Deans ‘doubly determined’ to run for Mayor following heated city council meeting
Despite Wednesday’s special council meeting — the decisions that were made, hurtful words, and flaring emotions — Coun. Diane Deans says she is determined now more than ever to have her name on that Mayor’s ballot come the fall election.
While Deans told The Sam Laprade Show that now would not be the time to focus on that move, seeing how Mayor Jim Watson conducted himself during last night’s meeting made her “double determined.”
“All this has really energized me and made me realize that Jim Watson certainly doesn’t want me sitting in that mayor’s chair uncovering all of the secrets that he has to hide — the house of horrors, if you will — that I’m sure the next mayor will find out about,” Deans said. “So, he doesn't want me to be that person and that makes me doubly determined to lay out a progressive view of the city for the future. Ultimately the public will decide, but, I believe I will be on that ballot.”
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Deans, now out at the chair of the Police Services Board — a decision that was made last night — further clarified the board’s decision to hire a new police chief and the circumstances surrounding the hiring.
As Deans explained, they didn’t move ahead with hiring a new chief. Former police chief Peter Sloly gave his notice shortly before the public announcement, which neither board member knew about before then.
And when Sloly left, they needed a new chief — and fast.
Deans said she reached out to now interim police chief Steve Bell and asked if he would take over operations “day-by-day” until the board made a quick decision about how to staff that position until they can conduct a full community consultation.
“The police services board went to work really quickly because we realized we had a command team of only two people left,” Deans explained. “We have one deputy chief that is on suspension, chief Sloly left — so we had one deputy chief and one acting deputy chief left in policing positions left in our senior command in the biggest crisis facing the entire city. And we recognized that a command of two — as I said to council yesterday — is like flying with one wing.”
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And that meant making quick moves — moves that were legal and approved by the solicitor general, Deans pointed out.
“We had to bring someone in quickly on a limited contract to sure up that command team, and we chose someone the board knows well because he has done work for the board and understands the Ottawa context, has great credentials and is well-respected.”
That person is Matthew Torigian — someone who the board has worked with before and trusted, and who came with the skills they needed to bring the occupation to an end.
But it wasn’t the board who leaked the hiring information, Deans said.
“We had not announced this, and the Mayor decided to use it as his own political theatre,” she said.
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His temporary contract has an end date for the end of the year, but a mutual agreement can end his contract sooner. And as Deans clarified, an offer was not made to Torigian until after Sloly resigned.
“There’s a lot of internal turmoil and strife inside Ottawa police in bringing someone to rise above that in the middle of a crisis seemed also like a good idea. I can tell you the candidate we'd chosen is a very progressive police leader.”
Torigian’s start date has not yet been determined — that will be left up to the new chair of the Police Services Board, Eli El-Chantiry.
But in the end, Deans said her ousting was not because of the board’s decision to hire Torigian.
As Deans put it, the situation was a “convenient side bar” to help the Mayor put forward a motion he already had prepared to get council to vote her out of the position of chair of the board.
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“It has been a fractious council — Jim Watson made that decision at the start of this term when he appointed all of his club members to all of the key portfolio in exchange for their undying loyalty and support to him for the entire term. It has caused a lot of issue and a lot of frustration.”
Listen to the full interview with Coun. Diane Deans on CityNews' The Sam Laprade Show:
