Ottawa councillors speak out against mayor’s committee picks, Watson defends appointments

Nine Ottawa councillors rejected the mayor’s nominations to the city’s standing committees and transit commission on Wednesday because of the minimal presence or lack of urban councillors on certain key committees.

The city’s 11 committees and subcommittees do the heavy lifting on city files — including agriculture and rural, environmental and transportation affairs — before those items go to council for a vote.

Of particular concern on Wednesday was the membership of both the planning and the finance and economic development committees. Of the nine councillors who will sit on the planning committee — which considers applications for major development projects across the city — for the next four years, only one (Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper) represents a ward in the urban core, downtown-area councillors argued.

As for the finance and economic development committee (FEDCO), which is responsible for high-level fiscal and policy items, no urban councillors will serve on the powerful committee from 2018 to 2022. On top of that, only three of 12 councillors on that committee are women, Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney said during council.

“…Not one voice from Rideau–Rockcliffe, not one voice from Rideau–Vanier, not one voice from Somerset, Kitchissippi or Capital Ward,” McKenney told her colleagues. “I just think that without voices from across the city, we are not doing the best we can. We need to ensure that all parts of the city are represented.”

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson’s nominations passed 15-9 at city council’s meeting on Wednesday.

FEDCO, which is widely seen as the committee that acts as the mayor’s cabinet, is made up of standing committee chairs, the three deputy mayors, an appointed vice-chair and the mayor. Since none of the urban councillors were assigned as standing committee chairs, none will sit on FEDCO.

A full list of committee memberships approved at council is available here.

Mayor defends appointment process

The 23 councillors elected to Ottawa city council on Oct. 22 submitted their requests for the committees or boards they’d like to chair or sit on ahead of the meeting at which Watson tabled his appointments on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after council on Wednesday, Watson said the committee appointments were about striking a balance, and “there’s not always an opportunity” to grant every councillor their first or second choices. He added that councillors are welcome to attend any committee meeting in a non-voting capacity, should they want to hear or speak to a file “they feel passionately about in their ward or city.”

“It’s not an exact science,” Watson said of the appointment process. “We try to do our best, and I think what we did was put together a really good package of candidates that I think will serve the city well.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, Watson urged council to vote against a motion tabled by Leiper that would have added two councillors representing more central Ottawa neighbourhoods to the planning committee — Capital Coun. Shawn Menard and River Coun. Riley Brockington. Both had listed planning as their first pick for committees on which to serve, saying they often deal with infill issues in their wards, but neither were appointed.

Council voted against Leiper’s motion 9-15, despite having voted earlier in the meeting to add Coun. Stephen Blais to the planning committee. Watson said Blais was left off the list by accident due to a technical error.

Councillors shut out of planning committee allege politics behind appointments

McKenney and Menard challenged Watson’s justifications, arguing his picks for committee chairs and members were strategic and focused on ensuring key positions were filled by councillors who aren’t as openly critical of the mayor’s policies or direction.

“This had everything to do with power in this city and nothing to do with the City of Ottawa,” Menard told reporters after council.

The rookie councillor said the impact of council’s decision today is that downtown-area residents won’t be “as well-served” on the city’s committees as they could be.

“I think what happened here today is the mayor delivered a giant lump of coal for residents living within the Greenbelt,” he said.

Brockington said he was also surprised by the appointments and the majority of council’s unwillingness to add him and Menard to the planning committee. He said he believes there is “absolutely” a correlation between his history of asking “tough questions” and the fact he wasn’t awarded any of his top three committee preferences.

Brockington also alleged that, in the past, some members of council – he wouldn’t say who – told him “repeatedly” that he should “stop asking questions in public.”

“I will refuse to do that,” he said. “I don’t intend to make anyone on council or the city look bad. I think there are some very fair questions when it comes to LRT and other things that need to be asked and I will always do that.”

“If the result is I’m not a committee chair, so be it, but I will continue to serve my residents and the people of Ottawa.”