A month after declaring he wanted to be mayor of Ottawa, retired Ottawa businessman Larry O'Brien finally told voters where he stands on various issues Thursday night.

Speaking to dozens of supporters, he promised to trim red tape at city hall, hold tax increases below the inflation rate, and get tough on crime, if he's elected mayor.

He also promised to eliminate two controversial programs: the needle exchange program and the light rail transit plan.

"As your mayor, I will call for an end to the needle-exchange program that has expanded to the supply of crack pipes. These people need help, not supplies," O'Brien said, speaking at the Saint-Vincent Hospital atrium named after him and his family.

"I will work very hard to suspend contracting on the [light rail transit] project until a full and complete due-diligence review has been conducted on their business case and their city ridership surveys. I simply do not believe them."

Calls for alternative governance models

Rural residents in Ottawa have recently been campaigning to undo the 2001 amalgamation of Ottawa-area municipalities into one city. While O'Brien didn't use the word "de-amalgamation," he suggested something very close to it.

"The current model of governance is not working for the rural residents," he said. "We need to work past the current model and examine alternate governance models."

O'Brien has gathered some high-profile supporters, including former Ottawa mayor Jacqueline Holzman, former Kanata mayors Marianne Wilkinson and Merle Nicholds, and a growing club of current municipal candidates that's starting to look like a Larry O'Brien slate.

Liberal Senator Art Eggleton is also backing O'Brien.

"I think the prime responsibility of somebody running for municipal office is to look after the needs of their community, and to put the partisan politics aside, and I think Larry will have the support of people from all political backgrounds," Eggleton said.

Platform moves in gap left by Kilrea's withdrawal

With the announcement of his platform, O'Brien has filled the right-of-centre vacuum left by Terry Kilrea, who recently gave up his bid to become mayor and said he would support the current mayor, Bob Chiarelli.

Kilrea was runner-up to Chiarelli in the 2003 election. He was generally considered the most conservative of the four main candidates for mayor.

The newest of six candidates running for mayor is Alex Munter, who appeared with O'Brien at a meeting in North Gower organized by the Rural Council of Ottawa-Carleton Thursday.

Munter has urged an independent audit of the city's light rail project, and has proposed a borough system to cope with rural dissatisfaction over amalgamation.

His scheme for borough councils was warmly received at the rural council meeting. Munter said the borough councils could make decisions on neighbourhood issues, such as parks and zoning, so that ciity council would be free to concentrate on broader issues.

Munter also has several heavy political hitters on his campaign team.

Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley and Conservative Senator Norm Atkins have joined his team as senior advisers, Munter announced recently.

O'Brien was founder and CEO of Calian, a technology company in Ottawa. He and his wife Debbie, and their two sons, Matthew and Michael, presented the SCO Health Service Foundation with a cheque for $400,000 to benefit Saint-Vincent when it was being renovated and expanded.