The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 23

AROUND THE REGIONC3 N0TICEB0ARDC4 UVINGC5 cm SECTION PAGES C1-C8 DAVE BROWN I Citizen staff a pi maim By Carrie Buchanan Citizen city hall bureau Ottawa Council got a new alderman Monday, adding a pro-development voice to restore theleft-right balance that prevailed before Jim Durrell left the mayor's chair last month. Real estate developer Pierre Bourque Jr. won an eight-month term, defeating 17 others who sought to replace interim Mayor Marc Laviolette as alderman for By-Rideau Ward. Laviolette was appointed mayor by his fellow aldermen Feb. 18 after Durrell resigned to work full time as president of the Ottawa Senators hockey club.

Bourque was also appointed by council, in a four-ballot vote following speeches by all 18 candidates. F6ur of the original 24 applicants withdrew from the race, while two were disqualified after failing to prove their eligibility. yJ .11 Like Durrell, Bourque is a business-oriented sportsman. Following a 10-year career as a formula race car driver, he's now vice-president of Pierre Bourque et Fils, his father's real estate development firm. Bourque, 32, said Monday he plans to resign from the company to be a full-time alderman, and plans to run in November, when the job comes up for a public vote during the municipal election.

Council decided to appoint interim replacements for Durrell and then Laviolette rather than holding $900,000 elections so close to the next full election. Bourque's strongest opponents were community activists Maurice Page and Richard Cannings, either of whom could have tipped the coun-cil balance, giving the so-called "left" a stronger voice. Seven pro-development aldermen supported Bourque, while six left-wingers supported Page, a 25-year community activist. Cannings, president of Heritage Ottawa, was caught in a three-way tie with Bourque and Page on the first ballot. But Cannings lost out when council's left wing coalesced around the francophone Page instead of the outspoken, often confrontational Cannings, a bilingual anglophone.

Budapest Deli owner Andre Ver-tes, another candidate, vowed he'd be back in November. Vertes failed to win a nomination Monday. Page echoed the sentiment. "It is not the community which has named Mr. Bourque.

It's in November the community will name its alderman." Bourque called Monday "the most thrilling day of my life," and said he planned to meet with Laviolette to consult on ward issues. He also hopes to meet with community Bourque, left, and Page How they voted "ZIFour of the 18 candidates were nominated: Gillian Adams, Pierre Bourque Jr. Richard Cannings and Maurice Page. Only aldermen could nominate or vote. First ballot: Adams: Jacquelin Holzman.

Bourque: Jamie Fisher, Jim Jones, Michael McSweeney, Mark Maloney. Cannings: Joan O'Neill, Michael Janigan, Tim Kehoe, Darrel Kent. Page: George Kelly, Diane Holmes, Nancy Smith, Marc Laviolette. Second ballot (Adams dropped off): Bourque: Fisher, Jones, McSweeney, Holzman, Maloney. IXannings: O'Neill, Kehoe, Kent.

Janigan, Kelly, Holmes, Smith, Laviolette. Third ballot (Cannings dropped off): Bourque: O'Neill, Fisher, Kent, Jones, McSweeney, Holzman, Maloney. Pag6: Janigan, Kelly, Kehoe, Holmes, Smith, Laviolette. On the fourth ballot, which was held because the law requires the winner to get eight votes, Page was dropped off and all voted for Bourque except Holmes. Aldermen George Brown and Lynn Smyth were absent.

Wayne Cuddington, Citizen Laden: Elgin Street looks peaceful after Monday's snowstorm Holzman rejects corporate campaign contributions BROWN'S BEAT What's the postal code or limbo? If he could find the postal code, Chris Petersen could give his address as Limbo. That's where he's been since this column outlined his problem in October. Ontario's Ministry of Government Services, central collection branch, said it planned to take his Orleans home to satisfy a debt. Petersen, 39, was a businessman in Thunder Bay who bought into a franchise called Academy of Productive Performance. He sold his driving school to buy in, and got a $16,000 New Ventures loan from the Ontario government.

The academy didn't live up to its promises. Petersen sued and won. When he tried to collect, he I discovered he had sued a numbered company and it, along with its -principals, had disappeared. He moved to Hrloanc an1 fsA put a down payment on a home. Then the New Ventures loan reappeared.

The government said it wanted its money or it would take his home. Since that Petersen Hanging debt story ap- peared, Petersen has heard no more. Pressure has stopped, but he still doesn't know whether the debt has been written off. Living in Limbo, he calls it. Buck doesn't stop Henry Kervel is another former; businessman with a strange problem.

The Gatineau carpenter shut down his woodworking shop on Airport Boulevard last fall. Attached to the rear of the shop was a huge vacuum Kervel says is worth $12,000. He had his landlord's permission to leave it there until he could move it. The truck-sized machine needs heavy equipment for a move, and he was cash short. The big machine disappeared and Kervel reported it stolen.

It was found at another Gatineau business, apparently being held against a $200 debt Kervel owed. Gatineau police moved the vacuum to an impound lot Dec. 19. No charges were laid, and Kervel owes more than $600 in fees to a lot. Gatineau police Capt.

John Sigouin says Kervel was notified Jan. 9 that the equipment was being moved to a private storage yard. "He knew then he would be responsible for fees." Kervel says nobody mentioned costs, and he didn't discover for a month that the rate was $15 a day. Meanwhile, he's back in school trying to upgrade for a better job, and in a cash-strapped situation: He can't afford to rescue his equipment, and the possibility becomes more every day. Designated ticket Joan Cotie of Gloucester was blistering angry when she found a parking ticket on her windshield.

She had been doing her bit to keep impaired drivers off the road and was being penalized for it. It happened when she stopped a friend who had been drinking. She offered to drive him home. They live in the same apartment building. She called Nepean police and explained the situation, "I was told (by a police officer) if snowplows cleared the street my car could be towed.

Police have no control of that. I thanked him and prayed my van would be there in the morning." That her car was ticketed, she said, indicated police didn't take seriously the threat of impaired driving. Nepean's deputy chief, Devon Fermoyle, says that isn't the case. Nobody will be punished for keeping a drinker off the road. The ticket has been cancelled.

it groups, other candidates, and alder-men. Wellington Aid. Diane Holmes was unhappy with Bourque's victory, saying it was "inappropriate" for a developer to serve on council. "Myinain concern is for the official plan (vote) that's coming up," said Holmes, referring to this spring's final vote on Ottawa's revised official plan, the blueprint for development overlhe next two decades. "The developers have been lobbying to have the central area exten.ded (in the official plan)." Holmes said she wasn't accusingBourque of being in a conflict of interest.

And Bourque promised to declare any conflicts that might arise from his family's land ownership. But he stopped short of promising to disclose all his family's land holdings in the city, saying that wasn't required. He did reveal, at a press conference, that his immediate family owns one site in By-Rideau Ward. He said his family owns no land in the downtown core, tr the area where developers have proposed the boundaries be extended. However, his uncle Edouard Bourque also owns land in the city, some of it in By-Rideau.

CLOSE-UP Carrie Buchanan Citizen staff writer Ottawa mayoralty candidate Jacquelin Holzman announced this morning she will not take campaign contributions from developers, unions or special interest groups. She said she has also instructed her campaign staff to return any money already received from these sources since she launched her campaign Jan. 2. Future contributions from such sources will be sent back. She said she made the decision "on principle," to promote a "grassroots campaign." "We think this is the right thing to do," she said at a press conference.

"There is a perception that unions, corporations and special interest groups who contribute to electoral campaigns set the agenda." Her chief financial officer, John Hamilton, said he didn't know how much money received since Jan. 2 would have to be returned to donors. He guessed it's "not Extra eyes Mirrors aren't enough to avoid accidents, says driver Greg Hurley, above. He and others think parents should supervise their children getting on and off the bus. Jlt much more than $1,000." Holzman said she had "no idea" how much money would have to be returned.

She hopes her policy will "reassure people that everyone's opinion is equal and will help erase the cynicism about politicians." She also hopes it will increase voter turnout, which typically runs at about 40 per cent in Ottawa municipal elections. "We want a lot of little contributions." When questioned about how she would ensure that individuals didn't use corporate funds when making contributions, she said, "Most individuals have their names printed on their cheques. So do corporations." John Blatherwick, executive member of the Carlingwood Action Committee in Holzman's ward and a longtime Holzman foe, called the announcement "a ploy." "Since 1982, the development industry has been her prime backers." He says developers can still contribute to Holzman through personal bank accounts. Bruno Schlumberger, Citizen 1 nun lU' 'Uim tZfJ f. Danger along the front bumper Bus drivers, school officials and parents search for answers to safety concerns By Dave Rogers Citizen statl writer azing intently into the mirror on the lpfl I'rnnt fonrlor rif his srhnnl hns JI driver Greg Hurley concentrates as Wm the first youngster of the afternoon could be a tragedy.

"These mirrors are good, but it would really help if parents showed more responsibility and supervised their children getting on and off the bus. An extra pair of adult eyes would make things easier." Other drivers and some school board officials agree. Drivers count students as they cross the street and the mirrors help, but accidents still happen. At some elementary schools, older children serve as "bus patrols," standing in front of the bus with their arms outstretched while younger children cross the street. But some school principals say the responsibility is too big for any child and argue that it isn't safe for the children to stand facing away from traffic.

Please see BUSESC2 .111 crosses in front of him. The kindergarten pupil walks so close to the bus that his head isn't visible above the hood. But in the huge, wide-angle mirror, Hurley can see a bright snowsuit bobbing along near the front bumper. "Jimmy might be pulling Mary's hair or vice versa ut the back of the bus, but that isn't the end of the world." says Hurley, 41, who has been driving a bus for the Carleton Separate School Bourdfor 18years. "But if I don't pay attention Jo hat is happening outside the bus, there fiIi6Ertt09 Allegro, rres- A THE OTTAWA Classical music fans know these words.

The Citizen's Jacob Siskind speaks their language and his critiques of classical music arc the best in Canada..