City councillor Scott Moffatt, planning co-chair, won't seek re-election

The three-term city councillor who co-chairs Ottawa's powerful planning committee says while there are "fractured relationships" around the council table, that's not why he won't seek re-election in 2022.

Coun. Scott Moffatt, who has represented the ward currentlynamed Rideau-Goulbourn,announced on social media Sunday 15 years to the date of his first unsuccessful bid for city council that he haddecided not to run for a fourth term.

He later told CBC Newshe'd thought about making his exit for a few years.

"When I first ran in 2006 [it wasn't] something I considered a career. It was something I wanted to do. It was something I felt I could be good at and I could make a difference at," Moffattsaid.

"But it's not something I considered to be doing for 30 years."

Big roles

Elected to council in 2010,Moffatthas servedas co-chair of thecity's planning committee since Julyafterformer chairCoun. Jan Harder stepped down in the wake of a damning integrity commissioner report.

Moffatt also chairs the city's environment committee, which is preparing a new master plan for solid waste.

Both one of the youngest and longest-serving councillors, Moffatt said it gradually became harder to reflect the needs of his constituents while handling major files like Ottawa's climate action strategy and therecently approved new official plan.

"You sacrifice one for the other, almost. And I think as I spend more time in office, I end up wanting to be more involved in bigger picture, city-wide stuff which pulls me away from doing the work more locally. And it's tough to balance that," he said.

'We could function better'

Moffattalso noted the tone around the council table had shifted in recent months, citingthe muting of Coun. Diane Deans' microphone during a heated LRT debate and the subsequent apology by Mayor Jim Watson.

"I think we could function better," he said."When a politician is the story, that's a problem. The story should always be about what we're doing, the substance of our decisions, the policy that we create."

Even so, Moffatt saidthe"fractured relationships" that have come to characterize council recently in the eyes of the public had nothing to do with his decision to walk away from municipal politics.

"What's happening at council has no bearing on my decision to stay or go," he said. "There's always going to be challenges, there's always going to be work to do, there's always going to be fences to mend."

During his time on council, Moffatt has also pushed for the renaming of his ward after discovering the man it honours, 19th century British statesman Sir Henry Goulburn, owned a slave plantation in Jamaica and had no apparent ties to Canada.

• Black leaders back councillor's bid to change ward's name

The ward will be renamed Rideau-Jock when residents choose a new councillor in October 2022.