Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Transpo zaps bid for electric bus trial in Ottawa

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, May 7, 2019

An electric bus pilot project won’t happen anytime soon at Ottawa’s public transit agency, even though Mayor Jim Watson called for a trial during his re-election campaign.

OC Transpo has its hands full with the LRT project, and while there are electric bus options in the market, the agency says there’s no point in spending money on a pilot project when other trials are happening in North America.

The rationale supporting Transpo’s decision to recommend not running an electric-bus pilot project is included in written response to an inquiry filed last February by Coun. Catherine McKenney, who’s a transit commissioner.

When the Ottawa River flooded in 1928 it affected us differently

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, May 6, 2019

As the flood waters rose along the Ottawa River 91 years ago, the Ottawa Evening Citizen ran an odd little story about a Fort Coulonge man catching a pickerel in his living room.

At least he said he caught one. You can never tell with fish stories. But the real point is that no one seemed particularly bothered by the fact that “a certain Mr. Morrison” had water in his home.

And the blurry digital image of that 1928 newspaper holds all kinds of insights into the different ways people related to the river back then. They took some thing in stride that would shake people badly today, and they worried about things that we do not.

Ontario tree nursery to destroy millions of trees due to provincial cutbacks

By the Canadian Press, Ottawa Citizen, May 6, 2019

TORONTO — One of the main nurseries for an Ontario tree planting program that’s being scrapped by the province said it will likely have to destroy about three million trees because of the cancellation.

Ed Patchell, CEO of Ferguson Tree Nursery in Kemptville, Ont., said he can’t afford to pay for staff, supplies and operating expenses to run the nursery and maintain all the trees that are in various stages of growth.

“If we don’t have a potential client to buy those trees, then I can’t afford to keep putting money into it,” Patchell said.

“It’s cheaper to destroy them at a young age than it is at the ship age, plus I don’t have to keep carrying the costs. It’s not something that we want to do, it’s something that we’re going to be forced to do because we can’t financially carry it.”

Last month the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry announced it would cancel the 50 Million Tree Program, which has seen the planting of more than 27 million trees across Ontario since 2008.

Transpo revenue was $1.7M less than expected in first quarter

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, May 6, 2019

OC Transpo didn’t receive about $1.7 million in revenue that the agency budgeted to collect in the first quarter of the year, according to a financial report published Monday.

Transpo continues to chalk up the revenue deficit to a lower-than-anticipated average fare.

It’s an issue that has come up several times in the past, since transit customers have been making strategic decisions on whether to buy monthly passes or use the Presto e-purse function to pay on a trip-by-trip basis.

Where the agency budgeted to receive $51.665 million between January and March, it actually received $49.968 million.

There are no details in the report about the ridership levels for the first quarter.

Today's letters: The Venezuelan crisis, and flood lessons

By Donna Rutherford Archer and others, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, May 4, 2019

(...)Ontario government doesn’t get it

Re: Despite Floods, Ford not engaged on climate change, May 1.

Mohammed Adam’s column is right on. Provincial money to the conservation authorities charged with flood management is being cut in half. “Strangely,” Adam writes, “Natural Resources Minister and MPP for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke John Yakabuski is toeing the government line and defending the cuts.”

(...)All parties must work together on climate

Re: One lesson from the floods – Liberals and Tories must work together on climate change, April 30.

Randall Denley seems to forget that there are three other national political parties: the NDP, the Green Party and the People’s Party. It is rather presumptuous to suggest that only the Liberals and Conservatives need to work together on a climate plan, particularly when the Conservatives have yet to release their proposal.

(...)It’s a carbon fee, not a tax

Randall Denley has written another column perpetuating the claim that the price on pollution/carbon is a tax. Most definitions of tax suggest  “… a mandatory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed upon a taxpayer by a governmental organization in order to fund various public expenditures” (Wikipedia). The carbon price, imposed in provinces that did not implement a carbon-pricing scheme, is largely (about 90 per cent) returned to those bearing the impact of a price on emissions: the people.

Adam: Even with floods, Doug Ford's government isn't serious about climate change

By Mohamed Adam, Ottawa Citizen, May 1, 2019

Premier Doug Ford came to town last week bearing hugs and good wishes for flood victims, but not what really matters: a well-considered long-term plan to confront the challenge of our time that is climate change.

At the same time that Ford is showing solidarity with people who are battling to save their homes and livelihoods, he is cutting funding to the very agencies charged with flood management and protecting communities. The budgets of conservation authorities, which, among other duties, monitor water levels and help communities prepare for and protect themselves from floods, is being cut in half. And strangely, Natural Resources Minister and MPP for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke John Yakabuski is toeing the government line and defending the cuts. Rising flood waters in Yakabuski’s Pembroke exceeded historic levels seen in 2017, but the minister says the budget cuts represent only eight per cent of conservation authorities’ funding and won’t affect their ability to do the job. Yeah, right.

Meet Ottawa's climate change poster child

By CBC News Ottawa, May 1, 2019

Since climate change protestors wreaked havoc in London this month, the movement has spread to other cities around the world.

• Climate change protests snarl London traffic, 120 people arrested
• Climate-change protesters glue themselves to the London Stock Exchange

The poster child of the Extinction Rebellion is 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, an environmental activist since the age of nine.

Now, Thunberg has inspired a different kind of poster child in 10-year-old Amelia Farley, who decided to put up homemade posters drawing attention to climate change in her Hintonburg neighbourhood.

Today's letters: Fighting the floods in Ottawa and Gatineau

By Tom Scanlan and Meg Sears, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, May 1, 2019

(...)A bad time to cut programs, Mr. Premier

After cutting the flood-control program, cancelling the 50-million tree planting operation and opposing the carbon tax, Premier Doug Ford has the nerve to visit Ottawa pledging support for flood victims. He is like an arsonist who burns down your house, then shows up a week later offering to help rebuild it.

(...)Stop ignoring lessons already learned

I write not to ascribe blame, but to urge adaptation for the next time. Had we stuck with previous lessons learned, today’s story would be different.

After Hurricane Hazel wrought massive flooding and destruction of property in 1954, Ontario established Conservation Authorities. They mapped floodplains, to avoid repeating this costly misery. Hydrological and ecological benefits of wetlands and floodplains were protected. Toronto still has parks instead of homes in ravines along waterways.

Denley: One lesson from the floods – Liberals and Tories must work together on climate change

By Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen, April 30, 2019

It was great to see our top federal and provincial political leaders trekking out to Constance Bay to express their concern about the devastating effects of the flooding. It would be much more valuable for them to work together to protect our city, our province and our country from future floods.

As this year’s floods show, the effects of the high water go far beyond affecting relatively small numbers of people who live beside rivers, although that is significant in itself. When water is so high that it closes down one of Ottawa’s major bridges and threatens a drinking water plant that provides half of our water, it’s not enough to talk about relocating residents of low-lying regions. And Ottawa isn’t even the worst-hit area.

We need a serious climate adaptation plan and the money to pay for it. Such a plan is within our grasp, if only we could get Liberal and Conservative politicians to stop thinking of climate change as an election wedge issue and grasp the fact that it affects real people’s lives.

Plant and protect trees

By Jean-Claude Havard, The Review letter to the Editor, April 29, 2019

To The Editor,

Eastern Ontario municipalities participating in the South Nation Authority’s tree seedling giveaway are inviting residents to add a few trees to their property. Whenever possible, select your trees so they will thrive on your property. Make sure you know how big the trees will get as they mature. Keep in mind recommended distances to buildings, power lines, septic drain fields and your neighbours.

You will find useful information in a number of resources such as “Choose the Right Tree or Shrub” (https://arbres.hydroquebec.com/search-trees-shrubs). Tree Canada also provides a “Tree Planting Guide (https://treecanada.ca/resources/tree-planting-guide/). And you may want to check with Boisés Est ([email protected]).

Cutting provincial tree program will hurt environment, worsen flooding: nursery official

By Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen, April 29, 2019

Cutting Ontario’s 50 Million Tree Program will mean job losses at a North Grenville forestry centre. More than that, it will make flooding worse and negatively impact the environment across the province, says Wes Herring, vice-president of Ferguson Forest Centre.

“We are being inundated with floods and the impacts of global warming right now. Not planting these trees and looking after our future is only going to make these things worse,” Herring said.

The $4.7-million annual program that aimed to plant 50 million trees across the province, was cut by the Progressive Conservative government in its April budget.

Contingency plans in place on both sides of river to protect drinking water

By Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen, April 29, 2019

City officials on both sides of the river say they have contingency plans in place to meet the need for drinking water if a treatment plant is forced to shut down during the flood.

Water treatment plants in both Ottawa and Gatineau are behind sandbags in order to protect them from the Ottawa River, now nearing its initial peak. Officials said Monday that all of the facilities are operating normally.

“We need to make it clear that the city’s drinking water is absolutely safe,” the city’s head of emergency management, Pierre Poirier, told reporters Monday. “There is currently no operational threat to any of the city’s water facilities.”