Here we are. Hours before the election and I am in a place that is both familiar and otherworldly. The familiar is that I am sitting in the ramshackle office in my apartment that has seen a serious cleaning in weeks. The otherworldly is the closeness to the campaign trail and the political geography of Ottawa’s municipal election; I honestly had little intention early on to be this active. A few years ago I would have likely explained it as simply a state of liminality. In less than 20 hours we will all know who the mayor of Ottawa is and soon after that I do not know what the future holds for me. I started volunteering in the midst of looking for employment and wanted to feel useful only to land into something that has been truly life changing. Otherwise, this thread is less about me and more about the challenge of electing a candidate some would have called unlikely who has made a push into the top two.
So, why do I want you to vote for Clive Doucet? I honestly had typed a tome, but I know that tomorrow’s frantic pace most will only glance. So here is why I voted for Clive during the advanced polling.
1) He has not only an immediate plan to fix transit issues, but one that pulls Ottawa into the 21st century. It will connect the city, pay for itself and should generate income for the city of Ottawa if other examples prove to stand true for here. Short of is that a tunnel and LRT 20 years from now will not resolve congestion both downtown and on the 417/174. It might take buses off the streets, but in 20 years, they’ll be replaced by many more cars. Give commuters real options to leave the car at home for the 9-5 and take a train to and from downtown efficiently, quickly and use the money from it to expand and/or drive other initiatives.
2) He believes in community connectedness. I moved here 14 years ago after living in the village of Wellington Ontario (1200 people). I noticed right away that getting to know my neighbours was not common and I never really had any place nearby to go and meet with them. A farmer’s market nearby would be an excellent start!
3) He does not like that local farmers need to ship their food to major food terminals in Montreal and Toronto before the goods are purchased and shipped back to Ottawa’s supermarkets. As such, he wants to build a food terminal here. This will help bring down cost overheads, provide Ottawa with fresher ingredients and can help the restaurant industry flourish.
4) His City that Knows Value plank is not only honest about spending in Ottawa, but achievable. No 0 means 0 hear boondoggle. Combined with his transit plan costing a fraction of the tunnel (savings) with his idea of the City of Ottawa act that united larger municipalities to petition for a reasonable share of provincial taxes (more savings), potential to growth increases with taxes plateauing. However, he also wants the city to live within its means and to never spend over the cost of living whenever possible. That’s money from LRT, money from province and then work tax rates to cost of living? I can get behind that despite I am a little more socialist on tax spending that Clive is.
5) He wants to start changing how Ottawa lives in social housing space. Units suited for families and family size, geared to the right income and not just a Band-Aid for a sucking chest wound. How many social housing projects can go into the cost of a tunnel under downtown that will not fix our city congestion?
That is it. There are more planks to Clive’s campaign that you can look at here, but these are the main ones for me as a voter. These are the ones I and my wife care about most and that we have kicked around for months.
So, tomorrow, polls open at 10am and close at 8pm. Find your local polling station here. Also, if you are not sure if you are registered that does not matter. If you reside in Ottawa, you will need ID, but check here for the details as well.
Hopefully tomorrow you choose the same mayor I did and on Tuesday we all wake up in a new era for the City of Ottawa. Oh, you are likely wondering about the title of the blog. Here’s the reference. Pardon my poor video quality, I forgot to flip my iPhone to its side to take it.
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