A whopping 9 out of 10 councillors in the executive committee (read Jim Watson’s people) voted against a competitive process for a new Casino in Ottawa.  What is wrong with this picture?  How can you vote for something without even seeing what the options are?  How can you vote against the very nuts and bolts of process in public sector?

I want what is best for Ottawa – and I don’t care where it is!  I do understand the pros and cons related to Rideau Carleton Raceway but to approve it without having any details about other possibilities just does NOT make sense to me.  And now they have put a caveat on it – that the winning casino bidder (is there even a bidding process here?) must pay for transportation improvements around the track!!  They seem to be doing their very best to ensure the casino goes to RCR and then fails.  RCR themselves have said they couldn’t commit to paying for city infrastructure without seeing the costs.

There should, at the very least, be an open competitive process.  A PROCESS.  Imagine!  This is public sector.  The City of Ottawa has already sole sourced one very large project in Lansdowne Park.  They developed a process for a reason.  Why aren’t they using it?

The more I read, the more ridiculous it all appears.  Do we really have a bunch of buffoons making decisions on our behalf?  This is frightening!