This time we elected a right major...
he former head of an anti-tax lobby group is expected to be named chief of staff to mayor-elect Larry O'Brien.
For six years, Walter Robinson was director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a group that works to lower taxes and "eliminate government waste."
On Friday, he is expected to be appointed to one of the most powerful un-elected positions at city hall, where he will work with senior staff to set policy and help build consensus among councillors before important votes.
O'Brien's supporters say Robinson is exactly the kind of resource O'Brien needs to help him fulfill his pledge to freeze taxes for the next four years.
Among them is former Ottawa mayor Jacqueline Holzman, who helped on O'Brien's campaign and has confidence in the mayor-elect's ability to keep his promise.
"He has made a pledge that zero means zero and I tell you it can be done," she said. "And with Walter's help as the chief of staff, it makes it much easier to do."
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Robinson is also bilingual and has a thorough knowledge of how city hall works ― qualities that will be handy to his unilingual, politically inexperienced boss.
Spoke for program cuts, against light rail
Over the years, Robinson has produced many volleys of sharp words on local political issues.
He has been talking about cutting spending at city hall since at least the 2003 municipal election, when fiscal conservative Terry Kilrea did better than expected against incumbent Bob Chiarelli.
"It may mean cutting some programs, which many people ― some 66,000 who voted for Mr. Kilrea, for example ― determined weren't priority services," Robinson said at the time, citing grants to sports and cultural organizations as examples.
Like O'Brien, Robinson is not a fan of Ottawa's light rail plan. He has called light rail "colossal transportation failure" everywhere and has lobbied for Ottawa to abandon its own plan ― one he referred to as "a rolling white elephant, which only serves to gratify political egos and bygone era rail buffs."
He applauded last year's decision to raise Ottawa transit fares, calling it "sensible and long overdue."
He has complained about the number of unionized workers on the city's payroll and has spoken out against a program to provide clean crack pipes to Ottawa's addicts.
Robinson has been involved in other levels of government through his work at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
In 2004, he ran for the Conservatives in the federal riding of Ottawa-Orléans and lost to Liberal Marc Godbout.
Since then, he has worked for an association of pharmaceutical research companies.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2006/11/28/robinson.html?ref=rss
he former head of an anti-tax lobby group is expected to be named chief of staff to mayor-elect Larry O'Brien.
For six years, Walter Robinson was director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a group that works to lower taxes and "eliminate government waste."
On Friday, he is expected to be appointed to one of the most powerful un-elected positions at city hall, where he will work with senior staff to set policy and help build consensus among councillors before important votes.
O'Brien's supporters say Robinson is exactly the kind of resource O'Brien needs to help him fulfill his pledge to freeze taxes for the next four years.
Among them is former Ottawa mayor Jacqueline Holzman, who helped on O'Brien's campaign and has confidence in the mayor-elect's ability to keep his promise.
"He has made a pledge that zero means zero and I tell you it can be done," she said. "And with Walter's help as the chief of staff, it makes it much easier to do."
Continue Article
Robinson is also bilingual and has a thorough knowledge of how city hall works ― qualities that will be handy to his unilingual, politically inexperienced boss.
Spoke for program cuts, against light rail
Over the years, Robinson has produced many volleys of sharp words on local political issues.
He has been talking about cutting spending at city hall since at least the 2003 municipal election, when fiscal conservative Terry Kilrea did better than expected against incumbent Bob Chiarelli.
"It may mean cutting some programs, which many people ― some 66,000 who voted for Mr. Kilrea, for example ― determined weren't priority services," Robinson said at the time, citing grants to sports and cultural organizations as examples.
Like O'Brien, Robinson is not a fan of Ottawa's light rail plan. He has called light rail "colossal transportation failure" everywhere and has lobbied for Ottawa to abandon its own plan ― one he referred to as "a rolling white elephant, which only serves to gratify political egos and bygone era rail buffs."
He applauded last year's decision to raise Ottawa transit fares, calling it "sensible and long overdue."
He has complained about the number of unionized workers on the city's payroll and has spoken out against a program to provide clean crack pipes to Ottawa's addicts.
Robinson has been involved in other levels of government through his work at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
In 2004, he ran for the Conservatives in the federal riding of Ottawa-Orléans and lost to Liberal Marc Godbout.
Since then, he has worked for an association of pharmaceutical research companies.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2006/11/28/robinson.html?ref=rss
