I saw red this morning when I read in the paper that the recent court case (Friends of Lansdowne) could very seriously impact and delay the return of football to Ottawa.  It angered me NOT because of any potential delay in the return of football (I could care less about that), but because of the excuse and finger pointing provided by our own mayor, Jim Watson.  It appears the final reports on the governance and legal agreements with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group aren’t expected until months after they were scheduled to be tabled and that it is the legal challenge by the Lansdowne Park Conservancy that is causing the delay.

HOGWASH.

I spent many years working for a very large high tech company.  We dealt with RFPs and contract negotiation situations in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  We were given approx 6 weeks to not only respond to the RFP but to also understand and agree to the associated contract terms and conditions.  Once a bid was awarded, there were minor contract negotiations prior to final signing – all managed with a maximum of two people and sign-off on our end – and those two people dealing with a multitude of other things simultaneously.  The City of Ottawa has a huge staff and no doubt an entire legal department and contracting department at its disposal.  Work on the contract with OSE should have been ongoing by City staff regardless of any lawsuits surrounding the overall project.  To use the lawsuits as an excuse is plain NONSENSE.  I am sure they did take up the time of City legal beagles – but it isn’t normally the lawyers who work out the contract details (though they probably do the final check and approval).

Just another instance of the Mayor blaming anyone and everyone and the City plugging along in its normal fashion on my tax dollar.  I am not amused.

Speaking of our Mayor – does he not trust Councillors to do an interview?  He turns up, uninvited, in the strangest of places.