The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has released the results of its survey of Ottawa’s mayoral candidates.
The federal lobby group asked the four perceived front-runners the same five questions on taxes and democratic reform.
“There were generally two clusters of candidates,” said Derek Fildebrant, the CTF’s national research director.
“Larry O’Brien and Andrew Haydon, while different, were on the same broad side of the ledger as being more concerned about taxes than perhaps the other two candidates demonstrated.”
Nailing down Watson and Doucet’s positions on the issues, Fildebrant said, was a bit of a challenge because Doucet answered through a spokesperson, and the Watson campaign refused to participate at all.
“I cannot speak on behalf of (the Watson) campaign,” he said, “But it’s often a political tactic that if you don’t like the questions being asked, don’t answer them.”
The survey exposed some differences between the candidates who did answer. Both Haydon and Doucet, for example, said they would be willing to disclose the names of their campaign donors and amounts given, while O’Brien said he would only do so if the rules required it of all candidates.
Question Period
The five questions the CTF asked Ottawa’s mayoral candidates:
- Do you support limiting annual property tax bill increases to Ottawa’s inflation rate?
- Do you support requiring referendums for any new tax or tax increase beyond Ottawa’s inflation rate?
- Will
you lobby the provincial government to allow Ontario municipalities to
put in place “recall” mechanisms for elected officials? - Do
you support structural reform of the City of Ottawa to give local
communities more control over their affairs using a “borough model”? - Will you proactively disclose publicly a list of who contributed to your campaign and in what amount prior to the Oct. 25 vote?
