Police services board chair says Ottawa mayor 'out of touch'
The chair of Ottawa’s police services board says Mayor Jim Watson is ‘out of touch’ with the work being done to fight violent crime in the city.
Coun. Diane Deans says the mayor’s meeting this week, at which he established a ‘leadership table’ to address violent crime and suggested more funding for the city’s police service, was a ‘simplistic’ response to a violent Labour Day weekend in the city that saw two shootings and a stabbing.
“For the mayor to respond to an incident and say we need to form a new committee and we need to throw more money at police is just too simplistic a response to a very complex set of issues,” Deans told CTV News Ottawa on Friday. “I would like to be involved in helping him get up to date on what those issues are.”
Deans, who chairs of Crime Prevention Ottawa along with her police services board role, said she wasn’t invited to the meeting.
“I know that the mayor is more comfortable dealing with members of council that tend to agree with him on all of the issues,” Deans said.
The mayor’s office said in a statement that he meets “frequently and almost daily” with city leaders and officials to address city-wide concerns.
“After the recent rash of violent incidents, the Mayor’s Office has no record of Councillor Deans contacting the Mayor’s Office to seek or propose a meeting,” the statement said. “Mayor Watson is always amenable to dialogue with members of Council who engage with him on their priority concerns or issues.”
In an open letter to the mayor, Deans said she wanted to ‘introduce’ the mayor to the efforts of people working every day toward ‘evidence based, holistic, upstream solutions to community safety and crime prevention.’
“I am shocked and surprised that as the Mayor you are so out of touch with the work that is being done on these fronts and the importance of funding these initiatives,” she wrote.
Deans said groups that work to address the root causes of violent crimes, such as community health agencies and groups that provide mental health services, need adequate, predictable funding.
“Those groups have had to beg the mayor to get funding,” she told CTV News. “If the mayor really wants to be part of the solution, he needs to be the person that loosens the purse strings to get the agencies the money they need to help us create a safer community.
“The strategy can’t just be let’s give police more money or let’s form a new committee.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'