By Tiffany Tambeau
City Hall Bureau
Mayoral candidates are busy campaigning across the city as Ottawa residents prepare to hit the polls in less than two months.
Six candidates are vying to be mayor of Ottawa. The issues dominating the campaign for the Nov. 13 election are as diverse as the candidates, ranging from transportation to the environment to homelessness.
Throughout his campaign, former city councillor Alex Munter has emphasized his five goals for the city, which he stresses are not to be confused with promises.
He wants Ottawa to be an efficient, green and family-friendly city.
He also says it should be a city where neighbourhoods matter and where more job opportunities are created for its residents.
Munter says incumbent Mayor Bob Chiarelli has been mayor for too long and it’s now time for change.
He says he wants the city to take new directions in the areas of transportation, environment, city financing and housing.
“To move our city forward, we need somebody with new ideas, the energy to lead and the experience to make it happen and that’s what I’m offering to the people of Ottawa,” says Munter.
Chiarelli, who is seeking a third term, says he has the advantage of experience.
“I am running on my record and I am running on being an innovator,” says Chiarelli.
He says there are two sets of issues in this campaign: citywide and local.
“In this election the local issues are paramount,” says Chiarelli.
He says the environment, affordable housing and transit are the key issues for Centretown. He says residents are most concerned about having a “liveable” city.
Chiarelli says his plans for transportation and the light rail transit will be environmentally friendly and will benefit the residents of Centretown.
If elected, Chiarelli says he will propose a free onboard service for riders in the downtown area. He says this will help get cars off the street.
However, Chiarelli has been criticized by his opponents for his plans to purchase $3.5 million worth of land for the construction of the light rail transit project’s east-west line.
Candidate Piotr Anweiler opposes Chiarelli’s plans for the LRT project. Anweiler, a local businessman, says the city should be looking into technology that will save money and be environmentally friendly, such as the personal rapid transit.
Homelessness has been another key issue in this municipal election. Former CEO of Calian Technologies Ltd., Larry O’Brien, has recently made suggestions on how to deal with the issue of poverty and homelessness in the capital region.
O’Brien would not return phone calls, but said in a Sept. 13 mayoral debate on homelessness that he wants to make the Rideau and Sussex pedestrian underpass a safer place by fencing in an area of the underpass where many homeless people sleep.
He said he would like to give the underpass a facelift by installing a statue or tourism kiosk.
Candidate Jane Scharf, an anti-poverty activist, says she opposes O’Brien’s recommendation to move the homeless from the underpass.
She says she wants Ottawa to stop resorting to laws and police to deal with the homeless and poor.
Scharf lived on the streets deliberately for four months to protest Ottawa’s approach to homelessness and says City Hall needs to develop better solutions to help the homeless.
Scharf says she is not accepting any corporate backing or cash contributions for her campaign, but says instead she is accepting vouchers for food and clothing to help the homeless.
“I want people to see that I’m not going in this with any allegiance to anywhere,” says Scharf.
Barkley Pollock, the youngest mayoral candidate at age 27, works in a Centretown drop-in centre for the homeless.
Pollock was unavailable for comment.