O'Brien missed the train because of his ego trip.

According to a Radio-Canada news item, somebody in O'Brien's office at the city of Ottawa deemed that this project was unworthy of interest, so much so that the invitation to join with the cities of Québec, Laval, Montréal, Toronto, London and Windsor was not even brought to city council for consideration.

Never mind that the citizens of Ottawa will be forced to pay for the cancellation of the Siemens' contract for the construction of the LRT. O'Brien made that the overweening goal of his campaign, and he effectively killed it when he became mayor.

The process to establish Light Rail Transit in the greater capital region was flawed, but to date the incompetence on display by O'Brien in managing public transportation issues makes, in retrospect, the LRT project seem like a pretty darn good possibility that was sacrificed on the altar of the mayor's MASSIVE ego.