Coun. Diane Holmes has served the residents of downtown Ottawa since 1983.
Diane Holmes talks to Jennifer Simpson about the recent election and her hopes for Somerset Ward.
Centretown News: What do you think has changed in council today, compared to when you started in 1983?
Holmes: When I started, the ward was half the size. It just went from the canal over to Bay Street. It had many fewer people and the intensification hadn’t started so we hadn’t started bringing in many new residents, which is where we are today. So it was the city, as well as the regional council; so you sat on the City of Ottawa, a much smaller city. And you sat on regional council, as well. So the region did the social services and housing, big roads, transit, public health and the city did recreation, libraries and zoning. So they were very separate entities. It was very different than it is now.
How do you feel about this huge change in council this year, with incumbents being kicked out?
I am really excited about that. We have new people with new ideas, new energy, and obviously their residents were interested in change. For whatever reason, the residents were unhappy with the last group, so I’m hoping people will come to council with the knowledge . . . they must have gone door to door, they must have talked to lots of people so they should have the most current information from the residents of that area. And since we’re local government, we want to be doing what’s best for communities across the city.
You lost some of your natural allies with the ousting of Alex Cullen, and the retirement of Clive Doucet. Do you anticipate any difficulties in working with this brand new council?
Well, I think the balance is between the urban areas, suburban areas and the rural. Those are the three groups, because they do have different needs. And what we need to do is work together so we support each others’ requests, whether it’s widening roads or, in our case, narrowing roads, getting more bikes lanes . . . whatever that particular part of the city needs, we need to support each other; that is what our residents want.
How do you plan to work together with this council?
I think it will help to have a mayor who understands that we all need to get along together; who will want a more collegial kind of council, a council that does work together, that does realize what the needs are across the city . . . I think that will be more helpful.
Speaking of mayor-elect Jim Watson, how do you think his governing style as mayor will differ from Larry O’Brien’s?
Well, Larry seemed, from time to time, to dislike all the councillors and also disliked the staff, disliked the bureaucracy. He didn’t seem to trust the bureaucracy which is not very helpful. That’s not how you get the best out of our staff – by disliking them. Speaking against them in public, denigrating them in public is not helpful. Because every time he’d make some statement publically, I’d hear from the staff that they felt demoralized, their work level went down because they weren’t as efficient and energetic as they could be. So I think Jim understands, he’s come from a bigger bureaucracy; he’s come from the province, he used to be mayor. He understands that if you want the best out of your staff, you work with them, you encourage them, you get them up to date in whatever their field is. You’re looking for efficiencies of course, so you’re looking for positive kind of ideas coming from staff.
We have been looking for efficiencies for years, of course, but there are more efficient ways of doing things still to come. And if you want the staff to be bubbly and energetic and really good with the public, because they’re the ones talking to the public quite often, you want a happy face, you want someone who thinks their job is important, that we, the directors of this corporation, support them and want to help train them, want to make sure they are really good on the phone or at a public meeting or whatever. . . If you want the best out of your staff, you need to support them.
Do you see any challenges in working with Watson?
There are always challenges in working with a mayor because, of course, the mayor is looking at everything from a city-wide perspective and I’m looking at things, quite often, from a local perspective, although transit will be city-wide, the sewer water problems . . . but then there are local small things. Some group may want another speed hump on their road or whatever, so it’s a matter where you have to take your needs to the mayor, explain them so that he understands them and hope he will be on side with you.
Why do you think you survived this election when so many incumbents were ousted?
This office, including me, works really hard for four years, like we work with all kinds of groups. Whether it’s disabled groups or homeless groups or condominium organizations, dog parks, children’s playgrounds . . . we work with hundreds of different groups and individuals over the four years.
I stay really close to the community, so I know their needs. I meet with many many people, we’re all on the phones all day talking to people. So I think I’m responding to the needs of the people in this area. Otherwise, I’d know it, they’d be telling me. We’d get phone calls saying, “she voted the wrong way on that!” or something. So I think it’s just hard work and staying in touch with the residents.
How does it feel to be one of Ottawa’s longest-serving councillors?
Well, it’s good to have the experience. I know how to do things, how to take things to a committee or how to work on something with staff. . . it certainly makes things go faster and smoother. When I started, it certainly takes a year or two to understand the intricacies of this bureaucracy. You cannot learn everything about long-term care, daycare, garbage, sewers, water, hydro and all those things. . . you can’t learn those over night. So it does take some time. So for the new ones it will be quite a learning experience. But for me, it’s a matter where I can deal with things faster and sooner.
What do you hope to accomplish in the next four years?
Well, first thing is light rail – get that tunnel built and get the bottleneck in the downtown solved, because you know, one accident in the downtown and everything grinds to a halt from Kanata to Orleans, so we do have to get the tunnel done and get ourselves a light rail system. And the same with the sewer and water. We have to get that sewer problem fixed – build another big tunnel underground downtown, where you can hold the water after a big storm. Because our sewers are combined with storm water and sewer, you have to hold that, wait ‘til after the storm and then send it off to Greens Creek so it’s all treated. As you know, we’re dumping the excess storm water, with sewer, into the rivers. So those two are the biggest two to make sure they happen; very very important for the environment. Clean water and clean air.
The north-south light rail project didn’t survive the last election. Do you anticipate anything like that happening to the east-west project this term?
That was such a big disappointment four years ago – to have John Baird interfere in the process and Larry come in determined to kill it . . . I remember him saying, “Now it will only take a few months to get a new plan on board and it won’t cost us much money to get out of that contract” and both of them, ridiculous statements. It’s taken us four years to re-plan, but I think we now have a council and a mayor… and the vast majority of the council is in favour of light rail and getting the tunnel done. We have the money, and it’s so little city money going into it . . . you know, $75 million city going into a $2-billion project. So it’s cheap for the city; finally we’re getting some federal and provincial money coming into Ottawa, which is great.
If you could have one wish for Somerset Ward over the next four years, what would it be?
I think the one wish always relates to the quality of life. You know, we’re a downtown ward, therefore the pressure is enormous on expanding commercial, on bringing many more people into condominiums. So keeping the quality of life – like the sidewalks, you need the sidewalk space, you need some green space, trees, parks. . . we need to keep our schools. All the things that make for a quality of life are what the fight is constantly. So every time we build a road, we try to narrow it back to the ‘50s . . . in Centretown, they widened every road right up to people’s front stairs, took down all the trees . . . it was just a massacre in the ‘60s. So every time we re-do something, we try to get back. . . get more trees back, widen the sidewalks, narrow the road, slow the traffic . . . It’s not that we’re going to see a decrease in traffic but we do want it slowed so that kids can cross streets and get to school.