Will this strike be remembered during the next municipal election?

[lrt's friend]

Will the transit strike be remembered and affect the next municipal election?

I think there will be minimal impact, unless the strike carries on for months. Even then, it is hard to say how people will react to a settlement and whether it is perceived as a city win or an union win. I am still surprised by how many support the mayor considering that his term of office has been less than stellar.

What do others think?

[Beatrix]

With such low voter turn-out at the municipal level, I doubt Larry is in a serious predicament. It's pretty hard to oust the status quo in municipal politics.

He also seems to have a pretty strong following among Ottawa's conservative base. Just listen to CFRA... *shudders*

[Acajack]

Cynics (and in politics, cynics are usually pretty good oracles) say that the electorate only has a six-month memory span.

[Beatrix]

BTW if the current LRT proposal goes down in flames (which it very well could), it will be yet another addition to the string of failures to happen under Larry's watch.

Seriously, has this guy gotten ANYTHING right since taking office??

[Mille Sabords]

For the strike to matter in the next election, a credible candidate would have to become the voice of the argument that the transit system's reliability and the fate of hundreds of thousands of transit riders were wantonly disregarded for the sake of x, y, or z.

Proof would have to be found, and x, y or z would have to be identified as sufficiently asinine matters compared with the predicament inflicted on said hundreds of thousands.

It's very possible to do. Who would do it? A current member of Council who is part of the x, y and z agenda? Not impossible, but hard to do. It would make that candidate's life easier if he(she) were running against O'Brien. But if O'Brien disappears from the scene, it becomes harder to punish someone who won't really pay a price.

[lrt's friend]

BTW if the current LRT proposal goes down in flames (which it very well could), it will be yet another addition to the string of failures to happen under Larry's watch.

Seriously, has this guy gotten ANYTHING right since taking office??

It won't go down in flames. It will lose momentum as the bus Transitway portions get prioritized and as LRT fails to get funded. In a way, this is worse. There will be little incentive to find an alternative plan that gets LRT going again.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

I wish Peter Hume would run for mayor. I think he'd do a good job.

[Beatrix]

Bob Chiarelli gave a guest lecture in one of my classes back in October and he hinted at possibility of running for mayor again.

I know he wasn't perfect, but I would certainly vote for him over O'Brien. He seems to have a better grasp of how to work productively with city council.

[Ciemny]

What could happen is that O'Brien fails to get re-elected, or does not run at all, we get a new mayor. Coucil becomes more divided with the new LRT plan....this drags on with some councillors throwing their own plans out. We lose any funding we had and end up with BRT past 2017 with no hint of rail. On top of this we could very well lose the Siemens lawsuit. I think if that happens we would be the laughing stock of the country and an example of what NOT to do.

I think by then we should come with torches and pitchforks to city hall.......or like we have done the previous number of years re-elect the same people over and over and over again.

[rodionx]

This strike has been a gift to the Mayor. Remember that he campaigned as the outsider who was going to champion the cause of hardworking taxpayers against lazy, wasteful, and self important public servants. Cue Andre Cornellier, who plays all three roles so perfectly you'd think he was on the Mayor's payroll.

Even if it comes out as a draw, the Mayor will campaign on his performance during this strike. He's got nothing else to campaign on (zero means zero, anyone?), and it fits his image. If it comes out as a win for the city, he's basically reelected.

[Rathgrith]

Maybe all of of people will move to Gatineau? I am seriously considering that if I buy a house.

[YOWetal]

This strike has been a gift to the Mayor. Remember that he campaigned as the outsider who was going to champion the cause of hardworking taxpayers against lazy, wasteful, and self important public servants. Cue Andre Cornellier, who plays all three roles so perfectly you'd think he was on the Mayor's payroll.

Even if it comes out as a draw, the Mayor will campaign on his performance during this strike. He's got nothing else to campaign on (zero means zero, anyone?), and it fits his image. If it comes out as a win for the city, he's basically reelected.

I agree he is actually looking competent right now, this is clearly his forte. I think he is happy to make it to spring, at which point the union will realize they need to give in or have a strike through the whole summer.

[Rathgrith]

^If the strike continues that long, I foresee some bus drivers going bankrupt and some downtown stores closing.

[Richard Eade]

^If the strike continues that long, I foresee some bus drivers going bankrupt and some downtown stores closing.
I wonder how many of the drivers have applied for financial assistance from the City because they have been severely impacted by the strike? The City just added another $500,000 to that fund.

[lrt's friend]

I wonder how many of the drivers have applied for financial assistance from the City because they have been severely impacted by the strike? The City just added another $500,000 to that fund.

Hasn't that fund already run out .... again?

[Richard Eade]

Hasn't that fund already run out .... again?
As far as I have heard, the initial $200,000 ran out in about 10 days so this past Wednesday (Jan 21) they approved another $500,000 hoping it would last a further 10 days, or so. I would doubt that it is all gone in just 3 days.

[Cre47]

If the municipal elections would have continued to be held every three years, there would have being an election this year. Humm!!! I wish it would have remained that way - the strike would have had an effect on the elections for some including the mayor - although he will be forced out anyways if he is guilty on his bribery charges in April. There will be still at least 18 months left after the strike before the election, so the strike will lost a lot of effects, though transit obviously will remain an issue if they don't speed up the process after the strike.

[Rathgrith]

I really wish the election would remain every 3 years. The campaign would have effectively already began and current mayor would be in a awkward position.

I'm sure the money for the strike fund is coming from all the money that the city is saving by not running buses. Which seems odd to a point.