Mayoral candidates clash in debate
Incumbent, challenger have expressed some dissatisfaction with mass format
To the two front-runners in Ottawa’s mayoral race, the stage at Tuesday’s night’s leadership debate seemed a little too crowded.
Mayor Jim Watson and rival Clive Doucet both expressed frustration with mass candidate debates, and Doucet said he’d be game to debate Watson one-on-one.
“I’d just love it, one-on-one,” Doucet said after the event at Carleton University.
“Imagine an hour of us together? Then you’d have a real sense of who knew their files and how to go forward. But a minute, the way we do it here, it’s not really debate. It’s a statement of positions. It’s a bit frustrating.”
Watson, the mayoral incumbent, isn’t sure about limiting participation when there are several candidates.
“As a democrat, the fair thing to do is to let everyone to participate. I don’t participate in debates where (it’s) just the perceived three or four front-runners,” Watson said, adding it’s hard to know who the front-runners are without polling numbers.
However, Watson said debates with a large number of candidates risk spreading false information, allowing no time to rebut a candidate’s remark.
“It’s a little frustrating because someone will say something that is completely wrong,” Watson said, referring to a Doucet’s criticism Tuesday night that Canada 150 government money paid for Red Bull Crashed Ice and La Machine when it was private funds that paid for those 2017 spectacles.
“By the time (the moderator) gets back to you, you’re on to a different topic,” Watson said.
The Rideau River Residence Association at Carleton University hosted the debate, which included 10 of the 12 candidates running for mayor.
Watson was comfortable in the setting, as a former president of the residence association. The student gig effectively launched his political career; it was the first position to which he was elected.
Doucet, too, was on familiar turf. He’s the former councillor of Capital ward, where the university is located.
(The university polling station traditionally hasn’t been a major source of votes. There were 51 ballots cast at an advanced poll at the Residence Commons in the 2014 municipal election. Watson received 45 votes from the poll. In the 2010 election when both Watson and Doucet were running for mayor, Watson won 197 votes from a Carleton University polling station, while Doucet won 137 votes).
Doucet and Watson, sitting on opposite sides of the stage, rained quips down on each other.
A question on jobs had Doucet pivot to Canada 150 funding, criticizing Watson for not directing more money to local festivals.
“But he’s a great Rotary Club leader, I tell you,” Doucet joked, adding, “he’s a lot younger than I am, but it doesn’t feel that way.”
Watson blasted Doucet on a question about affordable housing, saying the challenger “talks a good line on housing” before poking Doucet for not building more Ottawa Community Housing units in Capital ward when Doucet was councillor there.
When some candidates were making promises to help make tuition affordable for students, which is outside of municipalities’ responsibilities, Watson observed, “it’s Sept. 25, not Dec. 25,” and that “there’s a lot of Santa Clauses up here promising you the world.”
The cornerstone of Doucet’s election campaign is a proposal to use existing rail corridors to create a regional train service connecting to Gatineau via the Prince of Wales Bridge. He highlighted his transit plan in the question about building jobs, saying Kanata residents are particularly hungry for better transit to downtown.
“It’s cheap and it’s quick and it will solve a lot of our problem in terms of getting people to and from work,” Doucet said of his transit idea.
In his closing statement, Watson said his own proposals are “realistic and deliverable and not pie in the sky.”
Other candidates had a few reasoned ideas.
Joy Drouin called for a landlord licensing scheme to prevent slumlords and, as an economic development pitch, a reduction in signage fees for small businesses. His campaign is centred on the idea of unifying Ottawa and Gatineau as a single capital region.
Bernard Couchman made sound points on the subject of affordable housing, calling for more “holistic” decision-making, saying the city should always consider mental health issues.
Bruce McConville criticized Watson for supporting a “ghetto” eyed for Vanier, referring to the Salvation Army’s plan to relocate its shelter from the ByWard Market. McConville positioned himself as a “central figure” in the opposition to the shelter relocation to Vanier, railing against more shelter beds being added to the city.
As for Michael Pastien, he thinks affordable housing and shelter space should be located near the Amazon warehouse that’s under construction in the rural east end so people can live close to new jobs.
There were plenty of general ideas tossed around, too.
Hamid Alakosai underscored his interest in bringing “prosperity” to the city and growing business opportunities around the world. Ahmed Bouragba said his priority is to reduce taxes. Moises Schachtler said there would be a surplus of housing in Ottawa if he wins the election.
On the topic of LRT, Craig MacAulay slagged the Confederation Line for being a “stump line” that, in his mind, will add time to people’s transit commute downtown.
James Sheahan and Ryan Lythall didn’t participate in the debate.
The municipal election is Oct. 22.
Someone will say something (completely) wrong. By the time (the moderator) gets back to you, you’re on to a different topic.