Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Transit riders in Outaouais look for Plan B as bus drivers, mechanics walk off

Ottawa Citizen

By Megan Gillis, Ottawa Citizen, March 16, 2017

Commuters in Gatineau and the rest of the Outaouais struggled for a Plan B 0n Thursday morning as drivers and mechanics for the Société du transport de l’Outaouais staged a one-day walkout to protest lagging contract talks.

While traffic was light, in part due to spring break, lineups were long at key transfer points, such as the terminus at Terrasses de la Chaudière, where Ottawa-bound passengers can link with OC Transpo. The stops outside the Les Terrasses were jammed with freezing passengers who’d had to make their own way to the last leg of commutes to Ottawa.

City should pursue appeal in Quebec-to-Carp waste decision, top lawyer says

Ottawa Citizen

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, March 16, 2017

The City of Ottawa should pursue an appeal of a provincial decision that allows a private waste operator on Carp Road to receive construction debris from western Quebec, the city’s top lawyer says.

Rick O’Connor, the city’s solicitor and clerk, told council in a memo Thursday that he believes the city should ask to appeal the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change’s decision, which permits the West Carleton Environmental Centre operated by Waste Management to accept construction and demolition debris from some communities across the Ottawa River.

ByWard Market revitalization gets candidates attention

By Michelle Nash Baker, Ottawa Community News, March 15, 2017 On March 15 Ottawa-Vanier byelection candidates came together to take a walk in the ByWard Market. The event, organized by the Lowertown Community Association, Action Sandy Hill and Ecology Ottawa aimed at getting all of the candidates on board with the city’s plan to revitalize the market. (...)

“The city has approved the ByWard Market revitalization as a priority so we want our federal government representative to contribute to this project,” said Liz Bernstein, president of the Lowertown Community Association.

Bernstein added it’s important to the community that their local member of Parliament to not only champion causes such as the market’s revitalization, but help make it happen.

Source: ByWard Market revitalization gets candidates attention

Residents still hope for tweak on LRT plan for local park

By Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa Community News, March 14, 2017

While some may say the time has run out, residents in the west end community of Queensway Terrace North are still trying to get the city to tweak plans for a LRT flyover in their local park.

The city wants to put the rail junction in the National Capital Commission green space between Carling Avenue and the Queensway where the transitway currently runs. Westbound trains would enter a tunnel at the southwest corner of Connaught Park.

Andrew Coyne: Revenue-neutral carbon tax is not a fairy tale

By Andrew Coyne, Ottawa Citizen, March 15, 2017

There is a conservative position on climate change whose chief opponents are other conservatives. It is to tax carbon, not on top of existing programs for reducing emissions, as those on the left would do, but as a replacement for them — and not on top of existing taxes but as a replacement for them. This is the proposal Michael Chong has put before the Conservative party, but the same approach has been suggested by a number of other prominent conservatives.

Nevertheless the idea has been heavily criticized by Chong’s rivals in the Conservative leadership race. Their objections range from the scientifically dubious (climate change isn’t human-caused) to the economically illiterate (prices don’t affect behaviour). But the crowd-pleaser is simply to dismiss the whole premise of the exercise: that any revenues raised would be given back in tax cuts, or in other words that it would be “revenue neutral.”

Platt: Forget politics — how are we really lowering electricity costs?

Ottawa Citizen

By Brian Platte, Ottawa Citizen, March 15, 2017

When Premier Kathleen Wynne finally announced her hydro relief package earlier this month, it put to rest the immediate political question of how to reduce bills quickly.

The reduction mostly comes from kicking generation costs further down the road, which makes bills cheaper now but will eventually cost us more. Further relief directed at low-income and rural residents will come from drawing money out of general tax revenues.

STO bus drivers, maintenance staff to start rotating strike Thursday

Ottawa Citizen

By Shaamini Yogaretnam, Ottawa Citizen, March 15, 2017

Bus riders in the Outaouais are being urged to make alternative travel arrangements for Thursday as the STO service braces for rotating strikes by drivers and maintenance employees. Word of the planned labour action emerged Wednesday after an apparently failed mediation session.

The STO told the Citizen the Gatineau transit commission itself has not been notified of how the strike will roll out and that is had only learned of the union’s plan through media reports. It encouraged commuters to check the STO.ca website for updates on the labour action.

Cyclists raise safety concerns over proposed McArthur bike lanes

Ottawa Citizen

By Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen, March 15, 2017

On most spring, summer and fall mornings, David Weatherall loads his son, Felix, into a bicycle trailer and takes off.

The pair ride through their Overbrook neighbourhood and over the Adàwe Crossing to the toddler’s child care centre in the ByWard Market.

Because there isn’t a good east-west connection to the bridge, Weatherall and others have been eagerly waiting for the city to improve cycling facilities on Donald Street, as outlined in the 2013 Ottawa Cycling Plan. Which is why a recommendation from city staff, endorsed last week by council, to install bike lanes on McArthur Avenue instead came as such a surprise.

ByWard Market advocates want prospective MPs to commit to overhaul

Metro Ottawa

By Robin Tumilty, Ottawa Metro News, March 14, 2017

Community advocates want the candidates in the upcoming Ottawa-Vanier byelection to commit to helping refresh the Byward Market.

The Lowertown Community Association, Action Sandy Hill and Ecology Ottawa has invited all candidates in the April 3 vote to a walkabout in the market Wednesday afternoon.

Liz Bernstein, president of LCA, said they want to hear from the candidates about their commitment because the market needs their support.

“People will get a taste or a flavour of what more could be happening,” she said. “It’s really an appeal from citizens that we invest in something more long-term.”

Coalition of advocates out to discuss road user fees

By Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa Community News, March 14, 2017

The city of Ottawa has 6,000 kilometres of road to maintain and it’s time to talk about user fees, said Trevor Haché, past president of the Healthy Transportation Coalition.

The Coalition, along with the City for All Women’s Initiative, The Council on Aging and the Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital – as well as several other advocacy groups – are hosting an information session, entitled Road user fees: key to sustainable urban transportation at Marion Hall at the University of Ottawa on March 28.

Friends of the Farm raises concern about future hospital's impact on gardens, arboretum

By Melissa Murray, Ottawa Community News, March 13, 2017

The Friends of the Central Experimental Farm are trying to get ahead of the design of the Ottawa Hospital’s new Civic campus by highlighting some concerns.

“We were just urging the National Capital Commission and design people in general to keep in mind that these are public areas that people value and that that should be taken into consideration when design and forward-looking plans are made,” said president of the Friends of the Central Experimental Farm, Judy Dodds.

Hwy. 401 closed in both directions after 'highly toxic' chemical spill

CTV Ottawa News

By CTV News Ottawa, March 14, 2017

A collision involving a “highly toxic” chemical spill has closed Hwy. 401 in both directions east of Kingston.The collision happened around 2 p.m. near Lansdowne on the eastbound highway.

It involved up to 30 vehicles, including a tractor-trailer carrying what Gananoque Police described as a “highly toxic” chemical.