Mayoral Candidate Clive Doucet Wants a City Council Unafraid ‘To Express Itself’
Some men love grand gestures. Clive Doucet,however, is not one of those men who believe in grand gestures, no matter how noble. He, however,wants you to know that he’s in the mayoral race to win it and not just to shake things up or elevate the debate. In his interview with ottawacitizen,He mentioned over coffee at the Glebe café, that if he doesn’t get broad support across the city particularly in the suburbs, he‘d be quitting the race. Doucet is not just running for the sake of it.
“I am running to win and if I sense after two or three weeks that I’m not going to win, I won’t do it. I don’t think it is fair to ask people to support you with money, time, and effort just to be part of the conversation,” he says. “That’s a noble democratic thing to do but it is not enough. I have no intention of staying in a race I can’t win.”
Doucet appears older, having more grey hairs than he last had in his last interview in 2010 at the Hintonburg campaign office. You can still hear the passion in his voice when he speaks about the issues and insists that the years away from public life did not diminish the fire in his barely. “The goal is still to transform Ottawa”, he says. In the last race, his opponent Jim Watson beat him out of the race, so what will make this time around any different?
“He is a Leviathan,” Doucet says of Watson, acknowledging the large obstacle in front of him
Doucet, however, says that times are different from what they were when he ran against Larry O’Brien (the incumbent back then) and Watson, a former provincial cabinet minister at the time of the 2010 mayoral race. With everyone desperate to get rid of O’Brien, Watson became the instant alternate. Now that it’s just the two of them, perhaps Watson is more vulnerable and Doucet stands a better chance.
The now 72-year old Doucet says age has made him change too. In 2010, the weight of the issues made him campaign rather desperately and it didn’t go down well with people. This time, he says the plan is to do it with purpose and calmness.
“The difference between now and the last time is that it is just the two of us. I am calmer, and I have a lot more humor. I am going to campaign with a lot of fun,” Doucet says. “I want to be a mayor that smiles have a council that smiles and is not afraid to express itself. I want to bring democracy to city hall.”
Doucet acknowledges that Watson has been a good mayor in the traditional sense; meaning a mayor who attends community events, manages things, and keep developers happy.
Doucet believes he is the man to challenge the city and change it for the better according to this news report.