Ottawa Centre’s MP talks to David Gotlieb and defends the agency against complaints of arrogance
Centretown News: What do you think of the (NCC) plan, Metcalfe specifically, and the overall plan for the capital?
Harb: First, there is no plan, there is a vision and a proposal for consultation. So, the NCC has made a proposal for the whole capital region for rebeutification of the area, for changes to some of the existing structures, for putting into place some roads and stuff like that.
Now, I think this is a first. It’s very commendable by the NCC to reach out to the community, to seek the input of the community before making the decision. People in the past used to criticize the NCC because the NCC would sort of make the decision and go out to the public domain. But, (for) once the NCC are doing it right. They are seeking the input of the community first before making a decision.
So, I would say to that extent is that it’s great that they are doing that and what the community have to do is they have to input into the process, have to let their elected officials, as well as the NCC, know about their views vis-a-vis the suggestion or the vision.
So, what happened is that at the meeting which we had, someone has taken my comment that it’s good that the NCC are consulting into saying that I am endorsing the vision that the NCC has proposed. Those are two different animals and it’s important not to mix the two.
The NCC has done the consultation now and are reviewing the public input. We will be doing our own consultation and we will be letting the NCC know what our constituents’ views on the matter are, as well as my own views. Then, at the end of the day, hopefully the NCC will come out with a public statement saying what is it they want to do.
CTN: How would you respond to the city councillors who say they don’t approve of the NCC’s system for public consultation and that perhaps the timing of the consultation period was inappropriate since it took place during the summer, when many of their constituents were out of town?
Harb: First, as elected officials it is important not to circumvent the democratic process. The NCC has gone out straight to the people and we have a responsibility as elected officials to go and consult with the people. For us, as elected officials, to go out and bypass the people and to give editorial comment on a suggestion by the NCC without proper consultation is unfair, it’s undemocratic and it really is not serving the public interest.
So, to that extent I would say that it is extremely premature for the City of Ottawa to just make a statement without proper consultation. They have a responsibility to at least give a chance to the NCC to receive the public input, to analyse the public input and to come out with a statement before a city can react to it. The city is in a conflict of interest in a sense. They are partners in this whole thing. They are not a third party. They have a responsibility for the planning of the national capital region. So, to that extent, before saying yes or no they have a responsibility to go out and consult with the community. If they don’t do that, the city is not really fulfilling it’s responsibility as a good corporate citizen as a partner in the process.
So, I would say the bureaucrats have it right at the city level, but the politicians, in particular the ones who have circumvented the democratic process, they have it wrong. For one time when the NCC are doing it right, unfortunately we have some special interest members of the community who have tried to skirt the democratic process and bypass the consultation with the public and sort of dump all over the suggestion that the NCC wanted to consult and I thought that was not serving the interest of democracy or of the community.
CTN: A lot of people seem to be concerned about the track record of the NCC at LeBreton Flats. What would you respond to the people who say look what’s happened with LeBreton Flats? Because, let’s face it, the NCC does not have a crystal clean record when it comes to coming through on these plans.
Harb: The LeBreton Flats issue, which is a part of the package is not the NCC’s problem. It’s the different levels of government that are involved in the LeBreton Flats issue. The fact that we have ownership in LeBreton Flats by the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, the provincial government owns part of LeBreton Flats, the NCC owns part of LeBreton Flats, there is the CN owned part of LeBreton Flats, there is some private ownership in LeBreton Flats.
So, to that extent there are at least four or five owners, most of whom are in the public domain. You add to this the interest of the community. So, one of the tasks the NCC had to do is not an easy one. They have to bring all of those interests together and formulate a consensus in terms of what has to be done in terms of LeBreton Flats.
Thanks to the leadership of the NCC, finally we have a blueprint that includes more or less unanimous approval by the different levels of government and the NCC. All three levels of government have agreed that the NCC should be the lead agency on LeBreton Flats and should proceed with the development plan as was agreed to.
We cannot just pinpoint the blame on one agency. We are all responsible. As elected officials we are responsible because we dragged our feet on the issue, different levels of government also dragged their feet on LeBreton Flats. This is not something the NCC should be taking the blame for. We, as a community have to take the blame for the fact that the LeBreton Flats partners have taken so long before they came to an agreement. Now they have an agreement, just about to be delivered to the NCC, so they can proceed.
I am glad they did not rush with overdevelopment for LeBreton Flats and a plan that was not properly thought through. In my view, the longer we wait for the development of LeBreton Flats, the better it is for the interests of the community if, at the end of the day, we are going to have a consensus. If we are not going to have a consensus, then my view is that don’t proceed with any development until we have the support of the community. Now, they have a plan that takes into consideration the interests of the community in terms of parks, recreational facilities, balanced housing for seniors and others, office buildings and national sites. It’s a perfect plan now. Now, is the time to act.
But what we have is a bunch of special interest groups dumping all over the NCC just because they don’t like one part of the vision. There is more to the vision than just Metcalfe Street.
I think it’s a very narrow-minded view by those special interests to target one part of the proposal and not look at the overall proposal. The overall proposal takes into consideration the Gatineau Park, the Islands, LeBreton Flats, the Confederation Boulevard and the whole of Parliament Hill which is a meeting place for Canadaians from coast to coast. What we have to do is recognize that we have a blueprint for something that the next genereation is going to be very proud of.
CTN: Is it possible that rather that eliminate the NCC altogether, some sort of restraint could be put on the NCC so that public consultation is forced to happen, so that situations like those that have occured in the past don’t happen any more?
Harb: The NCC are doing that now and rather than encourage them and saying you are doing something right, we continue, as elected officials, to be the bad guys. We are the biggest and guiltiest part in this whole thing. If it wasn’t for us, I would say that things would have been a lot better in terms of the relationship between the community and the NCC. But we, every single time the NCC tries to do something, we try to short-circuit the process as elected officials. We try to pr-empt what the NCC are doing. We don’t allow these guys to have the chance to go out into the community in order to get the proper input. We as as elected officials go out, and as has happened in the past, put wrong information in the community. We have what we call this not- in- my-backyard syndrom situation, not only in this community, but all over the province and possibly the country.
From time to time we have the tendancy to not look beyond what is happening in our backyards. I would say this is sad, especially as elected officials. If we want the country and our community to move forward, we have to balance the interests of my backyard with the interests of my neighbours, with interests of my community, with the interests of my city, with the interests of my region, with the interests of my country.
Unfortunately, we have, in a lot of situations, elected officials, federally as well as provincially as well as municipally, who for whatever reason lose sight of the bigger picture.
The NCC have been important in the development of this region.