Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Possible record-breaking low temperatures coming to Ottawa

By 1310 News, November 20, 2018

Along with a few more centimetres of snow, some very chilly temperatures are expected over the next two mornings in Ottawa.

Wednesday night's low into Thursday morning is being predicted to hit -18 C, while Thursday's overnight low into Friday could hit -17 C.

Doug Gillham, Meteorologist for The Weather Network, tells The Rick Gibbons Show, those temperatures could break daily November records.

"We're going to rival, and potentially even break some record low temperatures Thursday morning and possibly Friday morning," he said. "Those records were set in 1972."

New main street design and greenspace approved for Kanata Town Centre

By Mike Vlasveld, 1310 News, November 20, 2018

An official plan amendment, approved by the City of Ottawa's Planning Committee, is expected to update policies for city-owned lands in order to encourage development of a main street and greenspace in the Kanata Town Centre.

The city owns 11.6 hectares of vacant land in the Kanata Town Centre, south of Campeau Drive and east of Kanata Avenue. A concept plan for the area was developed in 1993, but the lands remain vacant.

New map shows which paths in Stittsville are being plowed

By StittsvilleCentral, November 20, 2018

Bike Ottawa is putting together a new crowdsourced map that shows which pathways are regularly plowed in the winter.

You can check it out here. Plowed paths are indicated by blue lines, while red means it is now plowed and yellow means status unknown. If you know about the status of a path you can give feedback by clicking on a line segment.

Ontario Tories' climate plan imposes carbon tax, says environment watchdog

By the Canadian Press, CTV News, November 30, 2018

TORONTO -- Ontario's environment watchdog says the province's plan to fight climate change will impose a carbon tax on industry despite government assurances it would not use such a measure.

Environmental Commissioner Dianne Saxe says the Progressive Conservative government's plan to introduce standards on the province's largest emitters puts a price on carbon.

Saxe says the plan will not tax individual Ontario residents on fuel costs -- as the now-repealed cap-and-trade system used to do -- and is not as effective because buildings and transportation produce higher emissions levels than industry.

Ontario climate change plan includes fund to help big polluters reduce emissions

By Mike Crawley and Andrea Janus, CBC News, November 29, 2018

The Ontario government unveiled its plan to combat climate change Thursday, including a fund that commits public money to entice companies to reduce emissions.

The regime, called the Preserving and Protecting our Environment for Future Generations: A Made-In-Ontario Environment Plan, aims to keep the province working toward meeting the emissions-reduction goals in the Paris Accord. Under that international agreement, Canada has committed to reducing emissions by 30 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030."

Ontario has reduced emissions by 22 per cent, Environment Minister Rod Phillips told a news conference Thursday afternoon at a conservation area in Nobleton, Ont., just north of Toronto.

Slower, livelier, bike-friendly: Latest plans for Elgin Street 'transformation' revealed

By Matthew Kupfer, CBC News Ottawa, November 29, 2018

The latest plans for a major redesign of Elgin Street reveal a downtown strip that's livelier, more accessible and friendlier to cyclists — just don't try driving there for a while.

The updated design, unveiled at Ottawa City Hall Wednesday night, includes tweaks stemming from a public consultation in May, and the notable absence of overhead wires following a decision in late August to bury them.

Pending council approval, 1.2 kilometres of Elgin Street between Gloucester Street and the Queen Elizabeth Driveway will eventually be reduced from four lanes to two, with turning lanes.

Ontario's Tory government set to release climate change plan today

By the Canadian Press, Ottawa Citizen, November 29, 2018

TORONTO — Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government is set to unveil its climate change plan today, months after it cancelled the province’s cap-and-trade system.

Environment Minister Rod Phillips will lay out the plan, which he says will be clear and achievable, at an event north of Toronto this afternoon.

Phillips has already revealed the plan won’t include putting a price on carbon, which is a federal requirement the Tories have promised to fight in court.

Transpo routes affected by LRT work return to Queen Street Monday

By the Ottawa Citizen, November 29, 2018

Bus riders can get back to their old habits Monday, Dec. 3 when Queen Street reopens downtown after extensive work related to the LRT.

Most OC Transpo routes had be rerouted to Wellington Street during the disruption.

As of Monday, routes 6, 7, 10, 16, 17 and 18, and some trips on route 12, return to their previous paths.

'Ecological grief' among mental health effects of climate change in Canada: report

By Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen, November 29, 2018

Canadians are increasingly showing symptoms of anxiety, “ecological grief” and even post-traumatic stress related to the effects of climate change, according to a new report.

The impact of climate change on mental health is something researchers have only recently begun to study and evidence is beginning to mount. It is part of understanding a changing climate as a looming public health crisis.

“Food insecurity, post-traumatic stress disorder, population displacement, trauma, cardiorespiratory impacts, and even deaths because of wildfires, floods, storms, heat waves and related poor air quality are some of the health concerns felt in Canada in the past few months alone,” said Dr. Courtney Howard, lead author of the Lancet Countdown report on Canada released Wednesday.

Young Quebecers sue Canada for climate negligence

From the Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, November 26, 2018

Young Quebecers have launched a class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government for failing to protect them from the devastating effects of climate change.

ENvironnement JEUnesse filed the action Monday in Quebec Superior Court on behalf of all Quebecers under the age of 35. The suit argues that even though the federal government recognizes the harm of global warming and is a signatory of the Paris Accord on fighting climate change, it is showing gross negligence by setting emissions reductions targets that are too low to begin with and is even failing to reach those insufficient goals.

Inspired by similar legal actions in the Netherlands and the United States, the class action is a Canadian first.

Egan: Can we salvage LeBreton, where dreams have gone to die for 50 years?

By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, November 26, 2018

When LRT opens next spring, there will be two central stations — Bayview and Pimisi — book-ending 50 acres of nothing, the desolate flop that is LeBreton Flats.

It’s even shaped like a giant, crooked zero.

Last week’s dramatic news about the failed partnership between Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk and Trinity Development Group chairman John Ruddy is detailed in a $700-million lawsuit filed Friday.

Today's letters: What's really killing the oil industry

By Jacques Gérin and Ross MacMillan, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, November 23, 2018

Dirty oil is what’s killing Alberta’s economy

Re: Is corporate social responsibility killing Alberta oil? Nov. 14.

What is killing Alberta oil is that it’s dirty and it costs a lot of money to clean. But if we the taxpayers can afford $4.2 billion to buy a pipeline company, we can certainly afford a refinery to clean up the tar sands and offer a useful product to the market.

(...)Great Bear Rainforest deal a success story

Terence Corcoran’s pontification about corporate social responsibility aside, one thing is certain: The Great Bear Rainforest agreements on the British Columbia coast had nothing to do with Alberta oil. They had everything to do with the hard work of First Nations, the province of British Columbia, logging companies and other business interests, environmental organizations, and local communities to protect biodiversity in one of the most unique places on Earth while providing new economic opportunities in the region. Funding support, including from companies such as RBC, was vital.