Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Montreal to expand Mount Royal Park, remove some visitor parking

By Andy Riga, Ottawa Citizen, December 12, 2022

Mount Royal Park is going to get bigger, greener and less car-friendly

Three swaths of land behind the former Royal Victoria Hospital will be absorbed by the park by 2036, the city announced Monday..

Montreal also plans to remove 40 per cent of the 725 parking spots — 290 spaces in all — in the lot adjacent to Smith House in 2024, with the land turned into a green space.

In total, the new green areas will add the equivalent of more than five soccer fields to the park.

Find the whole article here.

Cities essential part of COP15 plans to conserve nature, mayors say

By the Canadian Press, City News, December 11, 2022

Mayors at an international conference on preserving biodiversity say cities must be part of the solution to stopping the erosion of natural ecosystems. 

Leaders from 14 cities around the world are calling for national governments and the private sector to help increase spaces for nature in urban areas.

Their calls come the day before the COP15 conference focusses on cities and their role in conserving nature. 

Find the whole article here.

City of Ottawa is missing its mark on climate goals, watchdog group warns

By Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen, December 9, 2022

The City of Ottawa is falling behind its goal to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 and a lack of transparency makes it difficult to know how well the city is responding to the “climate emergency” it declared in 2019, according to a report by a group of volunteer climate watchdogs.

...While the city’s Climate Change Master Plan is a detailed summary of what needs to be done and sets ambitious targets, the city appears to be already falling behind on its implementation, Kennedy said. The plan’s “Energy Evolution” section directly targets greenhouse gas emissions and identified 47 milestones to meet by the end of 2021. The city only met five.

Find the whole article here.

Des experts canadiens et américains à Ottawa pour combattre les ravageurs forestiers

Par ICI Radio Canada, Sur le Vif, le 6 décembre 2022

Les insectes exotiques et indigènes, comme l’agrile du frêne et la tordeuse des bourgeons de l'épinette, menacent constamment les forêts et l’ensemble de l'écosystème canadiens. Ces ravageurs forestiers attaquent et détruisent les arbres.

Pour faire face à cette problématique environnementale, des spécialistes canadiens et américains, gestionnaires, et praticiens du domaine de la lutte antiparasitaire en forêt se réunissent du 6 au 8 décembre, à Ottawa, dans le cadre de la 65^e édition du Forum sur la répression des ravageurs forestiers.

Lisez l'article au complet ici.

Smaller Canadian cities rank high on environmental scorecard that has a few surprises

By Michael McDonald, Canadian Press, City News, November 30, 2022

A new environmental scorecard says Canada's biggest cities have lower scores than most small and medium-sized municipalities, but a closer look at the data reveals some surprises. 

The study, published Tuesday in the journal Environment International, rates 30 of the country's largest cities and towns on nine indicators related to health, including air quality, heat and cold waves, ultraviolet radiation, and access to green spaces. The results are compiled in the new Canadian Environmental Quality Index, produced by Dalhousie University in Halifax.

....The study focused on towns and cities with populations near or over 100,000.

In the middle of the pack in descending order are Winnipeg, St. John's, Hamilton, Ottawa and the Ontario cities of Windsor, St. Catharines and Oshawa.

Find the whole article here.

Environmentalists warn Ontario’s Bill 23 threatens Ottawa’s wetlands and green spaces

By Evert Lindquist, Capital Current, November 29, 2022

...Cheryl Randall, Ecology Ottawa’s climate change campaign organizer, said Bill 23 lacked environmental consultation. She said that, because of the bill’s complexity, public consultation should have been longer than originally allocated: less than a month.

“New councillors came in on Tuesday [Nov. 15] … they had less than 48 hours between their inauguration and the deadline, and [yet] they’re supposed to respond as a city,” Randall said.

Find the whole article here.

Buckles: Maybe newly minted Ottawa councillors should go on strike

By Daniel Buckles, Ottawa Citizen Op-Ed

On Nov. 15, Ottawa, like municipalities across the province, inaugurated a new city council. Citizens had spoken, electing a new mayor and many new councillors charged with solving municipal problems and providing the services expected of a world-class city. Everyone would agree, there is a lot to do.

...Earlier in the month, Queen’s Park had overruled several key decisions in the City of Ottawa Official Plan, undoing years of detailed planning for growth of the city and fractious compromises on density, urban sprawl, and efforts to make the most of the struggling public transit system.

...At virtually the same time, the Conservative government introduced Bill 23, omnibus legislation that takes a chainsaw through everything 

...The provincial government overplayed its hand with Bill 23, raising the ire of a remarkably wide range of organizations:

Find the whole article here.

Ontario passes housing bill amid criticism from cities, conservation authorities

By Canadian Press & Anil Jhalli, City News

Ontario has passed a bill intended to spur housing development amid criticism that it will leave municipalities short billions of dollars, increase property taxes and reduce the role of conservation authorities.

Bill 23, the 'More Homes Built Faster Act 2022'  proposes changes to several acts and regulations including the Development Charges Act, Planning Act, Municipal Act and others.

The Ontario government is working to meet it's goal of building 1.5 million homes in the next decade and make housing more affordable. 

One of the most controversial aspects of the bill is freezing, reducing and exempting fees developers pay.

Find the whole article here.

Le plan de logement provincial pourrait avoir des « conséquences imprévues majeures »

Par Shawn Sheffords, ICI Radio Canada Ottawa Gatineau, le 26 novembre 2022

Les experts en planification des villes de l'Ontario avertissent que le projet de loi 23 sur le logement pourrait avoir des « conséquences imprévues majeures » s'il est adopté dans son état actuel.

...Parmi les lacunes identifiées dans le rapport se trouve la question des gels sur les frais de développement accordés aux constructeurs. Car, sans ces frais, les communautés auront du mal à construire des égouts, des trottoirs et des routes qui desservent les nouvelles maisons, explique le président des commissaires à l'aménagement de l’Ontario.

Certains affirment même que la suppression ou le gel de certaines redevances d'aménagements coûteront des milliards aux municipalités de l'Ontario, et que d’autres clauses du projet mettent en péril la protection de l'environnement et les propriétés patrimoniales.

Lisez l'article au complet ici.

Mark Sutcliffe demande à l’Ontario de prolonger le processus de consultation sur la loi 23

Par ICI Radio Canada Ottawa, le 25 novembre 2022

Après avoir rencontré le ministre des Affaires municipales et du Logement de l’Ontario, Steve Clark, à Queen's Park, mardi, le nouveau maire d’Ottawa, Mark Sutcliffe, a exprimé dans une lettre officielle certaines de ses préoccupations quant au projet de loi 23.

Il estime que certains aspects du projet de loi sont sujets à amélioration, dont les questions concernant la protection de l'environnement, l'offre de logements abordables, la préservation des propriétés historiques et la perte de redevances pour les municipalités.

Lisez l'article au complet ici.

Housing bill could have 'dramatic' impact on city finances, says Sutcliffe

By Trevor Pritchard, CBC News Ottawa, November 25, 2022

Ottawa's mayor is urging the province to consider the "dramatic financial implications" a controversial new housing bill could have on the city's coffers, and to give people more time to weigh in on it.

In a letter sent Friday to Steve Clark, Ontario's minister of municipal affairs and housing, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says Bill 23 could create a shortfall of tens of millions of dollars over the next decade or so.

...Sutcliffe also said that while he shared the province's goal of building more homes, certain aspects of the bill could be improved, particularly around protecting the environment and preserving historic properties.

Find the whole article here.

Some developers win big after province expands urban boundary

By Kate Porter, CBC News Ottawa, November 24, 2022

Of all the land around Ottawa's suburban edges that Ontario's housing minister unilaterally designated for development earlier this month, one 37-hectare farm arguably came as the biggest surprise.

The east-end farm is a small part of the 654-hectare urban expansion Steve Clark imposed Nov. 4 when he overrode a hotly debated 2020 city decision — one of many recent controversial steps the Progressive Conservative government has taken to boost housing supply. 

...The government is "taking steps backward" and choosing new housing over future food security when it should be able to have both, according to Emily Sousa, a farm policy analyst at the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA).

Find the whole article here.