Orléans Star
Posted: Monday, November 22, 2010

New Challenges

With the October 25th election fading fast in the community’s rear-view mirror, it’s time to look ahead to the challenges the new council will face and how our east-end councillors will represent us and advocate on issues that transcend local ward boundaries.

At a city-wide level, the 2011 budget will dominate city council deliberation for a good two months once Mayor-elect Watson and his new council take their oaths of office and officially start work on December 1st.

Even with a more right-of-centre council, pressures such as the OMERS pension shortfall, continuing high fuel and construction materials costs and the insatiable demand for better city services (from public works to sports to arts to social services) will challenge council to achieve Jim Watson’s 2.5% maximum property tax target.

As well, the transit file will not only be of interest to council as a whole, but our local representatives given that Orléans and the broader east end boasts of the highest per capita OC Transpo ridership.

One of the key dynamics to watch for in early 2011 is for the emergence (or not) of block voting by re-elected councillors Rainer Bloess (Innes) and Bob Monette (Orléans) along with rookies Stephen Blais (Cumberland) and Tim Tierney (Beacon Hill-Cyrville). These four will need to identify (and agree upon) the big-ticket transit, infrastructure, and planning needs early on in this mandate and vote strategically and consistently in favour on these files to protect them through successive budget cycles.

As well, this “block”, while it has historic partisan Liberal underpinnings, must continue to work constructively both with Conservative MP Royal Galipeau and Liberal MPP Phil McNeely by eschewing partisanship. Only with a united federal, provincial and municipal front can they ensure that east-end needs, when it comes to public programming, are consistently met.

The first challenge that I throw out to all four councillors is to step up their proverbial game when it comes to economic development and to use the lever and suasion of the Mayor’s office (which incoming Mayor-elect Watson gets in spades!!!), at the appropriate time to help attract new business locations and investment to our community. Sadly, too many of us must still trudge downtown or across the city to earn a living.

Secondly, when it comes to planning debates, they must speak up and challenge conventional wisdom that the suburbs, like our community, are just costly and mistaken tracts of subdivisions. This is simply not true.

Finally, I would hope Mssrs. Blais, Bloess, Monette and Tierney continue to periodically canvass our neighbourhoods over the coming four years. While community visibility, Twitter feds and doing the grip-and-grin at events is important, there is no substitute for listening to (not talking at) us on our doorsteps or in our own backyards to get the real sense of pride, passion, ownership and aspiration that we have for our community and our city.

In my next post I will profile the main files and initiatives that each councillor wishes to drive forward by 2014.