OTTAWA’S NEW DEMOCRATS STAY CAUTIOUS ON PROMISES
NDP ALL EARS ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Party thinking ahead to governing — and being held accountable
Repairing federal politicians’ relations with public servants would be an NDP government’s top local priority, the party’s Ottawa Centre candidate Paul Dewar says.
After that: building an aboriginal centre on Victoria Island in the Ottawa River, getting housing built on LeBreton Flats, and putting local politicians on the board of the National Capital Commission.
These are all relatively small things, more matters of influencing things that are already happening than big new dreams. Not that that’s wrong or a failing, but it’s not what one might have expected from the most senior social democrat in these parts.
Dewar would almost certainly be the senior minister for the capital if the New Democrats win power Oct. 19, and the nine-year MP is the only candidate for his party in Ottawa who’s currently a favourite to win his own seat that day. He was plainly the leader among the eight NDP standardbearers who met Mayor Jim Watson this week, for the last of his briefings of federal candidates on local issues like transit, economic development and social housing.
(Glengarry-Prescott-Russell candidate Normand Laurin, whose riding includes some of Cumberland, didn’t make it.)
What, I asked Dewar after the session, is the most-neglected federal project in the capital? I thought we’d hear something about, say, a new science museum or the decline of public buildings along Wellington Street, both of which Watson has complained about.
“It is the deterioration in the relation between public servants and the government,” Dewar replied. “I think that’s something that really has undermined our city and its reputation, frankly. It’s no longer something that’s just in the bubble. It’s across the country, frankly ... It’s not a project, per se, but it’s the relationship.”
He had two federal public servants at his side to give some weight to that promise. Orléans candidate Nancy Tremblay is an environmental scientist and Ottawa-Vanier candidate Emilie Taman is a federal prosecutor who’s fighting to get her right to her job back after being fired for running for office. Taman’s probably the best bet for a second New Democrat MP in Ottawa, though she’d have to knock off the mighty Liberal Mauril Bélanger to get the job.
Pressed to commit to something more concrete, Dewar came up with the centre for aboriginals on Victoria Island just west of Parliament Hill, an idea that’s been kicked around for years and even to the stage of early designs by architect Douglas Cardinal. But the minimum $85 million it would cost to build the museum, restaurant and elders’ home (that’s an old estimate that’s probably obsolete) has never been committed.
“We want to see that aboriginal centre built. The NCC is there, I’ve been working with them over the years and they’re working on it,” Dewar said.
It should be integrated into the NCC’s redevelopment of LeBreton Flats, he said. Dewar’s pleased the commission is working on the next phase of construction in the incredibly slow-moving project, but he’s adamant that it not become a preserve of luxury condos.
“What we need to see is a component of housing there. I’ve been clear on it from Day 1, we need to see housing, affordable or mixed, on LeBreton Flats, as we see development there,” Dewar said.
He repeated previous commitments to contribute the $1 billion in federal money the city wants for the next phase of light rail in Ottawa (both the Conservatives and the Liberals have promised that, too) and to put representatives of the Ottawa and Gatineau city councils on the board of the NCC.
Watson and Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pednaud-Jobin have asked to have at least one representative from each city on the commission. The Conservatives and NCC chairman Russell Mills are against the idea, but all it would really take is for the minister overseeing the commission to decide to do it. Not unlike simply deciding to take seriously the advice you get from the public service.
Ambitious, visionary capital building ideas these are not. But they are readily achievable. The difference is that in this election, the New Democrats aren’t just trying to pull public discussion their way, hoping the party that wins will pick up some of their ideas. They’re thinking ahead to governing, and being held accountable for the promises they make now.
(The most-neglected federal project in the capital) is the deterioration in the relation between public servants and the government. It’s no longer something that’s just in the bubble. — Ottawa Centre NDP candidate Paul Dewar