Political Parties and Ottawa City Council

With Larry O'Brien back in the mayor's office, there is an opportunity to get back to business as usual at Ottawa City Hall. This is a very depressing prospect since Council and our city government are less than stellar performers. We get poor governance, poor representation, poor management and, therefore, poor results. Some of this is presented in a few stark numbers by John Ivison in the National Post. Those numbers may be slightly misleading, by not considering Ottawa's particularly unique situation, but are a regrettably believable indicator of systemic problems. I was personally against Nepean becoming part of Ottawa in days gone by because of Ottawa's fiscal mismanagement and Council incompetence. Rather than learn from the municipalities that got rolled into Ottawa, all of us rolling in the same pig sty that was once kept at a comfortable distance.

I voted for O'Brien since I wanted a leader that would at least promote a business-like approach to government. However I had few illusions, knowing that he had no political experience and his top-down management style could not work without some serious modification. Still, something was better than nothing. Time has proven that he has been ineffective in reigning in spending and administrative inefficiency, which is disappointing while also being unsurprising. I think he's learned a few things during his tenure about leading a fractious Council and directing a recalcitrant bureaucracy, though his ability to credibly implement change in the remainder of his term is doubtful. I would like to be proven wrong.

Into this mix we have a study that suggests we permit political parties into the process. Today, the individual councillors have strong party affiliations (such as my Councillor, Alex Cullen with the NDP), but parties themselves are excluded from the actual process. The basic idea is to combat the tendency for each Councillor to look out for "number one" by allowing the unifying force of parties to create natural alliances and majorities that seem elusive in the current environment, thus shortening the time (and expense) of implementing policies. Another alternative that has been discussed is to create an Executive body, composed of elected councillors and the mayor, that would operate in the manner of a cabinet. Council would continue to vote on measures, but the Executive could take action on routine and even specific files without getting tied up in cantankerous, lengthy and mostly unproductive debate where individual councillors often primp and preen in front of the cameras (and voters).

My view is that this discussion of structural change, while useful in many ways, is misdirecting our attention from the root problem: us, the citizens of Ottawa. There is a well-worn cliche that goes along the lines of: in a democracy the people get the government they deserve. If that's true (and I believe it is), there is no point in casting blame on our elected representatives who, after all, we have elected to their positions. Repeatedly. When voters persist in returning to office the very Councillors who are most incompetent and obstructive, or who promote high-spending programs, it is not the Councillors who are at fault. We must blame those who elect them.

In this light, the debate over government structure is a red herring. With the introduction of political parties we would only change the campaign signs and introduce formal voting blocs, blocs that already form more informally. If the voters don't change their ways, we will end up with the same set of councillors, but operating day-to-day somewhat differently. However, they will largely pursue the same agenda, therefore continuing to underachieve and to waste our time and money.

My advice is to change how you vote next year (2010). If you haven't regularly voted in local elections (true of a large majority), this is a good time to start. If you don't change, neither will our government.