Blog
Follow and engage James in a discussion about the future of the City of Ottawa and Ward 9: Knoxdale-Merivale over the course of his municipal campaign.
Friday, 29 October 2010 14:18

O'Grady Campaign: Thank you for your support!

To O'Grady campaign supporters,

 Now that its been a few days since the election, I have had a chance to decompress a little bit and reflect on the campaign and the final result.

 Although, the result is not what we had wished for, I feel honoured and privileged to have earned the support of so many people in our community. I am very grateful for the effort our volunteers willingly provided to help get me elected. In seven short months we accomplished an incredible feat, starting from scratch and building a grassroots, community-oriented campaign of more than 100 volunteers who came together around the desire to change the way Ottawa is run and to help build a city that we can all take pride in.

Having reviewed the poll results yesterday, there is no doubt in my mind that we ran the best campaign for City Councillor in Ward 9: Knoxdale-Merivale. If not for the impact of the Ottawa Citizen's editorial board endorsement of Keith Egli on the final weekend, we would have won. An endorsement that was solely based, as they indicated, on the false assumption that Borough Councils will add an additional layer of bureaucracy. Since the parameters of a Borough system have never been defined for Ottawa, it can be anything we want it to be or don't want it to be.

 

After such a great effort by so many people and with a promising result at hand, it is difficult to accept that one media outlet could swing the balance so dramatically. Nevertheless, that's the way the electoral system works. Right or wrong, we have to accept the result as being final no matter how difficult it is to swallow.

 Despite the loss, I believe we succeeded in raising public awareness about the problems communities and their residents face when dealing with City Hall.

 As you are aware by now, I believe there is a direct link between poor decision making and higher taxes. This is why I advocated for borough councils to help ensure community concerns across the city would be properly respected and considered before decisions are made, because this is not happening now, as the communities of Trend-Arlington and Craig Henry experienced in 2009 with the new Shoppers Drugmart development on Greenbank Rd.

Bringing local decision making back to the local level would help rectify the problems amalgamation has created and ensure the right decisions are made the first time, eliminating the need to reverse poor decisions that end up costing taxpayers money. As the representatives of public opinion, it is hard to believe that any media outlet would not want to dig deeper into an idea that would only help to empower residents and community associations to protect and shape the future growth of their own communities.

To give you an idea of some of the milestone achievements we accomplished together over the last seven months, here's a month-by-month synopsis of what we achieved:

 Garnering nearly 20% of the total vote as a result of our effort is a great achievement that we should all be proud of.

 Moving Forward:
Moving forward, I would like to pass on my best wishes to the new City Council and to Keith Egli, the new Councillor for Ward 9: Knoxdale-Merivale.

For myself, I will continue as Vice President of the Trend-Arlington Community Association and continue to help improve the quality of life in our community. If I can offer any advice to the newly elected councillors it is that they should be themselves and follow their own path rather than succumb to the pressures of special interest groups. A councillors job is to represent the residents of their ward to the best of their ability not the interests of the many special interest groups that will soon knock on their door.

 I would also like to see Mayor-elect Watson follow through on three of his campaign promises in 2010-11:

 1) Reduce tax increases to 2.5%

  • Mayor-elect Watson promised to reduce tax increases to 2.5%. Although this is higher than what I would like to see, it is a significant reduction from last year's 3.77% increase and would be a good start toward reducing tax increases to the level of inflation.

2) Borough Councils

  • Mayor-elect Watson promised to put together a panel of experts within six months of becoming Mayor to come up with a Borough model for Ottawa. I would also like to see public consultations conducted on the Borough system within this same time frame.

3) Ethics

  • Mayor-elect Watson proposed a number of solutions to help prevent undo influence from 'special interest groups' at City Hall including creating a 'lobyist registry'. These proposals will go a long way toward ensuring taxpayer's interests will always be safeguarded.

Thanks again for your support. I really appreciate your help and dedication to my campaign!

 All the best!

Sincerely,

James O'Grady

Last Updated on Sunday, 31 October 2010 20:12  


EMAIL UPDATES
FOLLOW
SHARE
Share |
   
   
Meet James | Vision | Get Involved | Newsroom | Blog | Events
Authorized by the Official Agent for the Campaign to Elect James O'Grady