money -- given the slow response, and lack of proactive communication in the July 24 disaster. Then there's the question of inadequate infrastructure. The ground was saturated with water, the sewers were compromised and the resulting backup went into people's basements -- the third such occurrance, in some cases, over the past 20 years. People who paid municipal taxes for years are now left with uninsurable and probably unsellable houses. Some return on their tax dollars !

The city must be faulted for continuing to allow developers to fill in wetlands and build on flood plains -- against recommendations from envirnmental experts and even their own engineers.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that when natural areas for water dispersement are filled in to accommodate development, basements will be flooded somewhere.

Election Fever

Guess who wants to spend $5 million to have a by-election should Mayor Larry be found guilty when the judge hands down his decision this coming Wednesday ? Why it's none other than tax and spend Councillor Alex Cullen who's positively panting to don the robes and chain of office. Could it be he knows he won't get the appointment from within if that's the route council chooses if Mayor Larry has to be replaced ?

Party On....

Observed OPP brass, decked out in smart uniforms, quaffing free samples of Dewar's finest at the Glengarry Highland Games on Saturday past. Commissioner Julian Fantino officially opened the games and droned on and on and on.....perhaps he thought he was there to give his annual report to the taxpayers of Ontario..... when all the audience wanted was for him to get on with it so the massed pipe bands could take the field Anyway, Citizen Ellie had to wonder who would be doing the driving when the party ended.....

Postings usually on Monday during summer months

2009-07-27T12:08:00.002-04:00

Whichever Way The Wind Blows

What qualities should we be looking for in our next mayor -- when the next municipal election is held in November 2010 ?

Citizen Ellie would like to see someone in the job who's had experience running a business and meeting a payroll. Someone who can make a decision and live with it, not changing their mind whenever some group comes along which doesn't like it. Someone who's prepared to put the interests of property taxpayers first, not kowtowing to special interest groups. Someone who recognizes that not every property taxpayer in Ottawa enjoys the comfort and security of a well-paid government job replete with a rich benefit package. Someone who recognizes that senior citizens on pension have seen their incomes drop by 20% since last September, that 19,000 Nortel pensioners living in the area may soon have no pensions. Someone who understands the difference between "must haves" such as snow removal, storm and sanitary sewers, garbage collection, police and fire protection, road and infrastructure maintenance and "nice to haves" such as city-funded community gardens, city-funded museoparks, city-fundedconcert halls etc. Someone who is prepared to say "No".

There's a lot of politicking going on at City Hall right now even though council is hiatus for the summer. The politically ambitious, sensing they might get a leg up on opponents, are angling to fill the mayor's chair on an interim basis should Mayor Larry get bad news on August 12.

In Citizen Ellie's view, councillors who have made the decision to seek the mayor's chair in November 2010, should declare themselves now and step aside -- letting someone else take on the interim role. The playing field should be level, going into the next election. Occupying the seat on an interim basis creates an unfair advantage.

And do you really want someone in this post -- even for a short period of time -- who makes decisions based on whichever way the wind is blowing ?

Take Councillor Cullen, for example. As chair of the city's Transportation Committee -- the committee which oversees all things OC Transpo -- he voted in favor of raising the price of student bus passes. There was some flak from U of O President Alan Rock and some student agitation -- particularly on behalf of aging post-graduate students. Apparently one can be in one's 40s and still qualify for a student bus pass if one is attending uni. (Citizen Ellie must look into this. Are student passes cheaper than seniors ? If so, Citizen Ellie will immediately register to pursue her Spanish conversation classes at the university level rather than continue them at a city facility.)

Then there was Councillor Cullen, on TV, wearing a cycling suit, stating that he'd experienced an epiphany and would move reconsideration at the next council meeting. Was the cycling suit for real or was he wearing it to show support for the five who were seriously injured in the March Road incident only days earlier ? Citizen Ellie thought Councillor Clive Doucet had the cycling fraternity in the palm of his hand.

These epiphanies are frequent at city hall and Councillor Cullen is not the only one who "sees the light" from time to time. Problem is that said epiphanies tend to end up costing us taxpayers money.

There's also been talk of bringing back someone with experience -- such as former Mayor Bob Chiarelli to fill in on an interim basis. Personally Citizen Ellie would prefer it if former Nepean reeve/mayor Andy Haydon would step in should it become necessary to fill Mayor Larry's shoes.

Summer posts usually on Mondays

2009-07-19T09:15:00.002-04:00

Go Ahead -- Laugh and Jeer. The Last Laugh May Be On You !

What should we make of the effort on the part of some city politicians and local columnists to portray individuals and organizations as kooks and weirdos, lacking credibility because they dare to express concern with the high level of property tax rates in Ottawa ?

Should we back off, stifle ourselves -- as Archie Bunker used to say ? Or should we keep up the campaign ?

It's interesting to note once the word got out that the Ottawa Taxpayers' Advocacy Group was planning a series of bus ads on the subject of property taxes, the city's largest union -- CUPE 503 -- immediately sprang into action with an ad campaign of its own. CUPE 503 must have a huge war chest as it can afford TV ads during prime time. A favorite spot is on Ottawa's most watched newscast -- with Max and Carol Anne at 6 p.m. on CTV. These spots don't come cheap. Could it be that CUPE 503 is worried ? Is this a sign that Ottawa's property tax fighters are gaining an audience and rather than lacking in credibility, they're building up a base of like-minded citizens?

Citizen Ellie is not ashamed to admit she voted for Larry O'Brien. Not because she believed in "zero means zero". That was unrealistic and she knew it. Instead, she wanted to see someone in the mayor's chair who had some business smarts, who would run city hall like a business, who would treat taxpayers as shareholders and not as cash cows to be milked in order to please every special interest group that comes along, looking for a handout.

What's wrong with expecting the city to act like every other enterprise in these tough economic times --tighten budgets and decrease expenditures. Common sense dictates that's what you have to do during a recession. Lord knows we've all had to do it at home and at our place of business -- unless city hall's your place of business. (Rumor has it that belt-tightening and expenditure control have even come to major media outlets-- which makes it hard for us ordinary folk to understand why applying the concept at city hall would be so foreign.)

Instead, we've had to listen to the same old guff from columnists and "he who wants to be mayor", Councillor Alex Cullen. We're told that our taxes are high because the province downloaded social programs such as housing and welfare on to the municipalities. True -- the formula is 80% paid by province, 20% paid by the municipality. Every Ontario municipality has had to deal with this. It's not unique to Ottawa. But Ottawa didn't have to exceed the 20% mandated by the province. That was a decision taken by our overly-generous city council.

We're told the feds don't pay their share. We get grants in lieu of taxes. City pols and columnists wail that if property tax was paid on every federal building in the city, more revenue would flow into city hall and our property taxes would be less. That mouldy oldie's been around forever. But nobody talks about the extras for which Ottawans would have to pay if we weren't the nation's capital. Do you honestly believe there would be five world-class museums, a world class art gallery, a world class performing arts centre, an experimental farm, manicured parks, flower-lined parkways and a national park within a half-hour's drive if the tab for all these amenities wasn't being picked up by the taxpayers of Canada ?

City council approved a 4.9% increase in property tax this year. But nobody -- city pols or columnists -- talks about the "hidden" revenue which flooded into the city's coffers as a result of the lifting of the provincial freeze on market value assessments in January. The 4.9% increase is small beer compared to the double-digit tax increases seen in the older sections of the city where market value assessment has had a dramatic effect on property tax levels . Just wait until next year -- market value assessments will increase once again and you may find yourself in the unfortunate position where your property tax exceeds your mortgage payment. Can't happen ? Don't be so sure. Will you be able to sell your house for its asessed value ? Don't be too sure of that either. One thing you can be sure of -- there will be no tax refund if you don't.

So what is council spending our money on ? Perhaps the new finance and audit committee will shed some light on why we're being taxed into the poorhouse -- if they can get their act together.

Thanks to attending some meetings during the budget process last fall,Citizen Ellie knows why. Councillors listen with interest when special interest group representatives take the microphone, but their eyes glaze over when someone tries to plead the taxpayers' case.

Electoral Reform ? Not !

Kingston's city council rejected a proposal to eliminate the ward system and elect councillors-at-large by a 9-4 vote at its July 14 meeting.

Proponents of the change say they're going to make it an issue when the next municipal election rolls around in November 2010.

Something's not right about leaving question of electoral reform to be decided by those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Naturally they're not going to favor any change which might affect their prospects of re-election.

A better way would be to allow the electors to have a say -- by putting a proposition on the ballot at election time. Wouldn't cost much and might have the benefit of generating more interest in municipal elections where voter turnout can be described as dismal at best.

Summer postings usually on Mondays