Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

NDP MPP Peter Tabuns reignites push to ban fracking in Ontario

By Jacqueline Lebel, Global News, May 8, 2019

In the wake of recent flooding in Ontario, an NDP MPP is bringing back his push to take preventive action against fracking in the province.

Peter Tabuns first introduced a bill to ban fracking in Ontario back in 2015, but it was shot down by the Liberals.

READ MORE: Premier Doug Ford visits Ottawa as river levels rise; 400 army troops ready to help with flood response

At the time, then-Natural Resources Minister Bill Mauro said the Liberal government would not impose a ban on fracking, adding that he wasn’t even sure that there was enough potential gas in the province to attract companies that want to frack.

“The experience of those other jurisdictions with fracking has been contamination of groundwater and, in Oklahoma particularly, earthquakes,” he told Global News Radio 980 CFPL.

Electric bus trial not a good idea right now, OC Transpo says

By Jason White, 1310 News, May 8, 2019

Don't look for electric buses on the streets of Ottawa any time soon, despite the mayor calling for them during the last election.

At the city's transit commission, Somerset Councillor Catherine McKenney asked staff the fiscal and environmental effects of beginning a pilot project of electric zero-emission buses, next year.

Staff have written back, saying that transit officials are focused on launching the first two stages of light rail -- which the city says, will significantly reduce the number of buses on Ottawa's streets and therefore the city's greenhouse gas emissions.

The transit service says a trial run of electric buses in Ottawa would just duplicate the work of other cities that are currently trying them out, with no added benefit. However, OC Transpo officials are monitoring the results of electric bus trials in other Canadian cities.

LRT PROJECT: Secrecy in heavily-redacted documents

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Sun, May 8, 2019

Gleaning information from the City of Ottawa on its largest-ever infrastructure project takes time.

In some cases, two years.

And counting.

One of the oldest unresolved LRT-related access-to-information requests is one submitted by the Citizen in April 2017. It sought records produced over a period of five months on risk analysis, risk management and risk mitigation related to the milestones and handover date for the Stage 1 LRT project.

The city has signed off on the release of some heavily redacted records, but the Rideau Transit Group (RTG) has appealed the release of additional material as an entity with third-party interests in the disclosure.

Trillium guy hunts for 'holy grail' of North American wildflowers

By CBC News Ottawa, May 8, 2019

Among the early spring blooms there are crocuses, tulips, daffodils and trilliums — Ontario's provincial flower and logo.

But have you ever spotted a mutated double trillium, once dubbed by renowned botanist Mary Gibson Henry as the "holy grail" of North American wildflowers?

Brian Carson of Stittsville has, and even grows some of the rare plants in his own garden. Since the mutations are one-offs, he's hoping to preserve them.

The 76-year-old avid trillium hunter and photographer is known as the "trillium guy." His obsession began about 20 years ago when he read Henry's holy grail description of the double trillium.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of the carbon-tax court win

By John Michael McGrath, TVO Climate Watch, May 6, 2019

The federal carbon tax that kicked in on April 1 in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and New Brunswick has survived its first legal test: the government of Saskatchewan had asked the highest court in that province to decide whether Ottawa had overstepped its proper constitutional limits by introducing a national carbon price — and, last week, the Court of Appeal said no, the tax on greenhouse-gas emissions is fairly within the federal government’s power.

There are, however, at least two more court decisions in the tax’s future: Ontario has a case currently before our own Court of Appeal, and, in any event, Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe has said that his government will take its case to the Supreme Court of Canada. And the Supremes themselves won’t actually have the last word: voters will effectively decide in this fall’s election whether they want a federal tax.

Communication between governments key to handling future floods: Ottawa Riverkeeper

By Jeff Slack, 1310 News, May 7, 2019

Patrick Nadeau, Executive Director of the Ottawa Riverkeeper, believes communication between all levels of government and whether to allow people to rebuild on known flood plains are some examples he feels are important moving forward.

Residents affected by flooding in the Ottawa region are at a stand still, as water levels are slowly receding and people are waiting for the pending clean up.

Mitigation is going to be the main focus moving forward on this issue, but one expert has some ideas on how we can move forward.

The Ottawa River is unique, stretching about 1,300 kilometres with nearly 20 dams and overlapping two provinces. Executive Director of the Ottawa Riverkeeper Patrick Nadeau tells the Rick Gibbons show on 1310 NEWS' coordination between all the different municipalities is needed.

Participation grows in fourth year of Jane’s Walk

By Lesley McKay, StittsvilleCentral, May 5, 2019

The Jane’s Walk in Stittsville took place on May 4th with a record crowd of approximately 120 participating — many coming from outside of Stittsville. Since Glen Gower began the Stittsville Jane’s Walk in 2016, he was again at the helm for his fourth year. Being a newly elected Councillor would not deter Gower from leading ‘something that is very important and meaningful to him’. In Glen’s introduction, he took us through the history of the Jane’s Walk and why these walks are so important to community members allowing them to share their stories, connect with neighbours and learn the ‘secrets’ of their own backyard. For those who hadn’t, Glen encouraged people to read Jane Jacobs’ book – ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’. Jane’s Walks began in Toronto in 2007, led by Jane Jacobs whose work theme was “to ask whether we are building cities for people or for cars”. Albeit Jane Jacobs was an economic theorist, her greatest impact was on urban planning for cities.

Here in Stittsville, the group commenced our Jane’s Walk from the Village Square Park and led us north to the Royal Canadian Legion. The Legion building was built in 1930 to house the Loyal Orange Lodge No. 210 (LOL) that served as a community hall for several years. The Legion purchased the building and to this day there are still relics of LOL in the attic. The ground floor of the building was once used as part of the public school which had outgrown the number of students it could hold. The Legion is currently in fundraising mode to construct a new building that will be a vibrant addition to our Main Street. The old building has served its purpose and upgrades are discovered to be too costly. Glen also added the importance of the ‘white building on the hill’ across the street from the Legion. This building, the former MacDougall Sales & Service, was once the Church site for the Methodist Camp that was located in Stittsville. That is another whole story upon itself that I plan to share in Stittsville Central at a later date.

The eventful weekend that was

By Lesley MacKay, StittsvilleCentral, May 7, 2019

This past May 4-5th weekend was filled with activities for families and adults to enjoy. From the Jane’s Walk to an Art Show and fundraisers for books and CHEO – your choices were plenty to keep you occupied each day.

The Jane’s Walk, led by Councillor Glen Glower, gathered a huge crowd to explore and discover our community. A number of people who participated were visitors to our fine town and many said they have plans to return. It will be interesting to see what Glen Gower uncovers in next year’s Jane’s Walk.

SCRAP SPARKS STREET? Plan could see Wellington become pedestrian-only

By Kayla Douglas, Ottawa Sun, May 7, 2019

Breakups can be tough, but for Bob Plamondon, a former board member of the National Capital Commission, Ottawa’s long-standing relationship with Sparks Street, a pedestrian mall with its hodgepodge of government buildings and restaurants, should have ended a long time ago.

“It has no clear identity. It’s office space, it’s some restaurants, a scattering of retail shops…. Consumers don’t say on a Saturday night, ‘Hey, let’s go to Sparks Street!’” Plamondon said. “No matter what we try to do over the years, it has always come up empty. Every decade, you can count on some fresh new idea to solve the problem of Sparks Street, but there’s no fixing it.”

The most recent attempt to fix Sparks Street is coming this fall as the City of Ottawa recently announced its plan to revamp the design, a move which Plamondon said will cost millions of dollars. This inspired Plamondon to start up a petition on Change.org last week. His aim? To push the city’s attention away from Sparks Street in 2019 and instead focus on building a potential pedestrian-only area on Wellington Street near Parliament Hill, which he dubbed the Wellington National Mall.

Today's letters: On tree-planting, and floodplains

By Judy Yaworsky and L.J. Ridgeway, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, May 7, 2019

Let’s avoid destroying these trees

Re: Nursery says it must destroy millions of trees, May 5.

I don’t understand why Kemptville’s Ferguson Tree Centre has to destroy millions of trees because of the lack of government funding. Get creative. If thousands of us can volunteer to fill more than one million sandbags, there is no doubt that many of us can rally again to plant the 800,000 seedlings that the centre aimed to plant.

Since the cheapest seedling will cost 58 cents, I am sure many would volunteer to plant trees and pay the centre at least 58 cents for them to coordinate this effort. That way, they aren’t out of pocket, all these trees get planted and we volunteers feel great about doing our little bit to help our environment.

(...)Some ways to save these trees

I regret that the Ontario tree-planting program has been cancelled. That said, the Kemptville-based tree centre should think more creatively about the use for trees before simply “destroying” them (which won’t be without cost). A nominal charge like $1, or even giving them away in some systematic fashion, serves a good public use, and gives at least a modest return, even if just goodwill.

Barnes: How the grassroots drove Ottawa's climate change declaration

By Robb Barnes, Ottawa Citizen, May 7, 2019

U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt once famously urged activists to push him to do the right thing: “You’ve convinced me. Now go out and make me do it.” Recently, Ottawa saw a version of this political dynamic.

On April 24, Ottawa Council voted overwhelmingly to declare a “climate emergency.” Along with the declaration, council agreed to intensify its response to the climate crisis in new ways – from fast-forwarding key pieces of analysis to keeping vulnerable groups in mind when designing its climate plans.

But notwithstanding the leadership of councillors such as Shawn Menard and Scott Moffatt, the climate emergency resolution rode in on a massive wave of community support.

For the first time in Ottawa’s history, 20 community associations from every corner of our city stood up to demand climate action. Each passed a neighbourhood-level resolution, acting as a kind of clarion call to their local councillors. Beyond this, hundreds of Ottawans took the time to call, write or visit their elected leaders.

Rescue plan trying to take root to save three million tiny trees threatened by budget cuts

By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, May 7, 2019

A rescue plan may be emerging to save as many as three million trees in danger of being plowed under because of cuts to an Ontario planting program.

Ed Patchell, the chief executive of Ferguson Tree Nursery outside Kemptville, said there’s been a flurry of interest in the threatened trees since news broke of their possible destruction.

“I think there will be some opportunity to save some, if not all of it,” he said Monday evening. “Even the government is showing signs of interest in coming up with a solution for the stock as well.”

Though it was too early to say for certain what the next steps are, Patchell said he’s “guardedly” more optimistic than he was a few days ago.