Nobody in Ottawa thinks we’re getting a good deal. Taxes keep going up and services keep getting cut. It’s not sustainable and it’s not fair.

Property taxes in Ottawa are up 21% from 2020 to 2025. What do we have to show for it? Worse transit. Worse roads. More congestion. OC Transpo fare hikes and cut services. More homelessness. More people at the food banks. A worse drug problem. Shuttered businesses on Bank St., a dying Chinatown, and a ByWard market where people are scared to send their kids.

If I measured success like Mark Sutcliffe, I’d be out of business.

We have to pay for what matters. We need good public services, but we can’t just throw money around and hope it sticks in the right places.

We have a mayor who prefers announcements over results. Talking about spending instead of talking about accomplishments.

Families are cutting back and City Hall keeps asking for more.

When things get tight in business things get real, fast. I’ve put my own house on the line to make payroll. That teaches discipline real fast. Every dollar matters. Every expense needs to justify itself. If something isn’t working, you don’t throw more money at it. You change course.

Ottawa needs that mindset.

Core services like roads, public transit, safety, these things need to be measured by outcomes, not announcements.

We need honesty. If taxes are going up, people deserve to know exactly why. Exactly what they’re getting in return. Topline numbers don’t tell you how many eggs you bought.

The last few years have been full of talk about goals, visions, and plans. Here’s what I want to know: if Mark Sutcliffe has been such a good mayor, how come he’s running on plans and not bragging about results?

We can’t just settle on managing decline. We need to fix what’s broken. Ottawa can be a city that works again. Just like it used to. But only if we treat every dollar City Hall spends with the respect it deserves.

With the respect you deserve.