Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Adam: Yes, limiting cars on the Queen Elizabeth Driveway is inconvenient. But it's worth it

By Mohammed Adam, Ottawa Citizen Op-Ed, July 27, 2023

Urban planners worldwide are reimagining their cities to make them more people-friendly, creating more spaces that invite us to walk, bike or use other 'active transportation' modes.

... It has been a long time since the mayor of Ottawa and the CEO of the National Capital Commission have engaged in a very public feud over the city’s transportation choices.

But here we are with Mark Sutcliffe and Tobi Nussbaum disagreeing publicly over the closure of a section of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway, complete with duelling op-eds in the Ottawa Citizen to make their case, essentially about their transportation visions.

...It is hard to understand why Sutcliffe is taking a stand against his own Official Plan.

Find the whole article here.

Why climate groups say Ottawa’s plan to end fossil fuel subsidies has loopholes

By Uday Rana, Global News, July 25, 2023

With Canadians dealing with wildfires in many parts of the country and floods in others, environmental groups say the federal government’s plan to phase out fossil fuel subsidies is a welcome step, but one that doesn’t go far enough.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault on Monday released a framework to review and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. Canada is the first G20 country to roll out such a plan.

...The plans, though, have drawn criticism from activists who say they do not go far enough — in particular, because the plan to phase out subsidies does not apply to loans, guarantees and equity given to the TransMountain and Coastal GasLink pipelines.

Find the whole article here.

LRT to return to service Monday with 8 single-car trains, a fraction of its fleet

By CBC News Ottawa, July 26, 2023

Ottawa's light rail transit system will return to service Monday with just eight single-car trains, a fraction of its total 45-car fleet, OC Transpo says.

In a memo to mayor and councillors Wednesday afternoon, Renée Amilcar, the city's general manager of transit services, said the reduced fleet size will be enough to meet current customer demand. The LRT system normally operates with two-vehicle trains.

The eight single-car trains will run approximately every seven to eight minutes, the memo said.

Find the whole article here.

Parents denounce end of walking school bus program

By CBC News Ottawa, July 26, 2023

Some parents are decrying the end to a decade-old program that escorted some young students to school every morning.

The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (OSTA) said it's cutting the walking school bus program for the 2023-24 school year because of a lack of funding.

The bus — with one paid adult at each end — would follow a certain route to each school, with students joining the train of children along the way.

"[It's] great to have a safe option to help us get the kids to school," said Tara Fehlings, whose two children go to Connaught Public School.

"We drop them off at their little stop at the bottom of our street at 8:03 in the morning and I love the idea of supporting active transportation to school. I think it's really community building, great for physical and mental health for the kids."

Find the whole article here.

NCC's Queen Elizabeth Driveway active use program sparked debate. Here's where key people stand

By Ben Andrews, CBC News Ottawa, July 22, 2023

The temporary closure of about two-kilometres of road to motor vehicles has sparked a debate that highlights a clear divide among local leaders on the city's approach to active transportation.

In a CFRA radio interview last Tuesday, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he believes the Queen Elizabeth Driveway (QED) active transportation program should be scaled back.

Coun. Jeff Leiper responded publicly in a post on the Kitchissippi Ward Facebook page calling the mayor's stance "regressive" and his approach to advocating on the issue "inappropriate."

Find the whole article here.

Cyclists pumped for seemingly imminent opening of car-free bridge

By Guy Quennville, CBC News Ottawa, July 23, 2023

Jeff Leiper is the sort of active transportation advocate who posts time-lapse videos of his Ottawa bike commutes on social media.

So, yes, the Kitchissippi ward councillor is excited about the prospect of soon riding across the Ottawa River on the rehabilitated and renamed Chief William Commanda Bridge, located just north of the Bayview LRT station.

Leiper's even worried the much-delayed opening — the date of which remains unconfirmed — will happen while he's away on summer vacation. 

"We're all wildly impatient," he said on Friday. "I want to be the first, right? Everyone wants to be the first over this bridge."

Find the whole article here.

'You've got to move fast': Science learns to quickly link extreme weather and climate

By Bob Weber, The Canadian Press, City News, July 22, 2023

As firefighters and other first responders battle an unprecedented summer of fires, floods, tornadoes and heat waves around the country, a group of Canadian scientists are asking why they’re happening in the first place. 

.... Gillett heads the Rapid Extreme Event Attribution Project, a new federal program that uses the growing field of attribution science to promptly establish to what extent — if any — a specific flood in British Columbia or wildfire in Quebec is due to climate change.  

Find the whole article here.

Algonquin leaders want Ottawa's attention on proposed radioactive dumping ground

By Matteo Cimellaro, National Observer, July 21, 2023

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) passed a resolution at its general assembly last week calling for an urgent meeting with Ottawa over nuclear waste transport and disposal decisions.

The resolution was led by Chief Lance Haymond of Kebaowek First Nation, who opposes the current proposal to build a radioactive waste disposal facility within a few hundred metres of the Ottawa River, known as the Kichi Sibi in Algonquin.

Find the whole article here.

No funding for LRT Stage 3 until 'we straighten out' issues with the O-Train, premier says

By Josh Pringle, CTV News, July 20, 2023

Premier Doug Ford says there will be no new provincial funding to extend Ottawa's light rail transit system to Barrhaven and Kanata until the city of Ottawa and OC Transpo fix the problems with the current O-Train line between Blair and Tunney's Pasture stations.

Ford made the comments as Ottawa's LRT system remains shut down for a third full day after a bearing issue was discovered on one train during a 50,000 km inspection on Monday. R1 replacement bus service is running with 36 buses during the morning and afternoon peak periods.

Find the whole article here.

Ottawa slows down timeline for faster Toronto to Quebec City passenger railway

By Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press/Financial Post, July 20, 2023

MONTREAL — The federal government has slowed the timeline on a faster passenger railway set to stretch from Toronto to Quebec City.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said July 20 he hopes the high-frequency rail line will be running by the mid-2030s — rather than the early 2030s, which he projected as recently as March.

The passenger cars are expected to pass through Montreal, Trois-Rivieres and other Quebec and Ontario municipalities that sit between Toronto and Quebec City, running at up to 200 km/h. The corridor would also include stops in Ottawa and Peterborough, Ont.

Find the whole article here.

Pellerin: Bike sharing is quick, convenient and relatively inexpensive. Why can't Ottawa make it work?

Brigitte Pellerin, Ottawa Citizen

While bike-sharing programs have flopped in Ottawa over the last decade, the city needs to figure out how to make one work.

Find the whole article here.

Turtle eggs at Petrie Island get tender loving care

By CBC News, July 17, 2023

It's tough out there for unhatched turtle eggs, but a group of conservationists is trying to make it easier at Petrie Island.

The popular beaches in east Ottawa are home to three of the eight turtle species found in Ontario: snapping turtles, painted turtles and northern map turtles.

Shy eastern musk turtles and Blanding's turtles (a threatened species) could frequent Petrie Island too, but that's unclear.

...To help get more eggs to hatch, project members have been gathering eggs to incubate themselves, indoors, in Tupperware containers filled with damp vermiculite to prevent them from drying out completely.

Find the whole article here.