By Howard Nason
An electric car is an unusual place to carry out an interview. But when one of three candidates for mayor invites you for a ride in his personal hot-wired matchbox car, it’s as good a place as any.
Robert Gauthier is one of the three candidates running for mayor of Ottawa. Driving around the city in his pollution-free vehicle, he takes time to answer questions.
Why would he want to be mayor of Ottawa?
“I don’t,” he says.
Then why run?
“I’m running in self-defence. Anybody who’s in business here in this city knows what that means,” explains Gauthier.
He’s referring to a number of different issues that he feels need to be addressed: safer streets, more community participation, and, you guessed it, a cleaner environment.
“I think a city like Ottawa should be more. . .convivial. The streets should be safer,” says Gauthier. “It’s a people place. I’m more concerned about the people side.”
For these reasons the 60-year-old entrepreneur decided to run for public office for the first time, against Jim Watson — the widely favored candidate.
Gauthier has worked in an engineering firm, in marketing with Xerox, and currently produces his own paper, the Ottawa National Capital News.
Gauthier’s platform focuses on ideas such as replacing city- owned vehicles with electric ones, working towards safer streets, and making public facilities like swimming pools and museums free to keep young people off the streets and out of malls.
It’s an idealistic approach, but the soft-spoken Gauthier sees it as a simple problem.
“We need more participation,” he says. “People have to feel that it’s their city.”
For Watson things are simpler, and can be broken down into straightforward points.
“The city can’t create jobs,” says Watson.
“We can create the environment that encourages people to create jobs by reducing some of the regulations and rules that hinder economic growth.”
He wants to reduce the government to a one-tier system, like in Calgary, by the year 2000. With a similar population, Calgary has 15 municipal politicians, compared to Ottawa’s 84.
Watson also plans to create community councils where two or three wards would work together on local issues.
“There’s no sense bringing everything back up to the mother ship at City Hall when decisions can be made back down in the community,” explains Watson.
His other plans include increased programming for younger people, such as internships, and controlling taxes and spending.
The third candidate is Raymond Loomer. In a somewhat bizarre twist, Loomer has essentially vanished since confirming his candidacy for mayor, and could not be reached for comment. He can only be found through his web site on the Internet.
Among his proposals, Loomer advocates making public transit free — except during peak hours. He thinks this will encourage economic growth in the city, decrease traffic, and help the environment.
Loomer also hopes to examine the possibility of placing tunnels under Ottawa’s streets to fulfill long-term transportation needs and to allow access to public utilities. This could mean no more dug-up roads — something most Ottawa residents can relate to.