Ottawa, the small minded

The city of Ottawa prides itself on being this great salad bowl of different cultures and beliefs that lives together and gets along for the most part. After Monday's municipal election, its clear that while residents think that, nothing could be further from the truth.

The reality is Ottawa is just as hungup on stereotypes as any other large, medium or small community in the country. Ottawa was heading towards electing the first openly gay mayor of a major city in Canada two weeks ago. Then all of sudden, things shifted and Larry O Brien went from a close second in a three way race to a landslide winner.

I know all that crap about momentum in politics and all that kind of thing, but here's the real truth. Ottawa woke up Monday morning and asked itself the question, do we really want a gay mayor. It was that simple, it wasnt about the o train, mass transit, balanced budgets, no tax increases, it was do we want the gay guy running the show.

Suddenly, the incumbent mayor's votes from third place all went to the same place, Mr. O Brien rather than Alex Munter's way. Yes, Ottawa is just as backwards in its thinking as the rest of North America after all.