Another Majority, Another Coup – Ottawa City Budget Passed
A majority of the members of Ottawa City Council passed the City budget last night and according to the Ottawa Citizen a "coup" has been staged by a "coalition" on Ottawa City Council and President Stephen Harper Mayor Larry O'Brien doesn't like it. How dare this coalition go against the elected President Mayor.
The city’s 2009 budget debates took a dramatic turn Monday night when a group of councillors, not including Mayor Larry O’Brien, brought and passed a package motion that results in 4.9-per-cent property-tax increase and avoids serious program cuts.As the Citizen reported:
It was a coup from a new coalition on council made up of some very strange political bedfellows, and Mr. O’Brien was powerless to stop it.
Council had managed to close the gap by several million, and the meeting was heading into debate on some of the of more serious cuts to bus routes.Apparently if your not a right wing minority then your just another "coalition" imposing a "coup" and it just isn't right.
It was then that the coalition made its move with the package motion tabled by College Councillor Rick Chiarelli.
The coalition declined to make many of the cuts that more than 200 people had argued against during last week’s public submissions portion of the budget process.