New Ottawa council likely to vote down LRT contract: polls

The newly elected Ottawa city council will likelyreject thenorth-south light-railtransit contract approved by the previous council, the results of two pre-election surveys suggest.

And Ontario's premier suggested Tuesday that the province may not make its $200-million contribution to the project if the contract changes.

The previous council voted 14-8 in July to approve a $778.2-million contract with Siemens-PCL/Dufferin to build the north-south transit line, which is to run from the University of Ottawa to Barrhaven.

But in October, Treasury Board President John Baird announced that the federal government was withholding its $200-million contribution to the project until after the Nov. 13 municipal election so that the new council could decide whether to re-approve the project.

'I believe there are some other options on the table that may be more appropriate for the city of Ottawa.' Ottawa's mayor-elect Larry O'Brien

Now, that new council will likely vote against the project, according to the results ofpolls by the CBC and the Ottawa Citizen.

That's because the mayor-elect Larry O'Brien and three out of four new councillors Marianne Wilkinson, Christine Leadman and Shad Qadri are all opposed to the proposed rail line.

O'Brien said he has already begun talking about alternatives to the contract with the incoming city council.

"I believe there are some other options on the table that may be more appropriate for the city of Ottawa," he said. "In my preliminary discussions with councillors I'm getting a nod of agreement on that."

Qadri said helearned while campaigning door-to-door in his ward of Stittsville-Kanata West that the proposed rail line is not popular.

"North-south is not the way to go for our community," he said. "We want east-west first."

Evensome of the re-elected councillors who voted in favour of the rail line have since changed their minds or say they might change their minds, including Coun. Doug Thompson, who represents Osgoode.

"I'm not making any predictions now on which way I'm going to vote when it comes back to council," Thompson said Tuesday.

'We made a commitment for a specific project': McGuinty

Meanwhile, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday that the province's $200-million contribution is still on the table, but won't necessarily stay there if changes are made to the contract as outlined in a letter released by Mayor Bob Chiarelli three days before the municipal election.

"We made a commitment for a specific project," McGuinty said.

"We look forward to moving with that commitment. If the council changes its mind, then obviously we'll have to take a look at it."

But Baird says the new council should decide carefully whether to approvethe samecontract or go after a new one.

"We've got to take the time to get it right," he said Tuesday.

"And I think the people of Ottawa spoke to this last night. They want to ensure that it's the right project, at the right price. That'll be a decision for the Ottawa council to make."

During the election campaign, Mayor Bob Chiarelli cautioned that delays in getting the light rail project underway could be costly.

Baird said Tuesday, as he has before, that the contract does not include penalties for delays in implementationunless the delayscontinue beyondDec. 15.

He also criticized the companies contracted for not letting the public see that for themselves.

"I think it's very unfortunate very unfortunate that Siemens would not allow for the release of the contract," Baird said. "They should have. This is a new era of accountability."