Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Tap water ban in place for part of Aylmer

By Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen, November 14, 2017

More than 2,000 homes in Aylmer were placed under a tap water advisory Tuesday after workers detected the smell of heavy oil in the water supply.

Jean Boileau, director of communications for the City of Gatineau, said the water in the affected area is now being tested to determine if it presents a health danger.

“As a preventive measure, we went ahead with the water advisory,” said Boileau. “Presently, we’re on stand-by, waiting for tests from the lab to see if we’re going to be able to lift the advisory.”

Running the new LRT train a dream come true for bus driver

By CBC News Ottawa, November 13, 2017

Driving large vehicles has been a lifelong passion for Ken Woods, who started out driving trucks as a teenager before getting behind the wheel of an OC Transpo bus.

Now 18 years into his OC Transpo career, Woods is training to be one of Ottawa's first electric rail operators when trains start rolling on the Confederation Line in 2018.

"I absolutely knew that it's exactly what I wanted to do," said Woods, speaking on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning. "I mean, ever since I was a little kid. Who hasn't dreamt of driving a train?"

Diochnos: Tear up the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway

By Kosta Diochnos, Ottawa Citizen, November 13, 2017

The Ottawa River’s banks are being primed for an ambitious goal. Bold and boastful, Ottawa’s newly revealed pitch for Amazon’s HQ2 is a cheeky reflection from the future. It brags about an “integrated” and “incomparable” campus built alongside the river during the “generational” transformation of LeBreton Flats. The eventual development of those barren lands will be a major shift in Ottawa’s time, as the Senators, central library and O-Train lines all converge.

Our largest river is a masterpiece natural feature, and the lands along its banks are eminently valuable. However, one feature keeps it underused and insignificant. If Ottawa is committed to a generational transformation and a sustainable future, the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway must be removed.

Neither committed as a natural park, nor maximally used as a human space, the SJAM parkway is a wasted opportunity. Where Vancouver has parkland and residences hugging the coastline, and Montreal has bars and shops facing the St. Lawrence River, Ottawa has an underused pathway and a road to flee the city.

Reevely: Cut environmental regulation to boost housing, advisers tell province

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, November 13, 2017

Ontario’s not building houses fast enough and needs to get rid of more environmental protections to solve the shortage, a high-powered group of provincial officials is telling the government.

We need less stringent approvals for projects near sensitive land and potentially endangered species, “concierge” helpers who’ll take builders by the hand and walk them through everything they need and more aggressive rezonings around highways and transit lines, says the Development Approval Roundtable, in a set of recommendations the province released Monday morning.

On-time performance for OC Transpo slips over past year

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, November 13, 2017

City buses on most routes met their schedules an average of 63 per cent of the time in the first half of 2017, a couple of notches down from the same period in the previous year and matching the transit agency’s worst performance over six years.

OC Transpo recorded its on-time performance between January and June of 2016 at 65 per cent.

The measure dropped to 63 per cent in the last half of 2016 and stayed at that rate in the first half of 2017.

Students win $5,000 at first Innovation Jam

By Manuela Barcenas, The Charlatan, November 13, 2017

A group of nine students won $5,000 after pitching their “Complete Compost” idea at Ottawa’s first sustainability challenge Innovation Jam, held at Carleton on Nov. 9.

The event was organized by Student Energy Carleton (SEC), the first Ontario chapter of an international organization that aims to develop sustainable energy alternatives to fossil fuels and foster innovation among university students.

According to Roberto Chavez, SEC president, the idea of an Innovation Jam originated from an executive trip to Mexico to attend the Student Energy Summit in June.

Take a tour through the aisles of Ottawa's first 'zero waste' grocery store

By Michael Enright, CBC News Ottawa, November 12, 2017

It's the kind of list you don't want to find your country on. But Canada is right near the top of the world, in the amount of garbage we produce per person.

You don't have to look far to find a major culprit: ridiculous packaging.

We buy yogurt in plastic tubs in cardboard boxes. Metal cans of tomato sauce and fruit in little styrofoam jackets. Laundry soap in envelopes in a bag in a box.

Valerie Leloup knows packaging better than most. But her new store has absolutely none of it.

OC Transpo fares to rise in city budget

By Ryan Tumilty, Ottawa Metro News, November 8, 2017

Transit users will likely pay more to get around Ottawa next year, as the city’s new draft budget confirmed across-the-board fare hikes.

The budget, which still has to be approved by council, hikes the cash fare for transit users to $3.50 from $3.40. Presto users will pay more as well, with the cost rising from $3.35 to $3.45. Adult monthly passes will rise to $116.50 from $113.75.

Transit commissioner and city Coun. Stephen Blais said the city committed to a regular, predictable hike and this just plays out in the budget.

Uber had few complaints after first year in Ottawa

By Kieran Delamont, Ottawa Metro News, November 12, 2017

One year after Ottawa city council gave Uber the greenlight, city staff say they have had relatively few problems and are not planning to require Uber drivers to install cameras in their cars.

The city released its one-year review of the ride-hailing service last week, shedding some light on a service, which has a higher proportion of residents using the service than all other Canadian cities.

In the first year of being legal, Uber drivers gave 49 million kilometres of rides in the city. Unsurprisingly, much of the activity is focused on downtown, with 2.7 million trips originating in the downtown Wards 12, 14 and 17, one third of all trips beginning in downtown and one third ending there as well.

Poll finds support for Ottawa's Greenbelt

By Ryan Tumilty, Ottawa Metro News, November 12, 2017

A national research company has found that most Canadians want the greenbelt around Ottawa expanded or kept as is, assuming they have heard about it at all. Forum Research surveyed of Canadians as part of regular polling it does on many topics. The company’s president Lorne Bozinoff said they’ve not looked at the issue before.

“We survey on a variety of topics every months, not just pure politics, but various aspects and this is one we wanted to do,” he said.

Safety concerns raised by Stittsville residents over city's street closure plans

By Brian Dryden, Ottawa Community News, November 12, 2017

Stittsville residents who live near the intersection of Johnwoods and Rosehill roads gathered Sunday afternoon to unveil a mock welcome to “Autoroute Rosehill Expressway” sign that pokes fun at a city plan to close off a section of Johnwoods to vehicle traffic.

But while the mocking tone of the poke at the city plan had an aspect of humour to it, what was underlining their protest on Nov. 12 was deadly serious to the residents — the safety of their neighbourhood.

The IT Factor, Part 4: Will autonomous cars drive Ottawa's tech future?

By Tracey Lindman, Ottawa Citizen, November 11, 2017

It was a sunny October afternoon when a gunmetal grey Lincoln MKZ drove itself down a road-test circuit in Kanata. Mayor Jim Watson beamed from inside the car, waving at the throng of onlookers who’d gathered on either side of the road to watch what was touted as the first event of its kind in Canada.

The self-driving car — equipped with BlackBerry QNX software designed in Ottawa — is no mere hunk of metal. It’s the culmination of years of innovation and effort, a source of futuristic inspiration for Ottawa.

It’s also the subject of this installment of The IT Factor, the Citizen’s five-part series on the ambitions and realities of the city’s tech sector.