Developers' influence on city is a big deal

Submitted on Sat, 07/17/2010 - 12:00am

Published in the Ottawa Citizen, July 17, 2010  

Dear Editor:

I've heard some of my political colleagues say, "I don't have to have the truth, I just have to be near it." Mr. Graham's letter (Ottawa Citizen, July 12) is a good example of being 'near' the truth. Yes, he's right, political contributions are limited to $750 and this includes developers. So why has Councillor Doucet got his knickers in a twist? What's the big deal about $750. This is the big deal. Your wife, partners, associates, friends can also contribute $750. I have old friends and supporters, who do contribute a great deal more than $750 to my campaign, by making sure everyone in the family contributes the maximum. This is a very short list, parents and friends from childhood and they don't contribute to other campaigns. Developers use the same technique to contribute a majority of council candidates. A casual forensic accounting reveals this without much effort. If it was just a question of $750 why would councillors resist passing a by-law that forbade donations from developers and their associates - contractors, construction supplies, etc.?

It's about who's running the city. The 'three amigos' are in the process of signing hundreds of pages of legal documents with their 'partners' at city hall which will give them, their children and grand children possession of Lansdowne Park for 70 years and we, the taxpayer will give them 345 million dollars in stadium and site developement funding to manage as they see fit. It doesn't get much sweeter than this. Kanata Northlands (KNL) via Urbandale is getting ready to clear cut the South March Highlands, a remenant of an old growth forest, the only one within a city boundary in Canada and perhaps the world. Claridge has forced the city to accept 25 stories of high rise development in an area zoned for 12 via the Ontario Municipal Board. The city's zoning bylaws as one developer said to me are just 'negotiating' points. (Try that on a police officer next time you get pulled over for speeding. Gee officer, I thought 60 k was just a negotiating point.)

There will be other important issues in this mayoral campaign, transit will be one. Treatment of our elderly and children will be another, but the hottest button will be developers as the shots across the bow from Mr. Graham make clear. It will be because there's so much taxpayer money involved. Think about it. Every time Council up zones and/or rezones a site for a developer, we hand him a very large cheque, often in the millions, and we do this at every council meeting.

Kind regards,

Clive Doucet,

Councillor Capital Ward.