From day one this mayoral campaign, the Ottawa Citizen has made it clear that they will only “focus on who they considered contenders for mayor in Jim Watson and Larry O’Brien.” They wanted to do very little to appeal to alternative frames of mind away from the O’Watson campaigns and encourage the Jim and Larry show; well, that might have worked to an extent, but did they ever fire a missed shot on transit issues in Ottawa.
(You might ask yourself why I am saying O’Watson a lot. Most of what Jim Watson is proposing is “stay the course” mentality. He has the same transit plan as Larry O’Brien with absolutely no deviation. None.)
Jennifer Green released a “news” piece on October 17th titled Transit tops voters issues, that boasts that transit issues needed to be found and then gushed over this proposed transit tunnel idea for downtown. My issue is with the poll finding anything about transit is only slightly insulting to the general public. Of course transit is the number one issue; we are not far from the second year anniversary of a long and bitter transit strike – and the Amalgamated Transit Union still does not have a contract in hand.
So why am I incensed this time?
That is what O’Watson and the editors of the Ottawa Citizen simply do not want people to see and/or comprehend. This simple image put together by the Clive Doucet team explains how Light Rail Transit goes from vision to putting butts in seats within four years. The cost of this will be less than 1/3 of the total cost of the mistake that is the O’Watson plan.
Now, O’Watson, Haydon and even some public will say “but a tunnel downtown will help congestion!” I do not buy it. The tunnel downtown will take pressure off of Slater and Albert streets during rush hour, but very little else will change in the core. The City of Ottawa, under the other three former mayors, will not give affordable, cost effective and reliable transit to their citizens until 2031 at the very earliest. What we require in Ottawa is a viable transit option now. We need something that can connect the major suburbs and offer solutions to driving downtown 365 days out of the year. That is the only way to reduce congestion within the core of our city.
There will likely be someone who says “but if we cancel the tunnel plan now, the tax payer is on the hook for millions in penalties!” No, the City of Ottawa is not on the hook for anything. There is nothing done other than some talking and a couple of surveys to see if it is possible or not. Even the findings from the geological surveys are not made public. The only thing that we know for certain about this tunnel is that O’Watson thinks it is a good idea to spend billions for a long shot when we are all old and grey rather than millions on a sure bet now.
The Ottawa Citizen missed on this one. Painting the election about transit and missing the only real contender and patron of transit solutions in the picture. Sure, I am bias, but if anyone came to me with a transit plan that saw me sitting in a train across the city in four years with a young child of my own rather than having my adult child join me for the first ride many years from now, I would sign on with their campaign too.
W.
Edit: Borrowed this graphic from @alexlaq on Twitter:
Edit: Borrowed this graphic from @alexlaq on Twitter:
