Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Ford government cancels electricity conservation programs

By Krystalle Ramlakhan, CBC News Ottawa, March 24, 2019

Ontario's government has cancelled a number of electricity conservation programs, including one which offered pool owners a $400 rebate for upgrading to energy-efficient pumps.

(...)Ontario's Ministry of Energy told CBC News it was taking action to reduce costs and duplication by streamlining what it described as a patchwork of inefficient electricity conservation programs in the province.

(...)Bickerton said incentives and rebates are a good way of encouraging people to be energy-efficient.

"Especially when it's at the point of purchasing, whether it's a furnace or windows or a pool pump. If they're given some kind of monetary carrot, they're going to jump on board a lot quicker," she said.

(...)The following province-wide programs will be discontinued:

• Instant Discount.
• Heating and Cooling.
• Audit Funding.
• Residential New Construction.
• High Performance New Construction.
• Existing Building Commissioning, Monitoring and Targeting.

The following local programs will be ending:

• Pumpsaver (Toronto Hydro, Oakville Hydro).
• Adaptive Thermostat Rebate Program (Toronto Hydro).
• Instant Savings Program (Clotheslines) (Canadian Niagara Power Inc., Algoma Power, Westario, Bluewater, Entegrus, Essex Powerlines, Festival Hydro, Veridian Connections, Customer First Group).
• OPsaver (Toronto Hydro, Oakville Hydro).
• Midstream High-efficiency Agripumps (Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc., Hydro One).
• Smart RT for Small and Mid-Size Business (Toronto Hydro).
• Swimming Pool Efficiency Program (Toronto Hydro, Oakville Hydro, Hydro Ottawa Limited, Renfrew Hydro Inc., Burlington Hydro, Halton Hills Hydro, Milton Hydro Distribution Inc, Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro, Waterloo North Hydro, Hydro One, Veridian Connections).
• Multi-Unit Residential Building In-suite Direct Install Lighting Program (Toronto Hydro, Oakville Hydro).

Today's letters: Parties' behaviour defies common sense

By Martin Adelaar, Andrew Hartshorn and Evelyne LeChef, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, March 23, 2019

Something stinks in LRT secrecy

Re: LRT Secrecy is unacceptable, March 14.

Mohammed Adam has effectively raised some important and necessary questions concerning the Phase 2 LRT construction contracts awarded to Kiewit-Vinci and SNC-Lavalin. City staff refused to disclose fundamental information regarding the contracting process and, nevertheless, a large majority of councillors voted to approve the largest contract award in the history of the city.

(...)Modern roads are like apple crumble

About 10 years ago, I watched, and smelled the new asphalt surface going down a road near my house. You could expect the surface to remain strong and flat for up to 10 years, and be plowed to the surface every year. Occasionally a pothole would have to be filled; and compressed to the hardness of the surrounding asphalt. But it would last.

Then we had a “green” revolution, in which the asphalt was changed for something resembling apple crumble. Within a year, it was cracked in all directions and had potholes. It couldn’t be snow-plowed to the surface because that damaged the asphalt. But it was “green.”

(...)No one here but us chickens?

Re: It’s time for some micro-farming in the Ottawa metropolis, March 20.

Bravo to Brigitte Pellerin. What a wonderful article: level-headed, rational, realistic.

Adam: The NCC is thinking small on LeBreton Flats. That's a mistake

By Mohamed Adam, Ottawa Citizen, March 21, 2019

In a recent opinion column in the Citizen, the chief executive of the National Capital Commission sought to bring reassurance and clarity of purpose to the troubled LeBreton Flats redevelopment.

The NCC’s attempt to reclaim the initiative after its piecemeal approach to the redevelopment in the wake of RendezVous Ottawa’s failure was widely panned. Tobi Nussbaum tried to reassure residents on the NCC’s alternative plan, but his case for the new approach is not utterly convincing.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to create a dynamic, thriving connected and sustainable new community, as well as a visionary destination in the heart of the nation’s capital – a chance to build something great and to build it together,” Nussbaum wrote. “We will balance the need for an overarching and concept plan while still allowing for innovation and evolution as the site is built out. We want to achieve both a vibrant, mixed-use community as well as bold capital-building elements, not one to the exclusion of the other.”

Indigenous guardians sound alarm about climate change impacts in Canada

By the Canadian Press, Ottawa Citizen, March 14, 2019

VANCOUVER — Growing up in a small, remote First Nations community in northwestern British Columbia, Jarett Quock found he faced racism and stereotypes from non-Indigenous people whenever he left the reserve.

The treatment took a toll on him, damaging his pride in his Tahltan Nation roots. It was only after he began work as an Indigenous guardian — monitoring the effects of climate change on his territory — that he recovered his confidence

(...)More than 40 Indigenous communities in Canada have launched guardian programs, which employ local members to monitor ecosystems and protect sensitive areas and species. At a national gathering in Vancouver this week, guardians raised alarm about environmental degradation and climate change in their territories..

Bald eagles bounce back in Kingston area

By Elliot Ferguson, Ottawa Citizen, March 22, 2019

The east end of Lake Ontario is “awash” is bald eagles, according to bird counts and surveys this winter.

The stately bird of prey has been seen in record number across Kingston and the surrounding area this year.

“Kingston is so awash in bald eagles that this year we have a record high tally of 71 bald eagles,” Mark Reid wrote in the March edition of The Blue Bill, the quarterly journal of the Kingston Field Naturalists.

Nineteen bald eagles were spotted during the field naturalists Christmas bird count, and the ground survey conducted as part of the mid-winter waterfowl inventory saw an “amazing” total of 52 bald eagles.

Denley: Secrecy over SNC-Lavalin's bid for Ottawa's Stage 2 LRT is unacceptable

By Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen, March 22, 2019

Ottawa Council’s decision to choose SNC-Lavalin as one of the contractors for the next stage of light rail looked bad enough when we knew that the bid was significantly over the city’s estimate; the company is part of the consortium that repeatedly failed to meet deadlines on the first phase of LRT; and it is embroiled in a corruption controversy. Now, the CBC reports that SNC’s bid did not meet the city’s technical requirements, a problem which would typically disqualify a bid.

It is time Mayor Jim Watson and senior city staff gave the public some straight answers on what is going on with the $1.6-billion extension of the Trillium Line. Instead, they are stonewalling. When the contract came to city council for approval, Coun. Diane Deans asked if the company had met the technical requirements. Simple question, but it produced only an evasive answer. Now, we know why.

Kirk: Potential of driverless taxis should delay Stage 2 of Ottawa LRT

By Barrie Kirk, Ottawa Citizen, March 22, 2019

The City of Ottawa should hit the pause button on Phase 2 of the LRT for 12 months because the planning has not included the significant impact of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the business case and design of light rail.

AVs will be very disruptive and are expected to lead to affordable driverless taxis. This will lead to lower-than-forecast LRT ridership and revenue, and a larger-than-forecast operating subsidy over the rest of the century. There’s likely to be an impact on the design of the LRT.

Transit and transportation in the future will be significantly different from the last few decades. Driverless taxis, or “micro transit,” will provide trips that are on-demand, and offer flexible routing and single-mode trips door-to-door. Some percentage of riders will prefer this to fixed-schedule, fixed-route and typically multi-mode trips.

City defends process that awarded SNC-Lavalin LRT contract

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, March 22, 2019

City officials are defending the process that awarded SNC-Lavalin the contract to extend and maintain Ottawa's north-south Trillium Line, even though the Montreal-based company failed to meet the minimum technical threshold to win the light rail bid.

• SNC-Lavalin failed to meet technical threshold for $1.6B LRT contract: sources
• ANALYSIS: Why can't we know if SNC-Lavalin passed the LRT2 technical scoring?

"It was approved by the fairness commissioner, approved unanimously by the selection committee, and most importantly it's the best deal for taxpayers," Mayor Jim Watson said Friday, the same day CBC News reported the development.

SNC-Lavalin failed to meet technical threshold for $1.6B LRT contract: sources

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, March 22, 2019

SNC-Lavalin won the $1.6-billion contract to extend and maintain Ottawa's north-south LRT line even though it didn't achieve the minimum technical score to qualify for the project — a threshold its competitors met easily, CBC News has learned.

The Montreal-based company beat out two other consortia to extend the Trillium Line from Greenboro into Riverside South, a decision cemented with a 19-3 vote by Ottawa city council on March 6.

However, sources with direct knowledge of the Stage 2 evaluation process told CBC that SNC-Lavalin failed to achieve the minimum technical score of 70 per cent, a requirement set out in publicly available documents.

'People should be celebrating this': Catherine McKenna endorses federal budget's interprovincial bridge revival

By Taylor Blewett, Ottawa Citizen, March 20, 2019

Ottawa Centre MP and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says people should be celebrating her government’s decision, announced in this week’s federal budget, to revive the development of a new interprovincial bridge in the National Capital Region.

“It is a bit strange that we have heavy-duty trucks going though the centre of Ottawa. I think everyone would agree that’s sub-par,” McKenna told this newspaper Wednesday. “This is an opportunity to step back and have a holistic vision.”

(...)Diverting heavy truck traffic from downtown Ottawa, and making the current Nicholas Street and King Edward Avenue truck route safer for pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists has been a significant part of the motivation for those in favour of building an additional crossing.

City, NCC preparing for wetter, warmer future

By Kate Porter, CBC News Ottawa, March 21, 2019

The City of Ottawa and the National Capital Commission are looking for an expert to tell them how climate change might affect local weather so they can prepare for a wetter, warmer future.

The city and the NCC have issued a joint call for a consultant who can compute meteorological data to show what the next 20 to 80 years might look like in the capital.

Given that we're experiencing some extreme weather events, for example with the flooding, I think there's a need to do this now

- Emily Rideout , NCC

Both already know the broad trends to expect, but say they need quality climate projections specific to the capital region that all departments can work from.

How Canada is both leading and falling behind on electric buses

By Merran Smith and Dan Woynillowicz, National Observer, March 21, 2019

Buses. They’re the veins of our cities, transporting billions of people around their daily lives. Whether it’s a morning commute, a lift home from school, or a trip to the hockey game, buses have been stalwarts of Canadian life for decades.

But most Canadian buses also pollute. Yes, they’re better than cars because they move more people, but they are nonetheless a sizable source of emissions. The good news is there’s a solution, and it’s a big opportunity for Canada.

Enter electric buses (or e-buses), powered by emission-free electric motors making them healthier for both people and the planet. What’s more, many are manufactured here in Canada, and that’s good for business. And with an extra $2.2 billion in Tuesday’s budget earmarked for infrastructure funding — including transit — there is more money available to buy them. Yet despite their appeal, most Canadian transit operators are acquiring few e-buses compared to other cities globally. As a new report by Clean Energy Canada lays out, it’s a missed opportunity.