Capital Capers

Here we are, the national capital of Canada, a progressive society of fundamentally decent and intelligent people, known for its large demographic of university graduates, high-earning bureaucrats and successful entrepreneurs. Along with the city's share of middle- and low-income families and large numbers of immigrants, making us a truly international city clothed in the accouterments of a small-town mentality.

We're also a stolid, incurious and rather smug community of communities, many of which don't subscribe to stolidity, incuriousness and smugness. Still, the unenviable reputation of the city of Ottawa (Ontario), while wearing the mantle of the national capital of this great country is that of a backwater. Which, in a way, is all right, since we also boast far more green space for clean breathing and recreational opportunities than most cities. Along with two great rivers passing through the city.

We've a thriving arts community, and a goodly proportion of the city's dwellers who adore music and theatre and do their part in supporting these cultural icons of any decent civilization. We have excellent hospitals, one of which is dedicated to the health of children in and around the national capital. There is wealth aplenty here, but unfortunately, poverty as well. Ottawans are generous both by nature and through submission to that old tenet that neighbours help one another.

What we lack is a good and decently principled mayor. We certainly had ample opportunity to elect one, but we really muffed that one. Opting for a flashy high-roller whose successful entrepreneurship is undeniable, but whose aptitude and suitability for the post of mayor of Ottawa should have been clear to all those bleeding idiots who voted him in, but quite obviously, was not.

There is currently a police investigation into Mayor Larry O'Brien's activities stemming from that very same election which brought him to the helm of the city's administration. An investigation that has been fairly successful in revealing his blatant attempts at bribery, to ensure that his closest rival to success in obtaining top vote for the mayor's chair would opt out of the running. Which, indeed did happen.

Mayor O'Brien has alienated not only many of the elected councillors who sit on city council with him, but also, by his high-handed attitude, many of the hard-working municipal civil servants who make this city of close on one million people work as well as it does. He makes decisions which on close examination are utterly lunatic, then back-pedals, asserting it wasn't really what he had in mind.

We are assured he does have a mind and a working brain, but on too many occasions it's been difficult to detect and affirm that for a fact.

Now, it would seem, the high-tech company that he founded and of which he remains a director has been inordinately successful in attracting city contracts. While the city supply manager claims the contracts were awarded once Calian Technologies had undergone the city's standard procurement process, there is something to the demand that Caesar's wife be above reproach.

The city's legal department has cleared Mr. Mayor to an extent; that he resigned as chairman of the board of directors while running for office, retaining a position on the board of directors - under the city's ethics guidelines and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. However, before Mayor O'Brien had been elected to the mayor's office his company, despite seeking city contracts, had been awarded none at all.

Head of the Ottawa and District Labour Council renders his opinion of the unorthodoxy of the affair by stating the situation "looks absolutely horrible"; that the mayor has a choice - quit his position as director of the company or leave the mayor's office. Simple as that. "No matter what the mayor says, the fact is Calian has now received more contracts this year with the City of Ottawa than it ever has in the past."

So something is definitely fishy in Ottawa's procurement process. In the mayor's case conflict of interest is blatant and real. He can recuse himself when decisions-in-the-making reach his level, but he cannot absent himself from his responsibility to avoid the merest suspicion of self-enrichment allied with his position as mayor of the city.

That Calian Technologies has seen a substantial increase in business since its founder took public office is undeniable, and deplorable. Additionally, that Mayor Larry O'Brien feels entitled to having his feet firmly planted in both public and private interests bodes ill for his continued tenure in guiding this city. As though we really needed additional instances of malfeasance to bring us to this conclusion.

There's an interesting old saying that erupts when people become sufficiently irritated by the stupidity of the politicians they elect. Unfortunately, unless this man is found guilty by a court of law on the charges that may yet be brought against him on the conclusion of the current investigation, our option will have to await the ballot opportunity - to throw the bum out.