| Larry O'Brien | |
|---|---|
| Larry O'Brien in 2007. | |
| 58th Mayor of Ottawa 2nd Mayor post-amalgamation |
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| In office December 1, 2006 – November 30, 2010 |
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| Preceded by | Bob Chiarelli |
| Succeeded by | Jim Watson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 19, 1949 Ottawa, Ontario |
| Spouse(s) | Debbie O'Brien (Divorced) Colleen McBride (married)[1] |
| Religion | Roman Catholic[2] |
Lawrence Robert O'Brien[3] (born July 19, 1949), was the 58th mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is also a current director of Calian Technologies Ltd.[4] and its former CEO and chairman.[5]
O'Brien attended Elmdale Public School, Fisher Park High School, and graduated from Merivale High School in 1968. He studied at Algonquin College and graduated with a diploma in Technology in 1972. After graduating from Algonquin College, O'Brien decided to work in the high technology sector that was taking off, and there met Terry Matthews and Michael Cowpland. He then joined Microsystems International Ltd. In 1975 he worked for the Communications Research Centre and Motorola Communications. O'Brien finally decided to launch his first company, called Insta-Call Ltd., which went bankrupt in 1979. From then to 1982, he was the general manager of reliability-testing firm Reltek Inc. in Kanata, subsequently leaving to open Calian Technologies Ltd, a staffing (outsourcing) service provider.
O'Brien left Calian as CEO and chairman in 2006 when he was elected mayor of Ottawa, but remains a director. He ran for re-election in 2010 but was beaten by former mayor Jim Watson.
O'Brien married Debbie Green in 1983, with whom he had two sons, Michael and Matthew, and divorced in 1995.[6][7] O'Brien was re-married in 2008, to real estate agent Colleen McBride.[1]
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In July 2006, O'Brien announced he would be running for the office of mayor of Ottawa in the 2006 municipal election, calling himself a centrist candidate.
One of the central points of his platform was a review of Ottawa's light rail expansion plans, delaying or even eliminating the full contract.[8] He was critical of the secrecy of some of the elements of the project, as well as the effects the construction would have in areas such as the Albert and Slater street corridors, and the removal of some of the existing express bus services. In September 2006, O'Brien wrote a letter to the federal President of the Treasury Board, John Baird requesting a formal review of the project. This letter led to Baird withholding the $200 million federal funding until after the 2006 election in November.[9]
During a candidates debate on September 13, O'Brien stated that one solution to the problem of homeless youth sleeping under a bridge was to replace them with a tourist kiosk. He also said homelessness could be solved through a "business-like look." These statements led to criticism from other candidates for mayor including Alex Munter and Jane Scharf.[10]
O'Brien promised to freeze municipal taxes over the next four years and make the city's finances more fiscally responsible. However, it was expected that the budget would raise close to $95 million over the next year; sparking debate as to which public services would experience a raise in user-fees and which services would be cancelled. O'Brien also promised tougher policy on safety issues such as violent crime and drug issues, and promised to increase the number of police officers. Further to O'Brien's campaign commitments on law and order, he also promised to eliminate the city's free crack pipe program. He also proposed introducing a by-law preventing people from sleeping in public places based on the Montreal by-law introduced in September 2006.
O'Brien said that he was in favour of the planned expansion of the Ottawa Congress Centre, which was halted by the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Government.[11]
He proposed making Ottawa a green leader in waste-to-energy production by generating 5% of the city's electricity from waste and diverting 100% of the city's non-recycled waste from landfills. These plans included closing the Carp Road landfill site, which Waste Management was then planned to double in size, and replacing it with three waste-to-energy facilities.[12]
Before officially entering the mayoral race, O'Brien was in third place, with relatively low support in the polls. However, when Terry Kilrea dropped out of the race for a council spot, O'Brien obtained most of Kilrea's votes. He climbed to second place in the polls, ahead of incumbent Bob Chiarelli, then moved to first place ahead of challenger Alex Munter a few days before the election following an Ottawa Citizen poll. In the municipal election on 13 November 2006, O'Brien won 47% of the vote and became mayor-elect of Ottawa with a margin of 30 000 votes ahead of Alex Munter. He subsequently stepped down as CEO and chairman of Calian while remaining a director for the company.[13]
During the week of December 18, the City of Ottawa reported that it could face a 105-million dollar shortfall on the 2007 budget which is equivalent to an 11% tax increase. During the campaign O'Brien promised a no-tax hike policy, but with a larger shortfall than anticipated, he mentioned that it would be not a guarantee.[14]
During the 2007 budget discussions from January 8 to January 12, 2007, O'Brien voted against a passed motion that would have required city staff to implement two draft budgets including one with a tax freeze and another with a tax increase within the rate of inflation. After several budget meetings, O'Brien criticized several councillors who were more in favour of a tax hike within the rate of inflation and also for not taking the procedures seriously. Councillors have later replied that O'Brien's comments do not improve the relations between the mayor and the City Council.[15][16] On February 26, 2007 it was announced that the City, while recuperating surplus and reserve funds and hiking various user fees, will not increase property taxes that year.[17]
In August 2007, the City was facing a significant budget shortfall of over $80 million for the year 2008. Despite his engagement for a tax freeze, O'Brien proposed a 2% tax-levy until 2010 for infrastructure projects which would give an additional $180 million in revenues for the city.[18] He also presented a motion in which he would acquire more municipal responsibilities (such as city contracts and hiring) in an attempt to improve the control of city expenses which increased rapidly since the 2001 amalgamation.[19][20][21] and later presented a financial plan including measures proposed to make the city more cost-effective by finding administrative cost savings and the selling of Hydro Ottawa.[22][23][24][25] City staff mentioned that a tax freeze would have resulted in the closing of several community centres, 9 public libraries, as well fire stations, daycare centers, skating arenas and swimming pools as well as major cuts to transit service and a significant transit fare hike.[26]
The budget was approved unanimously by Council and resulted in a 4.9% tax increase including 1.4% coming from the police force budget, 2% for the infrastructure levy and 1.5% from capital and operation costs. The budget also included a 7.5% OC Transpo fare increase until 2010 and various user fee increases such as rents and parking spaces and various cost cuts.[27] O'Brien and much of the Council had stated prior to the budget talks that cuts to essential services such as community centers, libraries and transit were unacceptable.[28]
For the 2009 budget, the city was facing a $35 million budget shortfall with a 4.9% tax increase and cut proposals included 230 jobs, 700 daycare spaces, $4 million in arts program and cuts to transit service.[29] Following budget discussions and consultations the budget was passed on December 9 on an omnibus motion from councillor Rick Chiarelli. The budget resulted in a 4.9% tax hike, defer some spending items and not proceeding with the arts and transit cuts proposed. O'Brien had criticized the surprise move by council calling it a "travesty" and added: "What I saw this afternoon was simply disgusting. They acted out of fear, not leadership". The budget process was occurring at the same time a 52-day transit strike at OC Transpo began.[30][31]
On April 18, 2007, O'Brien launched a 1,000-day transformation campaign in which it will review on how the city's services are made as well as the decisions are made at City Hall. The issue was the fourth of his "T-plan" which included taxes, transit and trash. He also planned several meetings in the following weeks outside City Hall. His strategy was met with concern by several councilors, organizations and former mayor Marion Dewar who insisted on a degree of public consultation.[32][33]
During the 2007-08 winter season, the city received 437 centimeters of snow, making it the second snowiest winter on record behind the 1970-71 season which saw 444 centimeters of snow. The heavy snowfall caused a major budget shortfall for snow removal operations which some estimates being at $23 million. Following snow storms which dumped one meter of snow in a one-week period in early March, O'Brien proposed a one-time tax levy of $50 per household in order to balance the budget.[34] As the proposal was met with heavy opposition from many citizens and councilors, it was defeated during City Council meeting on March 26, 2008 as it opted for eliminating the deficit by using provincial infrastructure funding announced in the 2008 budget and money from the sale of Telecom Ottawa.[35]
In his first complete week in office, O'Brien had modified his position concerning the light-rail project due to an Ottawa Sun report that mentioned that if the project was cancelled there would be possible lawsuits by Siemens totaling up to 1 billion dollars. O'Brien mentioned afterwards that he preferred to nix only the downtown section. On December 6, Ottawa Council voted 12-11 in favor of the pursuit of the project without building the section that would travel through downtown while adding an environmental assessment that would study the possibility of building underground tunnels under Albert and Slater streets. O'Brien added that the money saved on the north-south line would be invested on developing the transitway in the suburban areas.[36] On December 13, he withdrew his support on the revised plan because the 400 million dollar funding by both the provincial and federal would not be returned before the contract deadline of December 15. O'Brien added that if the city signed the contract it would have been a risk. A new vote was held on December 14 and Council voted to derail the project by a margin of 13-11 with O'Brien and Rainer Bloess who was absent in the previous vote, casting the additional votes against the project.[37][38]
On January 19, 2007, O'Brien created a new Transportation Task Force committee led by former Liberal Cabinet Minister David Collenette, in which it reviewed the city's transit issues and was commissioned to issue recommendations.[39]
While facing a $280 million lawsuit from Siemens, the contractor for the original north-south project, the city council approved on November 28, 2007 a new transit plan worth just under $2 billion. The transit plan included completion of the current Transitway, expansion of light rail service to Riverside South, a new transit corridor for Cumberland and a new downtown tunnel in which an environmental assessment study to be conducted whether light-rail or bus will use the tunnel.[40] It has not yet been determined how this plan will be funded. A first phase with light rail from Tunney's Pasture to Blair Station via a downtown tunnel was approved in November 2008.[41] A future section near Westboro requires more studies due to concerns by the National Capital Commission and area residents on using light rail on the Ottawa River Parkway.
On December 10, 2008, OC Transpo drivers and mechanics started a 52-day strike which ended on January 31, 2009 after federal Labour Minister Rona Ambrose announced its intention to introduce back-to-work-legislation following several breakdowns of talks between the Amalgamated Transit Union, the city of Ottawa and a federal mediator. The strike happened during a time that the Federal Government was prorogued due to the 2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary dispute, which may have prolonged the strike without risk of federally mandated resolution. The parties agreed to send the dispute issues such as sick days, work-rest rules and other benefits to binding arbitration.
In his first week of office, O'Brien came under attack because he supported raising his salary from $140,000 to $172,000.[42] This was controversial because O'Brien had run on the platform of strict fiscal prudence. Coming under attack by critics, O'Brien reversed his position on the matter and would decline the pay raise just two days later.[43]
On February 10, 2007, the Ottawa Citizen reported sworn allegations from Terry Kilrea, who had dropped out of the mayoral race on August 30, 2006, that O'Brien had met with Kilrea twice and offered him a financial inducement of up to $30,000 and a political appointment if Kilrea would withdraw from the race and support O'Brien.[44] O'Brien was under investigation for bribery by the OPP since March 27, 2008 in connection with the allegations. The Ottawa Citizen reported that Terry Kilrea sent correspondence to the federal Minister of the Environment John Baird concerning a possible appointment if he dropped out of the mayoral race.[45] On December 10, 2007, the OPP charged O'Brien for two offenses under the Criminal Code of Canada.[46] O'Brien temporarily stepped aside during the trial; councillor Michel Bellemare, served as acting mayor for two months. O'Brien contested the charges in court and on August 5, 2009, both charges against him were dismissed by Justice Douglas Cunningham, associate chief justice of Ontario’s Superior Court.[47]
In April, 2007, O'Brien gave media interviews comparing panhandlers with pigeons. He suggested that if people stopped feeding them they would go away.[48] He also accused the Mayor of Perth of busing homeless people into Ottawa. The issue continued during the next few days with the Mayor of Perth, John Fenik, mentioned that O'Brien's comments were "dangerous because he takes a complex issue and makes it one dimensional".[49] O'Brien's then-Chief of Staff Walter Robinson later clarified that O'Brien was making reference to the panhandling issues in the downtown and Byward Market areas.
In March 2010, O'Brien stated reluctance to run in Ottawa's 2010 mayoral election, citing that he accomplished most of his mayoral objectives in his first term.[50] However, on June 30, 2010, he officially announced[51] his intention to run for mayor in the 2010 election.
O'Brien officially launched his campaign on September 8, 2010. O'Brien's campaign slogan is "Action over Politics", a deliberate contrast of O'Brien to main rival Jim Watson's extensive political career. O'Brien's campaign also announced that they would forgo the traditional lawn-signs in the campaign for a more "modern" approach.[52] Another campaign theme for the O'Brien re-election bid has been that the mayor only has one vote (on city council) while citizens have two (one for mayor and one for their local councillor). The Ottawa Sun reported that O'Brien noted that in order to implement his agenda, he needs "councillors who think like him around the [council] table" [53]
O'Brien has been largely critical of council for tax increases during his tenure as mayor. O'Brien's platform states that he wants to "give the Mayor, rather than staff, the authority to bring forward the city’s budget plan for debate.".[54] O'Brien continues to set "zero" as a target for annual property tax increases while rival Jim Watson sets a tax increase cap at 2.5% per year.[55]
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