Mayor’s Taskforce on Governance

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http://governance-ottawa.ca/

Ottawa in a downward spiral, mayor's task force reports


BY JAKE RUPERT, THE OTTAWA CITIZENMARCH 5, 2009


OTTAWA — Ottawa's city council is ineffective and the city is in a downward spiral that will continue without major changes, says a report from governance experts requested by Mayor Larry O'Brien.

"The mayor's task force on governance found that city council does not operate effectively and cannot provide the strategic leadership the City of Ottawa needs because of systemic problems with governance," says the report from the panel, which includes former Carleton University president Richard Van Loon and is headed by University of Ottawa government expert David Zussman. "Without addressing these governance shortcomings, council will remain ineffective no matter how hard councillors, the mayor and staff work."

The report is one of several due on the way the city government works, part of a regular mid-term self-examination process.

"Without an effective council, guided by good governance, Ottawa risks becoming a dysfunctional city plagued by poor long-term planning and rising costs. Over time, ineffectiveness will create a downward spiral which will leave citizens living in a city where the services and infrastructure they rely on do not work properly," the report says.

The report concludes that narrow thinking on the part of councillors voting in the interest of their geographic wards and political interests is leading to a lack of long-term planning and focus on important city-wide issues.

To combat this, the task force recomends creating an executive level in municipal government, the mayor and city councillors who chair various standing committees, to set a firm agenda.

Zussman said this group would then drive the city-wide policitical agenda at council, making it more likely that other councillors would take a larger view of the issues before deciding how to vote.

At a press conference for the release of the report, Zussman said if things continue as they are, dysfunction and “chaos” will reign.

Several councillors at the conference immediately took umbrage with this suggestion.


More to come...

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