All eyes were on Queen's Park this week as the Progressive Conservative government took unprecedented steps to slash the size of Toronto's city council in the middle of the municipal election campaign.
The understandable question for Ottawa is whether Premier Doug Ford would unilaterally chop our council, too — a fear stoked this week when he gave an interview to a Toronto radio station in which he hinted he's "been getting numerous calls from Ottawa" to reduce the number of councillors.
With the gigantic caveat that this provincial government does not behave too predictably, it's unlikely that Ford would interfere as directly in Ottawa politics as he did in his hometown.
First, during a formal speech last month, he told a giant room of provincial officials he wouldn't, which should count for a little more than off-the-cuff comments on a radio show (although see the caveat above).
Second, local MPP Lisa MacLeod, a cabinet minister and the most powerful Progressive Conservative in eastern Ontario, won't have it.
Finally, Doug Ford isn't as interested in Ottawa as he is in Toronto — not by a long shot.
While it's hard to look away from the drama unfolding in the legislature, we're asking the wrong question when it comes to Ottawa's city council.
It's not about whether Ford will intervene in the makeup of Ottawa's council, but why Mayor Jim Watson and this council did not.
Watson had promised smaller council in 2010 election
We are often fixated on the number of councillors around the table, but in Ottawa, there appears to be middling-to-little appetite to cut the size of council.
The candidates who answered the question on the size of council in CBC'ssurvey argued to keep it the same size by a ratio of about four-to-one.
Two notable exceptions were incumbents Jan Harder and Stephen Blais, who have long argued that council could be slimmer.
Watson himself promised in the 2010 campaign to shrink council to 14 or 17 seats from 23. He was going to strike an expert panel within 60 days of taking office to come up with a plan, and said he'd try to get council's approval within his first six months in office.
The mayor did none of these things.
Instead, he walked a last-minute motion onto council in 2012 to study reducing its size. His half-hearted attempt failed, as Watson likely knew it would.
Perhaps it was an uphill battle to convince councillors to vote themselves out of future jobs. Or maybe Watson realized that many residents don't exactly feel over-represented.
After all, whether it's advocating for residents, delving into committee files and city contracts, or being on-the-ground leaders in their communities, councillors should be extremely busy.
Fewer of them means less representation for us.
Mayor and council supported undemocratic distribution
But some residents are already have less representation than they used to. That's because not all council seats are created equal.
Some rural wards have populations of less than 30,000, while other wards — mostly those in the suburbs — have grown to close to 60,000.
So while Osgoode Coun. George Darouze represents just 28,000 people, his vote on council carries the exact same weight as the vote of College Coun. Rick Chiarelli, who represents more than 52,000 people.
This lopsided representation is explicitly undemocratic. And this council refused to fix it.
Warning from clerk's office ignored
In 2015, the clerk's office produced a detailed report on options for how council could conduct a ward boundary review.
The report was clear that "the process of determining ward boundaries is fundamental to representative democracy at every level of government."
It had been a decade since ward representation was last studied. In 2005, council tried to reduce the size of council by one seat, but residents appealed the decision and council was increased by two seats instead.
In an unusual move, Watson sent out his own statement at when the clerk's office released its 2015 report.
The mayor wrote that he'd never heard residents bring up the issue of council size, and he unilaterally shut down any review, opting instead to look at ward boundaries in 2019 — well after the Oct. 22, 2018 election.
It's unlikely that many non-city hall watchers are aware this council inequality exists, since part of the $300,000 review process was to reach out to residents about the issue.
And yet, every councillor voted to shelve the review.
That means that when you mark an X for a candidate next month in Orléans or Rideau-Vanier or Rideau-Southgate, your vote will be worth far less than the ones your neighbours will cast in West Carleton-March and Rideau-Goulbourn.
Good Housekeeping
This Was the Most Popular Wedding Song the Year You Got Married
Everyone was cutting loose in '84.
From Good Housekeeping
Cosmo
Here’s why Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson split
Let’s face it, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson have always been one of the more ~controversial~ Royal couples. In fact, over the years their relationship has endured more drama than we can even remember. But while the pair might have divorced over two decades ago, they have managed to remain close friends and are still living together. So, let’s take a look at where it all began…
Where did they meet?
Funnily enough, this Royal pair didn’t bond over a kebab after a drunken night out at Uni. Big surprise. These two have actually known each other since they were kids and used to hang out at the same royally posh polo matches.
According to the Daily Mail‘s reporter Rebecca English, a friend of Sarah (AKA Fergie) told her: “Even at the age of ten, Andrew and Sarah knew that they would marry!”
When did they get engaged?
Fast forward a few years and these two were reportedly reunited by Princess Diana herself after she invited Fergie to Royal Ascot in 1985. Long story short, they fell madly in love and announced their engagement just a year later on March 19, 1986.
And here’s something to make you feel all warm inside - Prince Andrew actually designed Sarah’s ruby engagement ring himself to match her red hair. And the royal romance doesn’t end there as he later said in the pair’s engagement speech, "It was at Ascot, as it were, that the whole thing took off. But it wasn't Ascot, as such, when we realised that there was anything in it. It was later on."
Just six months later Sarah and Prince Andrew married at Westminster Abbey before jetting off - in the royal plane, of course - to spend their honeymoon on the Azore Islands in Portgual. OKAY, that’s the lovey-dovey stuff done, now comes the drama.
Why did they split?
After welcoming Princess Beatrice in 1988 and then Princess Eugenie two years later, the rumour mill went into overdrive that Andrew and Fergie's relationship was on the rocks. Following weeks of speculation - including whispers of infidelity - in 1992 Buckingham Palace was forced to announce that the Duke and Duchess of York would in fact be separating "amicably”.
A statement read,
"In view of the media speculation which the Queen finds especially undesirable during the general election campaign, Her Majesty is issuing the following statement: Last week, lawyers acting for the Duchess of York initiated discussions about a formal separation for the Duke and Duchess. These discussions are not yet completed and nothing will be said until they are. The Queen hopes that the media will spare the Duke and Duchess of York and their children any intrusion."
The scandal was stepped up a notch when Fergie was later snapped on holiday in St Tropez having her toes sucked by her Texan financial adviser, John Bryan while she was still married to Prince Andrew. After the controversial photos were published in The Sun, Fergie finally addressed the whole debacle, saying, "I remember seeing it and just going, oh no, Sarah. And that's when Caroline, my best friend in the world, do you remember Caroline? She said to me, 'Now you need help, Sarah.'”
The Royal family and Fergie
Unfortunately, things only got messier from then on, with Andrew’s family and Fergie not exactly parting ways gracefully. According to The Telegraph, Fergie was plunged into a load of debt which she then tried to clear by making a deal with newspaper reporters. Thomas Markle eat your heart out.
To make matters worse, the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret penned a handwritten - and pretty savage - letter in response to some flowers Fergie sent. “You have done more to bring shame on the family than could ever have been imagined”, it said.
In reference to the 'toe-sucking' snaps, the Princess added, “Not once have you hung your head in embarrassment even for a minute after those disgraceful photographs. Clearly you have never considered the damage you are causing us all. How dare you discredit us like this and how dare you send me those flowers?” Ouch.
Their relationship now
Regardless of all the family drama, Fergie and Andrew have actually kept a pretty close bond. They even continued to holiday as a family at their shared £13m ski lodge in the posh Swiss resort of Verbier. And apparently, they’re still living together now in Windsor’s Royal Lodge.
But that doesn’t mean all is forgotten and rumour has it there’s still some major beef with Prince Charles and Fergie. In fact, when Meghan Markle married Prince Harry earlier this year, she was left off the guest list for an evening do hosted by Charles.
While Prince Andrew's ex-wife *was* invited to the wedding and general reception, she didn’t make it onto the exclusive list for a second party for just 250 people. FYI Prince Andrew and the couple's kids Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie did nab themselves invites. Awkward.
A source told the Daily Mail, "Numbers are limited to the evening party, she is not a member of the Royal Family any more and Prince Charles simply doesn’t have time for her. He just can’t see why she is still such a big part of his brother’s life."
As you can imagine, Fergie wasn’t best impressed by the rather public snub especially considering she didn’t make it onto the guestlist for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s big day back in 2011 either…
What will happen next?
So, will these two ever get back together? Well, in an interview on Australian radio last year, Fergie was asked she would ever remarry Prince Andrew, to which she replied, “I always think ‘have we really?’.
“We’re divorced to each other right now. We’ve never really left each other.”
And on that note, I’m just going to leave this final tribute from Fergie to the "best looking" Andrew here…
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