FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 June 2021
PRESS RELEASE: Community Groups Call on City to Include Public in Hiring Process of New Transit Head Ahead of Wednesday Transit Commission Meeting
OTTAWA - A coalition of community groups from across Ottawa are calling on the City to include the public in the decision around hiring the new General Manager of Transportation ahead of Wednesday’s Transit Commission meeting. John Manconi who has served as Ottawa’s GM of Transportation for a decade is set to step down at the end of September.
A letter addressed to the mayor and City Council signed by Free Transit Ottawa, the local Ottawa transit union, ATU 279, Ottawa Black Diaspora Coalition, ACORN Ottawa, Horizon Ottawa and Ottawa Transit Riders says that it is critically important that the process used to select the new General Manager of Transportation be a transparent and accountable one. The letter notes that the public ought to have a voice in the appointment of someone like the GM of Transportation whose decisions have such a great effect on people’s daily lives.
“The new head of Transportation needs to be someone who understands that transit is not a business.” Said Donald Swartz of Free Transit Ottawa. “It is a vitally important public service that should be publicly owned and financed, accountable to its users, and managed so as to realize its full potential as a source of stable, skilled public employment.”
The next General Manager will also be facing the daunting and important task of overseeing OC Transpo through a period of post-COVID recovery. The GM will need to ensure that riders are poised and ready to return after a pandemic that has seen a significant downturn in ridership. The latest figures from mid-April show ridership at just under 30% of pre-pandemic levels.
“It is crucial that a post-COVID recovery focuses on bringing service back in a way that ensures riders return.” Said Kari Glynes Elliott of the Ottawa Transit Riders. “The next GM needs to be someone who embraces the needs of diverse groups of riders, and especially those of essential and precarious workers, and persons with disabilities, who depend so heavily on a reliable and affordable transit system that takes them to all the places that they need to go.”
-30-
For Media Inquiries:
Free Transit Ottawa
Donald Swartz
613 791 2295
Ottawa Transit Riders
Kari Glynes Elliott
613-302-6579
Horizon Ottawa
Sam Hersh
613-663-7018
Latest posts
PRESS RELEASE: New councillor-elect Skalski tepid on Tewin, opposes Lansdowne
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE: Horizon Ottawa Releases Donor Information from Osgoode By-election Candidates
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
09 June 2025
OTTAWA - Horizon Ottawa has released information about how candidates in the Osgoode by-election have financed their campaigns in an effort to improve transparency. The organization has consistently called on candidates to refuse contributions from the development industry based on the perception that this could create a conflict of interest when elected officials are tasked with decisions that would affect developer profits. The City of Ottawa already requires candidates to release a list of all donations over $100 following the election, but Horizon also stresses the importance of voters having access to this information before casting their ballot.
Of the eleven candidates registered in the by-election, Horizon was able to contact ten, six of whom responded to the request. Horizon’s findings can be seen in this chart:
Three candidates: Dalton Holloway, Jennifer van Koughnett, and Peter Westaway provided a list of their donors and were verified to have not received any funding from those connected to the development industry.
Greg Vail provided a list of donors and was found to have received two $100 contributions from donors who could be construed to be connected to the real estate development industry.
Isabelle Skalski and Dan O’Brien both claim to have received no developer-related funding, but did not disclose a list of their donors.
Doug Thompson, Colette Lacroix Velthuis, Guy Boone, and Bobby Gulati did not respond to Horizon’s request. While this does not necessarily mean that their campaigns were funded by developer-connected donors, Osgoode Ward residents will not have access to this information before selecting a councillor.
Horizon encourages each of these candidates to show voters that transparency matters to them and to make this information publicly available before election day on June 16th.
- 30 -
For media inquiries:
English
Tom Ledgley
613-663-7018
French
Sam Hersh
613-663-7018
