Transit, environment centre stage during mayoral debate Wednesday
Posted Sep 25, 2014 06:49:23 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – Transit and the environment took centre stage in a mayoral debate at the Ottawa Convention Centre, Wednesday night.
The most tense back-and-forth between the two front-runners, current mayor Jim Watson and Mike Maguire, came over Ottawa’s Light Rail Transit.
“You’ve had more positions on this issue than a yoga instructor,” Watson told Maguire, eliciting laughter and applause from the audience.
Maguire says he favours an expansion like the current O-Train — using diesel trains on existing tracks.
“Stop this nonsense, billions of dollars for these vanity projects,” Maguire told the crowd. “We can get people out of their cars, onto the trains starting next year.”
However, Maguire does not support spending city money to reduce greenhouse gases and climate change on things like solar panels on the rooftops of city-owned buildings.
“I’m concerned about the costs,” Maguire said. “I’m concerns about the economic consequences of trying to solve the world’s problems here at home.”
Maguire also thinks the segregated bike lanes on Laurier Ave. should be removed, and bicycle traffic shifted onto smaller side streets.
