Why Ottawa's new council could give Jim Watson a rougher ride
Joanne Chianello | CBC News | Posted: October 23, 2018 9:53 AM | Last Updated: October 23, 2018
Council shifts slightly left, has more members willing to publicly challenge the mayor
You have to go back to the Great Depression to find a mayor who's served as long as Jim Watson.
Even without his third consecutive win on Monday, only J.E. Stanley Lewis, first elected in 1936, beats out Watson in terms of longevity as this city's top elected official.
Watson didn't have to face a particularly well-organized opponent — runner-up Clive Doucet entered the race at the 11th hour without a fully considered platform, or the well-oiled political machine of the incumbent — but Watson did earn a historic third term with a big mandate of more than 70 per cent of the vote.
Given his decisive win, one might imagine the mayor will be able to glide through his next mandate.
But considering the makeup of the new council, it might not be such smooth sailing.
Some of the seven new councillors elected this week are more progressive than their predecessors — as well as Watson.
They include Theresa Kavanagh, an NDP activist who will replace Mark Taylor in Bay ward; Laura Dudas, who will take over from Jody Mitic in Innes; and Glen Gower, who beat Shad Qadri in Stittsville.
It's not a massive shift in outlook for council, but it boosts the ranks of the existing left-of-centre contingent — think Somerset's Catherine McKenney, Rideau-Rockcliffe's Tobi Nussbaum, Rideau-Vanier's Mathieu Fleury and Kitchissippi's Jeff Leiper — who often found themselves on the losing sides of votes to, say, freeze transit fares.
This election doesn't give the so-called progressives a majority — to get your way on this 24-member council, you need 12 friends.
And anyway, councillors don't generally vote on strict ideological lines, instead shifting their allegiances based on the issue at hand.
So it's probably more useful to think about this council not in terms of political outlook, but its willingness to do public battle with the mayor.
A more contentious council
Many of the new councillors ran on platforms that included promises of more transparency and accountability at City Hall.
Baked into that pledge is the understanding they will challenge the mayor about the details of a contract or why a particular development is slated for approval.
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Kavanagh told CBC that she is ready to work with the mayor's office, not for the mayor's office.
And it doesn't help that Kavanagh is married to former councillor Alex Cullen, a constant thorn in Watson's side.
Mayor and councillor-elect already at odds
Perhaps the most obvious rabble-rouser on the new crew is Shawn Menard, the councillor-elect in Capital ward who beat two-term incumbent David Chernushenko.
Menard is on record as saying he's not going to council to trade votes to try to push his agenda forward, but will instead work to galvanize the grassroots to lobby their own councillors to vote a certain way.
He's not afraid to mix it up.
During the campaign, he tweeted at Watson on everything from saving trees in Old Ottawa South, to not attending certain debates, to a daycare closing in the Bayshore area.
Watson sniped back in various ways, sometimes telling Menard not to meddle in other wards, other times that the people of Capital ward did not appreciate his negativity.
(Apparently, they did).
Expect this dynamic to carry to council, perhaps not in the earliest days of the new regime, but soon enough after the new term starts Dec. 1.
Louder voice of dissent
Don't forget, there were already voices of dissent on council.
Coun. Diane Deans, who was easily re-elected in Gloucester-Southgate for the eighth time, has been willing to disagree with Watson and senior staff, whether it was to add money to the budget for social service agencies or to express skepticism the LRT would be on time.
Then there are the inner-city councillors, who share a similar outlook.
A couple of years ago, they got together to have their own pre-budget consultations, which helped lead to the low-income transit pass.
Three of them — Leiper, McKenney and Nussbaum — now have one term under their belts.
Returned to City Hall with massive mandates, they will be confident in their roles and may be more more vocal about pressing their agenda.
While no one wants Larry O'Brien-era chaos at council, we also don't appear to want a local government that looks like it's being controlled by the mayor's office, either.
It's telling that three candidates in this election who are associated with the mayor — David Gourlay in Kanata North, Ryan Kennery in College and Don Dransfield in Bay ward — did not win (or frankly, even come close).
So while Ottawa wasn't prepared to change its mayor in this election, it was willing to send him a council to challenge him.