Larry O’Brien

Les derniers jours ont été difficiles pour les résidents d’Ottawa tout comme ils l’ont été, j’en suis convaincu, pour les chauffeurs et leur famille. Il semble que personne ne veuille de cette grève et je peux vous assurer que le Conseil veut qu’elle prenne fin dès que possible. C’est pourquoi nous prions le syndicat de permettre aux membres de se prononcer sur notre offre.

Quant à vous les citoyens d’Ottawa, je tiens à vous remercier de votre patience pendant que nous nous efforçons de contrer ce désagrément majeur. J’espère que vous allez continuer de tendre la main à vos voisins et à vos collègues, de trouver des moyens d’offrir de l’aide aux personnes moins fortunées et d’augmenter le covoiturage à Ottawa.

Ce blogue, qui va mettre l’accent sur des questions techniques, vise aussi à informer tous et chacun, afin que nous puissions avoir une meilleure idée de l’offre concernant les horaires de travail. Ces réponses sont le résultat direct des questions qui sont affichées sur mon blogue et qui me sont envoyées directement ou qui sont adressées aux membres du Conseil et à OC Transpo. J’espère que ces renseignements vous aideront à comprendre la position de la Ville.

Je suppose que vous vous demandez ce que les horaires de travail ont de si important. L’offre portant sur les salaires et les avantages sociaux est facile à comprendre. Il en est autrement de la question des horaires de travail, d’où la raison de ce blogue.

Alain Mercier, directeur général d’OC Transpo, a fourni des réponses à vos questions et les a fait parvenir à la direction du SUT. J’ai pensé les partager avec vous aujourd’hui. Veuillez cliquer ici pour en savoir plus.

I encourage everyone affected by the strike to think about safety and security first as we deal with the service disruption at OC Transpo and a heavy snowfall.

If you have neighbors or friends who rely on transit, ask if you can lend a hand by taking them to their medical appointments or shopping for food. If you are on the picket lines, watch out for the traffic around you – the roads are slippery and the weather is foul.

Also be patient and consider all your options from working at home to changing your hours of work. If this is not an option for you, make carpooling a part of your new routine. Please click here to visit Ottawa Ride Match, a website designed to make it easier for you to find or offer a ride. Also more information on all of your options during this transit service disruption can be found by clicking here.

It is important for our community to work with one another as we face this challenge together.

ATU chooses to strike

Last night senior management, along with our negotiating team, stayed late in case the ATU wanted to reopen talks.

Unfortunately they did not want to either accept or respond to our offer and we are now at the start of a strike that nobody in Ottawa wants.

This strike comes weeks before the holiday season when Ottawa residents are facing tough economic times.

We at the City of Ottawa want a negotiated and fair settlement for the taxpayers and our OC Transpo drivers as soon as it is possible and we will continue to be on call to reopen talks.

Please be patient and remain safe. As a community we will be stronger as we deal with this unfortunate situation.

I want to thank the residents of Ottawa for coming togeether in these difficult times.

This afternoon 15 Councillors turned their backs on two months of hard work and voted to take the fastest route possible to a 4.9 per cent tax increase.

Last Friday and this morning, I was encouraged to see a Council that was dealing with tough issues and making the right choices for the citizens of Ottawa. For example, just this morning we had identified $1.2 million in additional savings above and beyond staff options to lower the tax rate. Please click here to see the options that were before Council to reach a tax freeze.

But then 15 Councillors produced a single motion, confiscated a good process and voted on a 4.9 per cent tax increase without the benefit of debate.

I voted against the budget, as did Councillors Thompson, Qadri, Bloess, Monette, El-Chantiry, Wilkinson, Jellett and Desroches.

The majority decided not to make millions of dollars in cuts, turned their backs on months of work and ignored tough economic times. In fact, 15 Councillors only made things worse for next year.

Pensioners, new homeowners and single income families will now have to pay a 5 per cent increase this year. I do not support this budget and the residents of Ottawa shouldn’t either.

Transit strike looming

This afternoon we were advised that ATU had rejected our final offer(Please click here for more details).

I find it hard to believe in these tough economic times that they would turn down our offer, which was exceptionally fair and leave thousands of transit users looking for alternative ways to get around our City. This is sad for Ottawa as we head in to the holidays and I assure you the City will do all we can to lessen the effects of this strike and limit the time we are without transit services.

The City has a generous offer on the table. We are communicating directly with operators and ATU members and our objective is to reach a negotiated settlement by midnight Tuesday.

Ottawa has Canada’s highest national family income at more than $90,000 per household and, for the most part, we are living a pretty good lifestyle in Ottawa.

But what happens if the husband or wife loses their job and the family must live with half their income of $45,000 per year instead of $90,000?

No it won’t be a disaster, but the family spending patterns will have to change. Maybe the purchase of the new flat screen TV will be delayed for a year or two. Maybe the planned vacation will be closer to home and all sorts of other choices will be altered and/or reviewed. This is just being prudent, but that debate can be painful whether at home or at City Council.

And just like at home when you and your spouse are talking money and spending, sometimes the discussions can be heated and they often identify completely different approaches to spending and saving. This is exactly what we are seeing with Council during the budget deliberations for 2009.

On one hand are those that are comfortable with 7% increases and the continuance of our spending patterns of the past regardless of the financial forecasts.

Well I, for one, will be fighting for prudence and caution in the upcoming days and I hope that if you agree, you will make your thoughts known to me and your local Councillor. The time is right for your message to get through.

Tomorrow is day six of our budget process for 2009. Last Friday we passed the Police Services and the Library Board budgets and hats off to both organizations for reducing their spending patterns to reflect the economic uncertainty we face in Canada.

As well on Friday Bob Plamondon, a City financial expert, provided Council with additional cost cutting options totaling $27 million above and beyond the $35 million of reductions staff has presented.

Bob Plamondon’s presentation, coupled with the heated debate that followed, clearly framed the budget issues for 2009. Here is my take on the choices that will be debated at Council this week:

1) To what extent should the staff recommended cost reduction options be accepted? Here I believe all options should be accepted except for the community rink grant program and funding for supportive housing services in line with my Leadership Table on Homelessness recommendations.

Please click here to see staff options.

2) To what extent should Council accept some or all of the $27 million in cuts or deferrals as identified by Bob Plamondon to the City Manager as additional options? I believe all of these additional options should be accepted and we have converted them to motions that can be reviewed here.

3) Should Council be taxing to replenish capital reserves because of a shortfall in revenue from the Hydro Endowment Fund in 2008, or should the catch-up be done in another year when the economy in strong? I agree with the latter.

4)To what extent should we reduce spending on strategic initiatives/projects (nice to haves) and redirect this money into tax reductions, infrastructure renewals and reserve fund increases? Given the $500 million in what is referred to as ‘work in process’ and the uncertain times, I believe the responsible choice to make is to limit this type of ‘nice to have’ spending.

I believe following this course of action will result in the most prudent choices being made for the City of Ottawa at this time of great economic uncertainty.

Budget deliberations will continue Monday, Thursday and Friday of this coming week. If you agree with my approach or want to agree/disagree with some specific exceptions, please comment on this blog or contact your local Councillor this week as the budget process unfolds.

The contact list for Councillors can be accessed by clicking here.

This week will be important as we move forward to approve an affordable budget in these difficult economic times and as we work towards making Ottawa a safe and secure place to live for generations to come.