LARRY O'BRIEN (CANADIAN POLITICIAN)

:''For the one-time NBA commissioner and U.S. political strategist, see Larry O'Brien.''
'Larry O'Brien' (born July 19, 1949 in Ottawa) is the current mayor of Ottawa, Canada, as well as the current director of Calian Technologies and its former CEO and chairman.
O'Brien attended Elmdale Public School, Fisher Park Public School, and graduated from Merivale High School in 1968. He continued his post-secondary studies at Algonquin College School of Technology 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. He worked with innovators like 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.
O'Brien sat on the Prime Minister's Advisory Council on Science and Technology (ACST), and was chair or co-chair of the Regional Economic Diversification Opportunities (REDO), the Sectoral Advisory Group on International Trade (SAGIT) on Information Technologies and Telecommunications and the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA).
O'Brien was the 1996 Ottawa-Carleton Board of Trade's Business Person of the Year, the 1997 recipient of the Premier's Award for Technology, the co-chair of Saint Vincent Hospital's capital campaign in 2004 which achieved the goal of raising $ 7.5 million, the United Way Community builder of 2006 award along with his ex-wife Debbie.
In 1983, he married Debbie O'Brien and they had two sons, Michael and Matthew. Michael, 20, is currently a third year Industrial Relations student at McGill University. Matthew, 16, attends Oakville private school Appleby, and is currently in grade 10. Larry and Debbie O'Brien are now divorced.

Contents

2006 Ottawa Mayoral Race

Mayoral term

Light-rail expansion cancellation

Salary hike

2007 budget

Transportation Task Force

Terry Kilrea

Transformation campaign

Pigeon Gate

2008 budget

See also

References

External links

2006 Ottawa Mayoral Race

In July 2006, O'Brien announced he would be running for the office of mayor of Ottawa in the November 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.^[1] 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 dollar federal funding until after the 2006 election in November.^[2]
During a candidates debate on September 13th, 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 "businesslike look." These statements led to considerable criticism from other candidates for mayor including Alex Munter and Jane Scharf.^[3]
O'Brien promised to freeze municipal taxes over the next four years and make the city's finances more fiscally responsible (although he did not provide details). However, it is expected that the budget will rise close to $95mil over the next year; sparking debate which public services will receive a raise in price and which services will be cancelled. He is also promised a tougher policy on safety issues such as violent crimes and drug issues, and to increase the number of police officers as well as eliminating the city's free crack pipe program. He also proposed introducing a by-law preventing people from sleeping in public places based on the Montréal by-law introduced in September.
O'Brien said that he was in favor of the planned expansion of the Ottawa Congress Centre, which was halted by the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Government.^[4]
He proposed making Ottawa a 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 include closing the Carp Road landfill site, which Waste Management currently plans to double in size, and replacing it with three waste-to-energy facilities.^[5]
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 that caught many experts by surprise. 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.^[6]

Mayoral term

Light-rail expansion cancellation

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 mentionned that if the project was cancelled there would be possible lawsuits by Siemens totaling up to 1 billion dollars. O'Brien mentionned 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.^[7] 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 additionnal votes against the project.^[8][9]

Salary hike

Also in his first week of office, O'Brien came under attack because he supported raising his salary from $140,000 to $172,000.^[10] 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.^[11]

2007 budget

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 .^[12]
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.^[13][14] On February 26, 2007 it was announced that the City, while recuperating surplus and reserve funds and hiking various user fees, will not hike property taxes this year.^[15]

Transportation Task Force

On January 19, 2007, O'Brien created a new Transportation Task Force committee led by former Liberal Cabinet Minister David Collenette, in which it will review the city's transit issues and to issue recommendations.^[16]

Terry Kilrea

On February 10, 2007, after A-Channel reported the same issue during the election, 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 if Kilrea would withdraw from the race and support O'Brien. Kilrea, who passed a polygraph test administered at the request of the Citizen, claimed he considered the offer and later rejected it. According to the Citizen, O'Brien acknowledged meeting with Kilrea but denied offering him cash to withdraw, although he did ask about Kilrea's financial position and "might have offered to buy his opponent's website". O'Brien also acknowledged discussing with his lawyer what his legal "options" might be to persuade Kilrea to drop out of the race, which in fact occurred, ultimately to O'Brien's political advantage (although Kilrea supported O'Brien's opponent Bob Chiarelli). Commenting on his rather vague recollection of the conversations which are central to Kilrea's allegations, Mayor O'Brien offered the Citizen the quotable but baffling remark "I fell asleep on my boat in July drinking a beer and when I woke up I was the mayor of Ottawa. That's how fast it went."

Transformation campaign

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 criticism by several councilors, organizations and former mayor Marion Dewar who were concerned that there will be no consultations with the public. ^{[17] [18]}

Pigeon Gate

On April 19, 2007, O'Brien made comments on CFRA's Madely in the Morning suggesting that panhandlers were pigeons and a pest problem. He suggested that to address the problem people must starve them of resources to fix the drug problem and get them out. He also accused the Mayor of Perth of bussing homeless into Ottawa. The issue continued during the next few days with the Mayor of Perth, John Fenyk, mentionned that O'Brien's comments were "dangerous because he takes a complex issue and makes it one dimensional".^[19] Fenyk, also requested an apology from O'Brien but the two haven't yet take about the issue. 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.
On April 25, 2007 Canada's Youth Diversity Initiative organized an educational demonstration at Ottawa City Hall and distributing fliers to passerby's and City employees. The group had also requested that the mayor be more sensitive to the plight of the homeless. ^[20]
On May 1, 2007, May Day, a hundred members and supporters of the Ottawa Panhandlers' Union descended on the Bank Street Promenade Business Improvement Area to protest O'Brien's comments, citing what they claim is the BIAs' influence at Ottawa City Hall in inciting the anti-panhandler rhetoric. ^[21]
July 1, 2007 saw the beginning of the fourth Homeless Action Strike. The strike location is right in front of Mayor Larry O'Brien's office window at Ottawa City Hall. Several homeless and formerly homeless protestors are camping 24 hours per day 5 days a week demanding O'Brien to resolve a number of issues with the homeless including the pigeon and seagull comments, the Hostels to Homes program O'Brien put in at the Union Mission and the need for a public health committee to put a stop to right wing city councillors doing things like cancelling the crack pipe program which front line workers claim is very effective in stopping decease and promoting guidance into drug treatment. Alternatively the group wants O'Brien's resignation.
The first 12 days police and city bylaw harassed Jane Scharf and eventually the police decided that she had the right to protest and the harassment ended. The mayor has attempted to negotiate after police refused to remove the protestors . O'Brien offered an apology if the strikers would leave. The group says this is too little too late. They want all their demands met.
July 12, 2007 Ian Houston and Conrad Gray joined the strike and added the issue about the cancelled crack pipe program. They are pushing for task forse to look at the public health commitee which would deal with medical issues such as the crack pipe issue. Ian and Conrad also sleep over at the strike location each weekday evening.
The comparison of homeless with seagulls is found in an article by Susan Sherring of the Ottawa Sun which is found at:
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Sherring_Susan/2007/04/26/4130724.html
"Asked to explain how he would deal with the city's homeless in an editorial board meeting with the Ottawa Sun during last year's election campaign, O'Brien set off on a bizarre analogy about how the Carp dump keeps seagulls away.
"At the Carp dump, they have a scarecrow set up, they had a massive seagull problem. I went out there and there were no seagulls. I asked how they did it. They said, 'We have a shotgun that goes off every 15 minutes, but the shotgun and the scarecrow doesn't do it on their own, but once a week we use a real shotgun and we shoot a bird. And there's nothing that scares these birds more than occasionally seeing one of these birds drop into the water.' "
So where exactly was the connection between seagulls and the homeless?
O'Brien, suddenly realizing what he was saying, quickly tried to explain.
"Can I clarify that? You have to arrest the odd person. You have to have enforcement, you need to enforce the law in a very visual manner and people will get the message. It's not going to happen overnight."

2008 budget

In August 2007, the City facing a significant budget shortfall for the upcoming 2008 municipal budget, O'Brien proposed a 2% tax-levy over the next three years for infrastructure projects, revenues that would give the city a estimated $180 million in revenues and demanded more money from both the federal and provincial governments which registered surpluses of $7 million (in the first fiscal quarter) and $3 million respectively. ^[22]

See also

★ Ottawa municipal election, 2006

★ Terry Kilrea

References

1. Halt LRT: O'Brien
2. No federal rail money before Ottawa election: Baird
3. Ottawa Sun: [1]
4. Time for a New Direction for the Ottawa Congress Center
5. A LONG-TERM WASTE TO ENERGY PLAN FOR OTTAWA
6. Labour Group Declares O'Brien in Conflict of Interest
7. Ottawa light rail goes ahead — but not downtown
8. Ottawa's light rail project veers off-track
9. Ottawa council kills light rail project
10. O'Brien backs raise for council, himself
11. O'Brien Turns Down Pay Hike
12. O'Brien waffles on freezing tax hikes .
13. Ottawa council leaves door open for tax hike
14. Mayor takes round out of councillors
15. Ottawa council passes tax freeze budget
16. David Collenette to head Ottawa mayor's transportation task force
17. Mayor faces backlash over closed-door meetings
18. Mayor launches 1,000-day transformation campaign
19. 'Pigeons' plague O'Brien
20. 'Pigeons' squawk over mayor's comments on homeless
21. Panhandlers threaten to shut down Bank Street
22. Zero down and out

External links

★ Draft Larry O'Brien