Fast Cleanup for Sewage Spill Legal Process?

Following up from my earlier post, I was pleased to see that our mayor, Larry O'Brien, plans to have the City of Ottawa plead guilty to the 2006 sewage spill charge. The first benefit is that it saves the costs of defending against the charge. Of course that will mean a possibly large fine will be assessed, which as I had argued could harm Ottawa and its taxpayers.

I am guessing he would only be taking this route if he has received some verbal assurance from the province that the assessed fine would be applied back to the city's infrastructure budget. O'Brien was quoted as saying that this was his hope, though I don't have a link for that (heard it on the radio). I don't know if the court could make this ruling directly or if the province would have to grant the money back to the city as a separate action.

Hopefully this is how it all turns out, and is what I had suggested as the best outcome. It would be nice to believe the mayor reads this blog but I very much doubt that! Perhaps contrary to typical political thinking, sensibility has prevailed at both levels of government. Now that would be a welcome change.