Yesterday’s City of Ottawa Council meeting saw the start of debate on the draft Transportation Master Plan (TMP), as recommended by the joint Transport/Transit Committees last week. Motions to open up the scope of the debate presented by opponents of the plan in its present form were defeated and strict time limits were placed on councillors’ questions to staff about details of the plan. Even with this limitation in place questions to staff took up several hours.
It was evident from staff responses to questions on the Carling Avenue LRT options the Leadman/Doucet proposal has not been reviewed seriously. Staff presented deliberately misleading details of technical assessments of the various options that have been analyzed.
There was also evidence of collusion between TMP supporters on council and members of staff. Questions to staff from some plan supporters were phrased to elicit copy book answers. It looked rehearsed. The more difficult questions asked by plan opponents could not be fully explored because of imposed time limits. Consequently, many important issues remain unexplored.
The debate is not yet done. Many motions remain to be debated before the plan is voted on. I can’t imagine the TMP being approved in its present form, given uncertainties in funding from provincial and federal government funding, as well as the City’s fragile financial position. It’s time to take a step back and to reexamine the many options that are on the table.
At best I believe that there are ethical issues that need to be addressed. I’ll have more to say about this later.
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