Pubdate: Sat, 09 Apr 2016 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc. Contact: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Jo Wood Page: B7 DON'T IGNORE THE EVIDENCE One big problem with Stephen Harper was his refusal to make science-based decisions. Now we face the same problem with Mayor Jim Watson. He is proud that he has consistently opposed safe-injection sites - in spite of overwhelming evidence of their effectiveness. He will not consider road tolls as proposed by Coun. David Chernushenko to encourage transit use and decrease congestion. No discussion needed. We don't look at the evidence. As for any reforms to the city election process, such as ranked voting or forbidding corporate and union donations, we can be sure that these will be rejected without gathering facts. Do we really believe that Jim knows best, or should there be wide consultation, with scientific evidence brought to the table? As we saw with Harper, closed minds do not lead to positive change. Jo Wood, Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom