Dear Ottawa residents,
By now, citizens of Ottawa are aware of Ottawa's next boondoggle - the Mayor's desperate search for not one but two casinos - notwithstanding the well-known objections based on evidence based research documenting the dangers of gambling to some people.
But that is not what caught my attention. No, it was a sense of what Yogi Berra called "déjà vu all over again". We have seen this train wreck movie before. In the Lansdowne debate, a competitive process approved by Council, was killed behind closed doors in the middle of the night to create a sole sourced contract.
To be fair, this time Mayor Watson and Council did not even attempt to create the illusion of a transparent, fair, open competitive process. They jumped in repeatedly in attempts to gerrymander the process to fix the outcome.
Council needs to stop Mayor Watson's rush to judgment and establish meaningful consultation and allow those opposed to any casino as well as those opposed to particular locations for a proposed casino to be heard - before any decision is announced. Moreover, all studies and background information must be provided to the public in order to reveal the economic and social costs and benefits of a (two) casino - before consultations take place.
The Mayor and Councillors need to put aside their Putinesque machismo and act like - well, democratically elected and responsible politicians. Surely, they will find this helpful when they face their fate in the 2014 election.
Ian Lee, PhD
Sprott School of Business
Carleton University
Ottawa, Canada
Comments
Be the first to comment