Taking a position - guest post by Waterloo Councillor Karen Scian

Originally published October 19, 2010 by Karen Scian on her own blog

This Waterloo election has been characterized by criticism … hard to watch from the sidelines. As an acclaimed candidate, there is a choice to be made – Do I participate? Do I quietly sit by and bide my time til Oct. 25th? If I say something – if I lay out my perspective - what are the personal risks if “my” candidate doesn’t win? Those of you who know me … you are fully aware of my inability to fence-sit.

Lots of questions – no simple answers. However, I have decided that the risks to the community outweigh any personal risks that I may be taking… so here goes.

I take issue with Councillor D’Ailly’s persistent “criticism” of Mayor Halloran – he keeps beating her up on her “lack of leadership” and that irritiates me. From my seat, he’s entirely offbase. Completely.

Leadership means a variety of things.

To some, leadership may mean acting authoritatively or taking a stand or demanding attention or wrestling control or …

Leadership may mean communicating effectively and bringing people together and inspiring people to be good citizens and building capacity in others and seeing the possibilities around you and working collaboratively.

I certainly know what type of leadership I believe in. I also know what kind of leadership Mayor Halloran espouses AND practices. I know because I watch it happen. Is she perfect? Hell no – who is? This is a tough job and, four years ago, we came into it with little or no governance experience. The learning curve has been steep and bumpy – but my god, we have learned a lifetime of lessons that will serve this community well. (To the new candidates out there … if you are fortunate enough to win, you will have your eyes opened really quickly.)

There are lots of stories out there about Northdale – they are true, but they aren’t my stories to tell. However, I can not stay silent on a series of incidents that occurred in early 2010 re: the Clay and Glass Gallery funding. My experience with this situation clearly illustrates why Councillor D’Ailly is overstating his abilities as a leader:

• early 2010 – the Board of the Clay and Glass registers to speak at council – Waterloo Council is gobsmacked to be handed a request for $300,000 of funding.
• Councillor D’Ailly is the city liaise on the Board of Directors – he knew it was coming and endorsed “the ask”.
• As council reps on a plethora of city/region boards, we COMMUNICATE with council regularly, out of courtesy and respect. (That is the stamp of Mayor Halloran.)
• I repeat – not one single individual on council (aside from Jan) knew that they needed that money. We were side-swiped by a Councillor with a $300,000 agenda.
• Councillors McLean, Witmer and myself worked with our finance staff to figure out some creative alternatives – ie, the loan that we ended up extending to the gallery. It was a radical approach – but we felt it was necessary to stop the entitlement attitude that was coming from CCGG.
• Around the same time – Councillor D’Ailly voted against the $1/person Prosperity Council funding for Arts and Culture, as he wanted that money for the CCGG.

Collaboration? Leadership? I urge the voters of Waterloo to really think about this … Councillor D’Ailly has rarely been able to engage members of council OR the community around an issue – Clair Lake, Northdale and CCGG were all wrestled away from him as we forced our way into the conversations. These are not his success stories – they belong to the collaborative members of our community and council who continue to diligently work together to solve tough issues. That, again, is the stamp of Mayor Halloran.

Finally, I have a distinct memory of watching his backside bolt for the door, instead of placing a vote for or against a grant for the Supportive Housing project … we were all astonished. Where is the leadership in bolting for the door?

These are my experiences, I offer them to you for consideration.

As a footnote – I am very proud of the approach we took with the Clay and Glass Gallery and I’m extremely impressed with their board. They took their lumps – then they set to work. Today’s gallery is not the same place it was a year ago … I have faith that they will succeed. And for all of you who have the “simple” and punitive answer of “just closing the doors” on the gallery … think that through a bit. To me, that’s parallel to a cold-hearted parent kicking their pregnant teenager out of the house. Get real.