Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Gatineau delivers Parc des Cèdres development and design master plan update

By Mike Vlasveld, 1310 News, June 11, 2019

The City of Gatineau has unveiled an update of its master plan for the design and development of Parc des Cèdres.

This follows public consultations in February and October of 2018. The original plan was developed more than 10 years ago.

(...)The city says the new master plan has the following objectives:

• Deconstruct the park and improve the circulation of users
• Restore the waterfront to the community
• Promote culture and art
• Promote physical activity throughout the year and allow residents to enjoy nature

Ontario wants anti-carbon tax gas pump stickers displayed by end of August

By CBC News, June 11, 2019

The Ontario government wants gas station operators to display its mandatory anti-carbon tax stickers by the end of the summer or face potential Provincial Offences Act charges.

A proposed regulation would set Aug. 30 as the day the requirement takes effect and it sets out specific details of how the stickers have to be displayed.

Gas stations would have to post an equal number of French and English stickers, upright, unobscured and "in a prominent location" within the top two-thirds of the side of the pump facing drivers.

Proposed ban on plastic puts City of Ottawa in difficult spot

By CTV News Ottawa, June 10, 2019

The federal government’s proposed ban on single use plastic is putting the City of Ottawa in a difficult spot.

Starting this summer, the city is expected to allow plastic bags in green bins to encourage residents to compost more often.

But environmental groups such as Waste Watch Ottawa say you can’t allow plastic bags and be environmentally friendly at the same time

Environment expert Duncan Bury says, “The disconnect is huge. Environmental groups- such as Waste Watch Ottawa have always argued that allowed plastic bags in the compost are a problem.”

Bury says the city needs to change its policy. He says, “The federal government is saying we are going to ban these bags ... so I think the city needs go 'let’s rethink our decision and not allow plastic bags and hold off that decision.”

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Goubran: Let's build sustainably, not just 'green'

By Sherif Goubran, Ottawa Citizen, June 10, 2019

In the last few decades, governments have focused a great deal of attention on the impact of buildings on our environment.

(...)Building “green” is a prerequisite for mitigating climate change. But this approach misses a key point.

In a purely efficiency-focused approach, you can find yourself comparing a multi-storey parking garage with an elementary school, or a suburban strip-mall with a library building. In such comparisons, you can even find the parking garage to be more energy-efficient than the school.

But in the big picture, what impact do energy-efficient parking garages have on climate change, our cities and even our health? Perhaps the greenest parking garage is the one that is never built.

Vehicles already being towed as 'downtown mobility plan' comes into effect

By Luke Carroll, Ottawa Citizen, June 10, 2019

Only 14 hours into the newly implemented plan to decongest Ottawa, six vehicles had already been towed.

“There will be more as the day progresses,” Ottawa Bylaw spokeswoman Alison Sandor said Monday.

(...)Sandor said officers will be focusing on parking infractions, including vehicles stopped in no parking zones and vehicles that are pulled over in a bike or bus lane.

Companies eyeing Ottawa for investment rank talent far ahead of transit

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, June 10, 2019

Access to public transit isn’t one of the major issues for prospective companies as they consider establishing a presence in the City of Ottawa, Invest Ottawa’s president and chief executive says.

(...)“I would say, again, that’s kind of a minor discussion,” Tremblay said. “What we usually get are discussions of workforce, in particular around millennials that like to live in the downtown core, and then we might end up in a conversation about LRT.”

Sonya Shorey, Invest Ottawa’s vice-president of strategy, marketing and communications, said U.S. companies want to know about a city’s talent pool and business relationships with universities. There are also questions about quality of life and the cost of living for workers, she said.

Quebec pledges to fund Gatineau's light rail plans

By CBC News Ottawa, June 9, 2019

The Quebec government has pledged to fund 60 per cent of an ambitious $2.1-billion project to bring light rail to Gatineau, Que.

Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin announced on social media Saturday morning that he'd secured the funding promise from Premier François Legault for the 26-kilometre network, which the city hopes to have up and running by the end of the next decade.

"It's great news, because the Quebec government has never been as clear as Mr. Legault was yesterday," Pedneaud-Jobin later told Radio-Canada.

Today's letters: I will never use Ottawa's LRT system

By Eric R. Stephen and Barry Wellar, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, June 7, 2019

The LRT is not for me

Re: LRT delayed again, won’t be ready by end of June, June 5

The reporter details the myriad problems beguiling the Alstom LRT trains. One sentence stuck out: “The company developed the Citadis Spirit for the Ottawa market.” A little research shows that the Spirit is a new model, not an established one. Is the city the guinea pig testing ground for Alstom? Little wonder problems are being found.

(...)Watson’s “fed up”? So am I

No public purpose whatsoever is achieved by yet another closed-door meeting for insiders to chew the fat over the abysmal LRT delivery performance.

Indeed, the only parties served by a meeting behind closed doors are those associated with the LRT project, and particularly Mayor Jim Watson and the large number of councillors who have been snookered left, right, and centre in sheep-like fashion for months on end.

Trudeau to announce ban on single-use plastics Monday

By Marie-Danielle Smith, Ottawa Citizen, June 9, 2019

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce steps towards a federal ban on single-use plastics on Monday, a government official has confirmed, following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions.

In Montreal, Trudeau is slated to announce a “host” of measures to reduce pollution, including “steps to get to a ban” on single-use plastics, the official, who could only speak under condition of anonymity, told the National Post. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson will be in Toronto and Vancouver, respectively, talking about the same initiatives.

The official said the ban would take effect “as early as 2021″.

Macdougall: Scheer should Duff the debate on climate change

By Andrew MacDougall, Ottawa Citizen, June 7, 2019

Lost in all of the shouting over the Liberal carbon tax is a simple fact: the tax — even when fully implemented — does not get Canada to its emissions targets (i.e. Stephen Harper’s targets) under the Paris Accord.

Perhaps that’s why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna prefer instead to tuck their tax into the broader toolbox of climate action.

Even if, however, the Liberal government’s entire pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change — all 78 pages of it — was put in place, it still wouldn’t get Canada to where the planet needs it to be on climate change. Not even close.

Pedestrian 'crossovers' to be made permanent

By CBC News Ottawa, June 5, 2019

Some 140 pedestrian "crossovers" installed as a pilot project will now become permanent features on Ottawa's streets, the city's transportation committee decided Wednesday.

A crossover is a pedestrian crossing where signs — and in many cases, overhead flashing yellow lights — alert drivers to come to a stop when pedestrians are waiting to cross.

A crosswalk, on the other hand, is used at traffic lights and stop signs. At traffic lights, crosswalks often have lights with a white walking symbol indicating that it's safe to walk, and a flashing orange hand when it's time to get to the other side.

Sewage flows into river after pipe breaks in Kingston

By Krystalle Ramlakhan, CBC News Ottawa, June 7, 2019

Some people in Kingston, Ont., were asked to conserve water after a pipe broke Thursday at the River Street Pumping Station, flooding it with sewage.

It's expected to be back to normal Friday morning.

The affected area was in City Central, also known as the old city of Kingston, from the Cataraqui River west to the Little Cataraqui Creek and north to Highway 401.