By Brandy Zimmerman
With all the hoopla surrounding the National Capital Commission, it’s sometimes hard to believe Ottawa wouldn’t be better off without it.
One of the most vocal opponents of the NCC is Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who wants the commission abolished because its goals are often different from those of the city.
And why wouldn’t they have different goals? The NCC is made up of appointed commissioners from across Canada, only five of whom are from the capital region.
Yet this group of people, many of whom only visit Ottawa for meetings, is the most powerful decision-making body in Centretown.
Someone who will never live in the city won’t have to live with the consequences of their decisions, if they can go back home to Vancouver or Halifax or wherever.
Further, these out-of-town commissioners don’t face the negative backlash that often surrounds NCC plans.
Living in another city allows NCC commissioners to make decisions without dealing with public repercussions.
They’re not visible, they’re not in town and they’re not accessible to the average Ottawa resident. Political immunity at its best.
Perhaps the worst thing about the NCC is the lack of accountability and transparency. The commissioners are patronage appointments, who hold their seats for as long as they see fit.
Further, the commission makes all its decisions and conducts all its dealings in secret, behind closed doors.
It’s a closed group with a hidden process. While that might be OK for an advisory body, it seems entirely unacceptable for a decision-making body, particularly one as powerful as the NCC.
This is unacceptable in an age of government transparency, where the decision-making process is almost, if not more, important than the decisions themselves.
The NCC will form public advisory committees when a project has a high level of public interest, allowing for some public consultation, says NCC spokeswoman Diane Dupuis.
But these consultations take the form of surveys and submissions from interest groups.
The public’s voice is best heard in a public forum, where any and all members of the community can come and have their say.
Any group commissioners that has the power to build, destroy and reshape the city we live in should at least be open to public forums and make their process open to the public.
But while it is clear the NCC needs to be reformed, it is less clear it needs to be abolished.
Despite the many flaws of the NCC, the commission has done many good things for the capital region. Take, for example, the Greenbelt.
The Greenbelt is one of the sacred parts of the capital, but it isn’t something that a municipal government would have started or protected, at least in the early years.
When the NCC started to create the Greenbelt, the public outcry was enough to make any local government back off. At least if they wanted to be re-elected.
But the NCC commissioners weren’t going to lose their jobs over it, so they held their ground and the Greenbelt was created. This is just one of many initiatives residents originally hated but grew to love.
Another project for the NCC is revitalizing Sparks Street. Moving Heritage buildings might not be a popular idea, but getting and keeping people on Sparks Street is important for Centretown.
So, the NCC does have a use and shouldn’t necessarily be abolished. But make the commission’s process increasingly open to the public and bring them closer to Ottawa and what residents want. Public forums and open meetings are the first and most important step.