The largest unknown is whether or not his political inexperience will assist or harm him.
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Ottawa is electing a brand new mayor subsequent month. And up to now, your intrepid columnist has sat down with two of the front-runners — Catherine McKenney and Mark Sutcliffe — for candid conversations about their priorities, their imaginative and prescient and what drives them bonkers about our metropolis. (Bob Chiarelli has additionally been invited however up to now his staff has not responded; I’d love to speak to him too.)
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I’ve identified and infrequently labored alongside Mark Sutcliffe for one thing like twenty years. I like him loads: he has a very good coronary heart, he works laborious and whereas he can generally be mistaken, for example about free transit, I’ve all the time identified him to take the time to take heed to different factors of view.
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You possibly can say he goals to be a consensus builder. This may be each good and unhealthy. Consensus is best than division, no query about that. However there are occasions when what’s wanted is daring management, no more session. The trick is to know the best way to inform the distinction.
Mark is particularly good at interviewing different individuals. Simply take heed to his podcast Digging Deep should you gained’t take my phrase for it. I used to be curious to see how this journalist, small-business particular person and neighborhood advocate would fare on the opposite facet of the microphone. I imply, everybody is aware of he’s a runner however can the man skate in any respect?
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He can weave round a query he doesn’t need to reply, like “identify one good factor outgoing mayor Jim Watson has performed,” however not like a seasoned politician would. “I’m not right here to speak in regards to the final 12 years,” he stated. “I’m right here to concentrate on the following 4 years.” A strong B-minus reply.
The day I interviewed him, he was marking two months in politics. To name him inexperienced would do accidents to the English dictionary. He bristles when reminded that some individuals name him probably the most “Watson-like” candidate, provided that he’s the one non-politician with a shot on the high job.
Ought to he be elected mayor, in 4 years “Ottawa will probably be safer, extra dependable, extra reasonably priced, and have higher high quality of life,” he says. He additionally desires to make Ottawa extra conscious of its residents, enhance the reliability of public companies (OC Transpo, hello) and affordability.
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Does that imply he’ll freeze taxes? “I feel speaking about freezing taxes is is a little bit of a political trick. A manner of getting consideration in a race.”
I’ll take that as a no. He does, nevertheless, need to undertake an entire overview of the place we spend our collective cash. “We’re not going to chop the companies that folks care about. However we’ll do an entire overview of the place we’re spending cash, we’ll discover efficiencies, and we’ll preserve taxes as little as attainable.” Sounds nice, assuming it may be performed.
Three issues drive him bonkers about our metropolis. “I’ve been annoyed for a very long time that in a metropolis as affluent as Ottawa we nonetheless haven’t discovered a strategy to get everyone a secure place to sleep at night time, and entry to good meals for them to eat on daily basis.” He additionally doesn’t like that the town isn’t terribly engaging as of late, and he’s annoyed with visitors points. Could I counsel free transit?
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Candidates have their priorities throughout a marketing campaign however each mature voter is aware of that after within the huge chair, politicians should go the place voters need them to. Priorities can change, and never all the time for unhealthy causes. That’s why I desire to concentrate on character and character. They’re higher predictors of how a frontrunner will act beneath stress than completely edited insurance policies crafted in a theoretical universe.
One factor individuals could not notice is that the volunteer work he’s performed was centered on “creating extra alternative for everybody and creating extra fairness and equality,” as he places it. Being a enterprise particular person, he insists, is suitable with being progressive.
Mark Sutcliffe is an effective man who works laborious and desires to carry individuals collectively. The largest unknown is whether or not his political inexperience will assist or harm him. We’ll quickly discover out.
Subsequent week: Catherine McKenney.
Brigitte Pellerin is an Ottawa author.
