There's a new group in town that calls itself Our Ottawa. It's leaders, or at least those who proclaim themselves as its leaders, say it has 200 members. It wants to breathe new life into what it calls a moribund city council.
There have been repeated promises to identify members and to release some kind of mission statement or vision for the city. But so far nothing, except support for some isolated and unconnected causes.
This deafening silence begs the question: Does anybody know or even care who most of these people are – or what they’re up to?
Some of the members are known. For example Shawn Menard, president of the Centretown Citizens Community Association, and Bob Brocklebank, once president of the Federation of Citizens’ Association, are both members. But who else? Who are these myserious people?
Keeping the public in suspense for months is only hurting its credibility and legitimacy. Being able to put names and faces behind a movement is what makes it strong and gives it power.
But who are these 200 people? What are their backgrounds? What do they stand for? In short, why should the voters of this city pay any attention to a group whose membership seems to be a state secret? Or even more basic: Are there really 200 members?
Politics is about putting oneself out there and taking risks and then dealing with whatever repercussions come along with the job. Groups whose members are unwilling to make themselves known to the public appear to be political cowards.
This is no way to carry out a political campaign.Already there is a suspicion that the reason Our Ottawa is hiding behind this veil of anonymity is because it has no cohesive vision for Ottawa.
The group calls itself non-partisan and says it will back candidates in the October civic election that shares its vision. But, what vision is that?
So far, Our Ottawa has gotten behind issues concerning sole-sourcing with the Lansdowne Live development project. The group also organized a rally to “Hold the Line” and stop urban expansion in Ottawa. It supported the U-Pass initiative and it even has a website for the Porchlight Project to replace traditional light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs to save energy. Commendable causes, but they hardly point to an overarching or cohesive vision for the city.
In the event, it's difficult to know how successful the efforts of Our Ottawa have been. Concerning the Lansdowne and the Hold the Line rallies, the group’s chants and cheers seemed to have little influence at all.
And what, if anything, do these issues have in common? What is Our Ottawa trying to say this city needs? Will we ever know?
Until at least some of these questions can be answered, it is unlikely that that this group will have a lot of influence in the upcoming election.
If Our Ottawa has any hope of challenging the status quo at city hall it needs, as it were, to come out of the closet soon. Wait much longer and nobody will give a hoot as to who these people are or what they stand for.