OTTAWA — Ottawa City Council has named Beacon Hill-Cyrville Councillor Tim Tierney as the new chair of the Transportation Committee after a bid to promote Vice-Chair Jeff Leiper failed. Somerset Ward Councillor Catherine McKenney put forward the motion at City Council Wednesday to install Leiper as the Chair of the committee, but it failed in a vote of 7-15. Councillors Fleury, Leiper, Kavanagh, King, Brockington, McKenney and Menard voted in favour. Councillors Rick Chiarelli and Diane Deans were absent. The motion by McKenney, had it passed, would have addressed a complaint from many core urban councillors, who say they've been shut out of the Finance and Economic Development Committee—the mayor's de facto cabinet. FEDCo is made up of the Chairs of all Standing Committees, the Chair of the Transit Commission, the Deputy Mayors, and members-at-large. FEDCo currently has no councillors from any central wards, including Leiper's Kitchissippi Ward. The Transportation Committee needed a new Chair because Cumberland Ward Councillor Stephen Blais stepped back from his duties at City Hall to run as the Ontario Liberal Party candidate in the upcoming provincial byelection in Orléans.
