Councillor's Message
Ottawa’s Air Quality Warnings
As I write this message today, Tuesday June 6th, Ottawa’s air quality is at dangerous levels. You only have to step outside for a moment to sense it immediately. As my six year-old daughter said this morning, “The clouds smell like a campfire.”
Ottawa Public Health has posted warnings and recommendations on their website, as has the Government of Canada. A quick scan of the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System website at Natural Resources Canada will show you the wide range of forest fires happening across Canada that are leading to these current air quality conditions.
Whereas some councillors may see their ultimate responsibility as making life more affordable for residents, I see it differently. As an elected representative, my ultimate responsibility is to support and protect you, and your community, and this city. My ultimate responsibility is to protect the long-term viability and survivability of this city, and of the many systems that support this city.
Here’s a list that I want us all to consider:
- Historic flooding in 2017
- Tornado in 2018
- Historic flooding in 2019
- Derecho in 2022
- Ice storm in 2023
- Historic air quality risk in 2023
More and more frequently, our city and its residents are in harm's way. The reason that I’m on the Environment & Climate Change Committee is because I see it as a platform to take action that will protect our city and its residents over the long term. Based on the outcomes of several important votes that have taken place at this Committee over the past few months, including yesterday’s votes on the proposed waste diversion policy, I wish that I felt confident that all of my colleagues on the Committee had the same goals as I do.
"Only a foolish society leaves its own people behind.”
On May 30th I attended the official opening of the Ottawa Food Bank’s new facility. It was a sobering event, since the much-larger warehouse was needed to meet the frightening growth in demand for the food bank’s services over the past year.
“The reality is that we are only here because the need continues to grow. You may have noticed we aren’t referring to this evening as our “grand” opening. Nothing about a food bank having to grow is actually grand,” said Ottawa Food Bank CEO Rachael Wilson.
Among the guests who spoke at the event, I was particularly moved by the comments of Ottawa South MP David McGuinty, who recounted a medical study that linked 75% of mental health conditions among adults to deficiencies in early childhood development, including malnutrition.
What struck me about his remarks was the connection between food insecurity and society’s economic well-being. By allowing people to go hungry, we deprive ourselves of the potential contributions they could make in reaching their full potential. “Only a foolish society leaves its own people behind,” he said.
Whether it’s through the donations of residents to food banks, or through systemic support of governments in food security, these are not acts of charity. They are investments in our future economic prosperity.
The Future of Ottawa’s Waste Management
At the time that I wrote this heading, I had fully anticipated that by today we would’ve decided on “the future of Ottawa’s waste management”. But following yesterday’s June 5th meeting of the Environment & Climate Change Committee, we have made no decision at all. Frankly, yesterday’s debate over waste management was embarrassing.
Ultimately, there were three options on the table: a) the original Pay as you Throw proposal of 55 tags per household; b) the alternate Pay as you Throw proposal that came from the Mayor’s Office and Councillor Marty Carr, in which households would be allowed 2 garbage items per collection without tags, would receive a one-time allotment of 15 tags for use at any time, and could then purchase more tags as needed; and c) the “firm limits” proposal from Councillor David Brown allowing each household to put out 4 garbage items per cycle. And bear in mind, Councillor Brown’s proposal would not achieve our goal of extending the life of the Trail landfill or meeting our provincially-mandated waste diversion rates.
But in the end, nothing happened as all three proposed options ended in a split 5 – 5 vote, since one Committee member had to leave before we got to vote on the motions.
My votes at that Committee meeting – and my vote at the June 14th City Council meeting where this matter will be debated once more – are to support a Pay as you Throw policy allowing for each household to put out two items without tags, with the option to purchase additional tags. Any Pay as you Throw model that goes forward will come with a rigorous plan for Education, Engagement and Enforcement. As Pay as you Throw becomes no longer “best practice” but “standard practice” across Ontario, Ottawa simply cannot continue to be a city that acts as a bystander while municipalities lead on this front.
Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference
From May 25 – 28, I was grateful to attend the annual conference of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). This year’s event was held in Toronto, with almost 2,900 civic leaders, councillors and mayors joining from across Canada. These are high-profile events in Canadian politics, and the keynote speakers included PM Justin Trudeau, Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman, NDP Party Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
But it wasn’t these big-name federal politicians that generated the most enthusiasm. Rather, it was the conversation about the need for our federal partners and provincial partners to revisit the deal they have with municipalities. More specifically, what echoed across the convention was the need for “a new fiscal framework” to address the fact that far too many costs are being downloaded to municipalities that don’t have the same diversity of revenues available to provincial and federal governments. Beyond our fiscal challenges, the two most talked-about issues were the urgent need to build enough housing to meet population growth, and the escalating risk of climate-related natural disasters.
One exciting outcome that came out of building relationships at FCM is a connection I made with the Mayor of Charlottetown. That City has found a great deal of success with their waste-to-energy facility, and I'll be planning a trip out to PEI (and to another site in Nova Scotia) to meet with local authorities to better understand their success in the hopes of finding better solutions for Ottawa's future waste needs.
Latest posts
New Ways to Bus: Ward 9 Information Page
Thanks for visiting the Ward 9 information page on OC Transpo's New Ways to Bus (NWTB). This page is designed to provide you with some essential details on how the service changes may impact transit riders in Ward 9, including route adjustments, the rationale behind the changes, and how we have advocated for our residents.
We fully understand that many residents are legitimately frustrated with these changes. Many riders see these adjustments as another cost-cutting measure from OC Transpo, as they continue to face significant financial challenges.
OC Transpo's New Ways to Bus revised route network will focus on frequency, local service in your neighbourhood, and connections to key destinations. Through these many adjustments, OC Transpo's aim is to increase the reliability of our bus route system. Riders will see a shift in the number of downtown-focused bus routes, to routes that improve connections to community hubs and key destinations. Some customers may have to go further to the bus stop, or require additional transfers to buses or trains, or will have longer overall travel times. In addition to fewer Connexion routes, some routes will be retired due to low ridership and to improve connections to new routes and the O-Train. Retired routes will be replaced with alternative service nearby.
For now, the position that Councillor Devine and his team are taking is that we are very sympathetic to those concerns, but that we need to help residents prepare, because these changes are coming soon. New Ways to Bus comes into effect April 27th. What our office is focused on is trying to ensure that our residents are prepared for the change, and monitoring how the new system performs in its initial weeks and months.
New Ways to Bus website
For the most comprehensive information available, OC Transpo has created a dedicated New Ways to Bus website, complete with many useful items, including:
- a New Ways to Bus network map
- information on new signage
- a detailed list of routes that will not change, and routes that will change
New Ways to Bus - Travel Planner
The OC Transpo Travel Planner has now been updated to include the New Ways to Bus routes that take effect April 27th. Try it out! Enter your trip information for a trip that you might take now and then enter the same trip information for a date after April 27th and see what kind of changes there will be.
New Ways to Bus - Ward 9 Bus Routes
You can find specific information on each route in the entire New Ways to Bus network on their new website. Our office has also compiled a series of PDF route maps for all of the Ward 9 bus routes.
Public Information Sessions
OC Transpo has organized a series of community events for residents to meet with OC Transpo staff to ask questions about changes in the New Ways to Bus system. The event that was held on April 4th at the Nepean Sportsplex was poorly attended because OC Transpo did no provide clear information about where the event was taking place. Residents are encouraged to attend other sessions.
Councillor Devine's advocacy for Ward 9
Ever since the first draft of the New Ways to Bus network was rolled out well over a year ago, our office has been engaged with OC Transpo in trying to stop some of proposed changes. It wasn't altogether easy to get concessions, since Council has no authority over OC Transpo's operations. But we managed be successful in some of our attempts, though we were less successful in others. For the sake of transparency, we wanted to provide residents with a summary of our efforts over the last year.
Routes 282/82
- What we won: It's shocking to believe, but in the original draft of the New Ways to Bus network, Route 82 would have seen its service frequency cut down to peak hours only. This would've been devasting to the western part of Ward 9, who are already seeing other decreases in service. After strong advocacy from our office, Route 82 will maintain full-day, seven-days-a-week service. During peak hours, it will connect to Tunney’s Pasture, offering a viable replacement for the discontinued 282 express route.
- What we lost: Unfortunately, Route 282 was removed. While we fought to maintain express service, this decision reflects several lost express routes, due city-wide budget constraints. However, once the LRT Line 1 West extension is complete, riders will be able to take the 82 to Pinecrest Station, for a quicker ride downtown.
Route 173
- What we lost: Route 173 will no longer service Manordale, becoming a local route serving Barrhaven instead. We continue to object to the questionable rational for this decision, as Barrhaven has more than enough routes serving it. We are committed to monitoring the impact of his lost service, in the hopes of restoring something.
Routes 111/112/189
- What we won: When the first draft of the New Ways to Bus network was rolled out, we quickly noticed that the proposed changes to the 111/112 routes meant that there was no longer any bus service on Chesterton Drive, meaning that two schools, an apartment tower, and a large lower-income housing complex would see no service at all. Even worse, Chesterton Drive is on an incline! We pushed hard against this change, which resulted in Route 189 being re-directed to run along the entire length of Chesterton Drive. While this means riders will need to make an additional transfer, it would have been much worse if there was no route there at all.
Routes 89/86
- What we lost: Despite our advocacy, Routes 89 and 86 will see reductions and decreased frequency. We will continue to push for adjustments if transit reliability issues arise.
There are several other changes to service routes in Ward 9, some of which will result in an increased level of service. We'll try to post more information on these changes shortly.
