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Saw this @2017ottawa ad in a parking garage full of cars! This is outrageous! #carsarenormal pic.twitter.com/v3X2Cfkccv — Scott Moffatt (@ScottMoffatt21) February 22, 2017

During the council meeting, Coun. Bob Monette announced an Orléans craft beer festival in June, declaring, “Cars will be welcomed in Orléans.”

But Monette followed up on Twitter, saying “I condemn anyone who drinks and drives. Designated drivers are a safe alternative 4 people who wish to come by car.”

Watson said Ottawa 2017 needs to be creative to attract people to Ottawa.

“Montreal bombarded Ottawa with all sorts of campaign material to get them to get them to Montreal’s 375th and we’re encouraging people from Montreal to take many forms of transportation,” Watson said. “We have a partnership with Via, we have a partnership with OC Transpo, but many of the visitors are going to be coming by car. I think it was a way of encouraging people to think of Ottawa in 2017.”

Manning Centre crunches council’s voting history

Councillors on Wednesday were eager to get a copy of the Manning Centre’s latest analysis of voting trends.

The think tank analyzed the minutes from 35 council meetings between Nov. 26, 2014 and June 22, 2016 to provide a snapshot of how politicians vote.

Only 19 of the 982 votes and recommendations were defeated in that timeframe.

Osgoode Coun. George Darouze’s votes were most in line with Watson’s.

At 91.1 per cent, Innes Coun. Jody Mitic was most often on the winning side of divided votes compared to other council members.

Watson’s “win rate” was 80.4 per cent, which researchers note was a decrease from the 94.1 per cent last term.