Take LRT project out of city's hands: Watson

Mayoral candidate Jim Watson said he wants to take management of Ottawa's light rail tunnel plan away from the city, and put it in the hands of the province and an independent private-sector board.

Watson said he has no plans to put the brakes on the city's $2.1 billion east-west light rail tunnel plan, but said leaving it in the hands of council and city staff will lead to cost overruns and delays.

"With the recent track record at the city of cost overruns and bloating budgets, we need to make sure this project is approached differently, with less meddling and with tighter management," said Watson in a statement on Wednesday.

Watson said Infrastructure Ontario should handle the request for proposal process for the contracts associated with the project, while a private sector board of management made up people with experience in transit, construction, finance and project amangement would oversee actual construction.

"We simply can't afford to have Council micromanaging this project," said Watson.

"Frankly, we can't afford to have officials micromanage this project either. We can't afford to have our planning staff and senior management engrossed in a massive project to the exclusion of everything else this city needs for nearly a decade."

Watson also said the city should create a transit commission, made up in part by members of the public with experience with transit issues, including transit riders.

Mayor Larry O'Brien said that while Watson appeared to giving his support for the light rail project, he questioned how solid that support was given past statements in which Watson has questioned the viability and scope of the plan.

"Jim Watson is for a tunnel and against a tunnel. He is for buses and for trains. He said the plan was unaffordable, and now he says it's achievable," O'Brien said in a statement. "My support for this plan has never wavered."

While Watson's campaign focused on transit Wednesday, rival candidate and current Capital Ward councillor Clive Doucet released his plans for aiding small businesses and farmers, saying the city should do more to build a thriving local economy.

Doucet said too much much emphasis is put on the city's high tech sector, and small businesses are often ignored. He said he wants to create an Economic Development Group at the city to focus on helping create new small businesses.

Doucet also said he wants to see more farmers markets in the city so people can shop for locally grown food and said the city should have its own food terminal so that local growers don't have to ship their product to Toronto.