Larry O’Brien

I welcome Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities John Baird’s announcement today on his intention to lift the exemption of federal safety regulations for OC Transpo.

Minister Baird is taking action to enforce eights hours of rest between shifts and eliminate the option bus drivers currently have to book back-to-back 11 hour shifts.

Today’s announcement is a victory for all of us and is a reinforcement of Council’s united position on the safety of Ottawa residents and OC Transpo drivers – something we were not willing to compromise on during the transit strike.

The details of Minister Baird’s announcement can be found here. I look forward to hearing from the citizens of Ottawa on this important issue.

Today I delivered my State of the City Address to Council. Please see below a copy of my speech. 

This morning I would like to provide Council with some thoughts relating to priorities for 2009.

We have just passed the halfway point of our mandate and I think it is important to put our priorities in the perspective of what we as a Council have accomplished in the last two years.

In the hectic blur of dealing with so many different issues, sometimes people forget all that we’ve accomplished together so I thought I would take a few moments to congratulate you on your many successes.

In the past two years we have improved on the following:

Tourism

You approved the funding for an amazing new Ottawa Congress Centre. The new OCC will be an incredible addition to the Capital. This was long overdue but you made it happen.

Environment

You have approved an organics waste diversion green bin program after years of failed starts. Again, this was long overdue. You made it happen.

Transportation

You have improved the mass transit plans for Ottawa. Ottawa now has a magnificent plan that will transform the City for decades to come. This was an emotional and difficult debate, but together we got it done. This new plan has significant public and almost unanimous Council support. Together we made it happen. 

Technology

You approved a multi-year technology enhancement program for the City that will see Paperless Council and many additional improvements by 2010. Again, a few years late but you got it done.

Budget

During the last two years you have improved the budget process in many other ways.

You started in 2007 by developing a fiscal framework through a facilitated planning process in our first summer. This year you introduced a budget challenge function that saved our taxpayers about $10 million from our baseline. We got there because most of you worked with staff to find savings at the start of the budget process.

I personally was not happy with the result of 2009 budget, but I was encouraged that we moved ahead with a more transparent and easier to understand process. We have now set the stage to improve even more in 2009 and 2010.

Infrastructure renewal

You approved a 2 per cent infrastructure levy in 2007 that helped us invest over $300 million in infrastructure in 2008.  This was an important and critical decision.

Education

City Council donated land to help build two new trades schools at Algonquin College and Cité Collégiale. This will ensure we train and keep the future of our workforce here in the Nation’s Capital. Good decision for the long term.

Ottawa River and environment

You also committed to investing  $100 million with the help of the federal and provincial government in to repairing the sewer systems in Ottawa so that we will reduce all accidental spills and 65 per cent of the planned spills into the Ottawa River. This was the right decision for our future.

Transformation

You have also approved the de-layering of and re-organization of City Hall that will result in reducing staff levels, the elimination of management silos, and better operational control of city operations. This is the most significant management change at City Hall since amalgamation. You have given management the okay to restructure and that took courage.

Public safety

You have worked with the Police Services Board to approve a budget in 2007 that resulted in officers back on the beat and a new squad focusing on street crimes. As a result the City feels safer and is safer. Congratulations!

And we did this along with conducting the regular business of Council and all that it entails. This Council has done an amazing amount of high-quality work. People forget all that we’ve accomplished together. Well done to all of you.

We have come a long way, but there is still much important work to be done. 

After public safety and security of our water, electricity, police, fire and paramedics, the next priority for a municipality is the prosperity of its residents. The single most important economic tool we have is our public transit system.  

Transit

Now that the strike is over, we are working hard to get all our buses back on the road and grow our ridership levels. Our next priority is achieving funding for our new public transit plan.
 
Already our staff is working with the provincial and federal governments to reach a common understanding of the technical aspects of our plan. 

Once that is complete we will invite the federal and provincial government to become fair funding partners and become part of our shared vision for the City of Ottawa transit plan.

As a Council we will also explore and debate the various alternate funding models that may accelerate the implementation of the entire plan. City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick has made it a priority of his own.

We as a Council will have important policy debates around these issues as we proceed in the best interests of the taxpayers.

Spending infrastructure stimulus money

The next priority we have will be to maximize opportunities provided by federal and provincial government stimulus funding.

Next week we will be producing a list of shovel-ready infrastructure projects and this Friday I am meeting with industry representatives to ensure we are ready to meet the challenge of spending this money effectively by the spring and in the best interests of the Citizens of Ottawa.

Lansdowne Park

Another priority is the renewal of Lansdowne Park.  

Lansdowne Park is the largest and most significant City owned property. I know all of us agree it has the potential to be the most important meeting place in our City. It should be the jewel of Ottawa.

It is time to bring Council together on this city building project and work out a process to establish the principles for this property development, reach a conclusion and move forward.  

During this debate we will also look at two competing proposals to bring new important sporting assets to Ottawa.

High quality contributors are presenting MLS Soccer and CFL Football to Ottawa and we owe it to our citizens to make a thoughtful choice of which proposal to support and what is in the best interest of the taxpayer.

Accountability and governance

We have committed to reviewing our governance process in 2009…how will Council decide to structure itself to make decisions in the future.

I believe this is an important long-term improvement that we should make in the coming year.

Our citizens have made it clear – they want our governance process to improve. 

My Task Force on Governance is set to release their report in the coming weeks.

City staff will also be circulating a series of discussion papers to help facilitate our deliberations.

These white papers are a direct result of consultations and interviews they have had with each member of Council.

Finance committee

According to staff, Council has made many valuable suggestions on how to improve our decision making process.
My belief is that we also need to include in this debate the potential of altering our committee structure to create a standing committee on finance.

I hope we can reach an agreement on creating this committee to keep an eye on spending year round and give this committee the tools and the human resources to build and recommend a budget to Council instead of leaving the heavy lifting to city staff.

The budget process is one of our most important responsibilities.

The budget is far too important not to have the checks and balances of the budget process going on all year long.

In closing I want to congratulate you again for the work you have accomplished in the past two years. 

It has been rocky at times but that is the nature of transformation.  

We are past the halfway mark in our 1,000 days of transformation and we are doing well.

Thank you and lets start the meeting.

This past week when faced with back-to-work legislation the ATU agreed to go to binding arbitration with everything including scheduling and that is a good thing.

During the binding arbitration everything we wanted to negotiate will be on the table and frankly, we are pleased with this because it is the best possible outcome in light of impasse we had reached. This afternoon the ATU 279 ratified the agreement and yesterday Council approved the agreement so the strike is now over.

As Mayor of the City of Ottawa, I want to thank Minister Baird and Minister Ambrose for their responsiveness and quick action when it was clear that the ATU and the City were not going to reach a negotiated settlement.

Once the union was clear that legislation was coming, they called and we agreed that we should accept the full binding arbitration without conditions.

This means their scheduling condition and our financial envelope conditions were set aside. Now independent arbitrators will deal with the entire proposal.

This strike was hard on all of us in Ottawa and certainly, there are never winners in a work stoppage of this magnitude. The citizens of Ottawa have been very resilient and they have come up with innovative ways to get back and forth to work with car-pooling becoming a common practice. City staff have responded well getting over $700,000 in emergency funding out to Community Resource Centres and other community organizations.

But most importantly it was you the citizens, who went the extra mile to help your friends and co-workers, who are the heroes of this strike. I thank you very much for stepping up to the plate during the past 51 days.

One question I do get is: what was this strike all about and why did it last so long?

During public service strikes you face dilemmas and the need to balance issues; this bus strike was no exception.

The hardship inflicted on our most vulnerable citizens was visible to all of us and added almost unbearable pressure on Council to cave in to every single union demand.

Students, seniors, people living in isolation, single moms and the working poor were having their lives altered by this strike and the union was counting on Council to fold and give in completely to their demands.

On the other side of the ledger was the need to run OC Transpo in an efficient and safe way. It was the battle of economic efficiency vs. social equity at its most base level. Council and I wanted to ensure that management, not the union, was in fact in control of our OC Transpo operation and that wage increases and benefits were fair during these tough economic times.

Unlike what many people think, the issue of scheduling was not the only issue preventing a deal – we were also far apart on wages and benefits.

Moreover, we wanted to make certain that drivers would not be on the road if they did not have eight hours rest between shifts.  After all, we are responsible for both the public safety of our community and the spending of your tax dollars.

That the union’s approach is one of dedicated self-interest is understandable. That is their role and they do their job with energy and enthusiasm. They also have a clear and single focus—get the best deal possible.

On the other hand, Council is required to balance public good and financial sustainability while at the same time negotiating a contract during a strike that affects our citizens. We negotiate while thousands of people have to change their lives. We hear the stories and feel the pain, since that is our job.

It was time to end the strike but not at all costs, and especially not at the cost of public safety.

Work rest rules – eight hours between shifts

We will continue to pursue regulation changes with Transport Canada to ensure our drivers are forced to have eight hours rest between shifts and never drive when fatigued.

Council is still seeking a regulations change from the federal government to impose this work rest rule of eight hours rest between shifts and we understand that review is underway that could remove parts of the excerptions that have created this situation.

Our interest was always to end this strike in a manner that was fair and reasonable to the taxpayers of Ottawa. It is also our responsibility to get the buses back on the roads. Independent arbitrators will now solve this dilemma.

The process will last a few months but during that time public transit service will be back and the inconvenience will be over.  That is our number one priority - ensure our buses are safe and then return service to residents as quickly as possible.

We will also look at different options to prevent transit strikes from occurring again in our Nation’s Capital and, at the very least, limit the amount of service disruption should it occur again.

Council has repeatedly shown that we are more than willing to work with the ATU to end this transit strike.

All along we have been listening carefully to the ATU. We have responded to the concerns they expressed and we have done so with a clear consensus of Council. We have taken many steps to show we are willing to compromise to find a solution that is reasonable and fair for both the taxpayers and the drivers.

We have increased our economic offer from 7.25% to 9.25% over three years. We have moved our position on scheduling to focus on safety only and we have as a result removed the $2,500 productivity bonus. We have discussed and agreed on new terms relating to outsourcing of services. We have been involved in a one-way negotiation and the ATU has failed to put a single idea on the table to try to solve this strike.

Since December we have significantly altered our position three times, but all we get in return from the ATU is “No”. If the ATU truly wants to work with us, they most also show they are willing to compromise and revise their mandate.

Today Council did a lot of work in-camera. We reviewed many options and remain committed to getting safe and reliable transit back for the residents of Ottawa as soon as possible. The single motion we passed in open session is a challenge to ATU to get back to the table and start negotiating in good faith.

It’s about time we had some discussions that do not start with the word NO!