Mayor’s chief of staff selection drawing criticism
Posted Jan 4, 2023 11:00:00 PM.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has hired Robyn Guest to be his right hand at city hall.
Guest was former Mayor Jim Watson's policy director, and also worked for the City of Ottawa for two decades, under three different mayors, on matters like intergovernmental affairs.
Citizens group Horizon Ottawa has criticized the choice, in part because Guest's brother, Brian, faced questioning by the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Inquiry Commission for his role in the LRT system. Horizon Ottawa points to Brian Guest being a partner and consultant at the firm Boxfish, which was awarded millions in contracts on the first phase of light rail.
Horizon Ottawa also alleges further entanglement by way of Robyn Guest's husband, Chris Swail, working as director of O-Train planning for the City ot Ottawa until 2019. He headed up the department while the City awarded SNC-Lavalin the LRT Stage 2 contract, despite its bid failing the technical score, which was not revealed to the public nor city council at the time.
“Hiring a chief of staff who has close family ties with someone who is so deeply entangled in the light rail scandal shows that our new mayor is not taking accountability around LRT issues seriously,” said Sam Hersh a board member of Horizon Ottawa in a statement released by the group. “Ottawans elected him on the premise that he would work to get us out of this mess, but we struggle to see how this brings us closer to that.”
In a written statement to CityNews Ottawa, the mayor's office has defended the choice of Guest as chief of staff, pointing to her extensive municipal experience as an asset in the role.
“Robyn provided valuable support…during the first few council meetings of this term, including all the key decisions that have demonstrated a commitment to a new approach in the mayor's office and that have been well received by city councillors and others,” the statement read. “Robyn has been fully transparent and will continue to follow the formal process and obligations under the Code of Conduct, the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, and all other policies governing ethical behaviour.”
