Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Electric vehicle charging coming to 25 Ontario Canadian Tire Gas+ locations

By the Canada Press, Ottawa Citizen, December 5, 2016

TORONTO - Electric vehicle charging stations are being added to 25 Canadian Tire Gas+ locations in Ontario, a first for the company.

AddEnergie Technologies says the stations, which start rolling out early next year, join the 2,500 stations along its FLO Canadian charging network.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, who participated in Monday's announcement in Toronto, says the federal government will be contributing nearly half of the $1.8 million investment through a loan.

Transit commission approves draft budget, new Presto deal amid calls for cheaper low-income pass

Ottawa Citizen

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, December 5, 2016

The transit commission on Monday approved OC Transpo’s 2017 budget and an LRT-era fare table, but some customers still want a better discount for people with low incomes.

Transpo is proposing to launch a low-income pass in April after thousands of customers demanded a cheaper option for people who can’t afford a full pass. The monthly pass, called the EquiPass, would cost $57. The price is about half of what the full adult pass would cost.

City hall blog: Councillor worries dump is getting buried

Ottawa Citizen

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, December 2, 2016

When council scrapped a tentative agreement with Plasco Energy Group last year, it dashed the city’s hope of finding a long-term solution to managing residential trash. Of course, council had little choice since Plasco couldn’t secure financial backing at the time.

Today, the city doesn’t see any urgency to searching for an alternative.

That worries one councillor.

Several positives for West Carleton residents in 2017 draft budget

By Kelly McCarthy, Ottawa Community News, December 2, 2016 Your tax dollars go far in West Carleton, but maybe not quite far enough Coun. Eli El-Chantiry says. There’s a lot of good news in the city’s 2017 draft budget, including more money for road maintenance, parks and Canada 150 projects, however, El-Chantiry said that it might not be possible to fit everything into the budget each year if it continues to be restricted to a two per cent tax revenue increase each year. (...)

Some highlights for road maintenance currently included in the 2017 draft budget include:

• $915,000 to upgrade Panmure Road from Hwy. 417 to Donald B Munro Drive

• $464,000 to upgrade Greenland Road from Thomas A Dolan Parkway to Vances Side Road

• $370,000 to upgrade Limestone Road from Kinburn Side Road to Styles Side Road

Those are three of 19 road maintenance projects and 34 drainage projects slated for West Carleton.

El-Chantiry said he has also ordered more speed signs to be placed at key spots in the ward to help with traffic calming in 2017.

Source: Several positives for West Carleton residents in 2017 draft budget

LRT project rolls ahead with vehicle testing on Confederation Line - Ottawa - CBC News

By CBC News Ottawa, December 2, 2016

Engineers started testing the first of Ottawa's light rail vehicles on a section of track between Blair and Cyrville stations Friday.

There will be 34 light rail vehicles in all, said Steve Cripps, the city's director of O-Train construction.

Each will be identical and will hold up to 300 passengers.

New Civic hospital should prioritize health care over parking

Ottawa Citizen

By David Chernushenko, Ottawa Citizen, December 4, 2016

It seems that a hospital site solution has been brokered. What has not yet been resolved, or even adequately questioned, is the oversized surface parking “requirement” put forward from the outset as an essential criterion. That’s a 1970s’ vision for a 21st-century hospital. We can, and must do better than repeating the mistakes of the past.

Let me start by stating the obvious: Most people don’t take the bus to hospital in an emergency or if they have mobility issues. No one expects physicians on call to use public transit. Those visiting loved ones may not choose to take the LRT — unless they are among the 15 per cent of Ottawa households who do not own a car.

But even if we assume that nobody will take public transit for urgent visits or if they are not ambulatory, that still leaves the massive majority of trips to hospital taken by staff, visitors and clinic patients. Given the choice, many – no, not all – would choose transit.

Sir John Carling site approved for new Ottawa hospital

Ottawa Citizen

By Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen, December 3, 2016

After a week of political drama and head-spinning developments, the Civic hospital has a new home: on the former site of the Sir John Carling building at the eastern edge of the Experimental Farm.

Hospital officials say they would like to see the new $2-billion super hospital open on the site by 2026.

While the process hasn’t been finalized, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly put her stamp of approval on the site Friday, saying in a statement she would request federal officials “make all the necessary preparations to make this land available as the future location” of a new Civic hospital.

Quebec Mohawk chief vows civil unrest if B.C. pipeline moves forward

By Christopher Curtis, Ottawa Citizen, December 3, 2016

A Quebec Mohawk chief is promising a coordinated campaign of civil disobedience if recently approved pipeline construction encroaches on aboriginal territory in British Columbia.

The actions could range from demonstrations and rail blockades to people occupying government offices across Canada, according to Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Simon.

Community Crafting: Builders come together to create Wateridge Village

Ottawa Citizen

By Anita Murray, Ottawa Citizen, November 28, 2016 (in paper December 3, 2016)

The largest chunk of undeveloped land left in the city’s core begins its transformation into a residential community as sales officially open this weekend at Wateridge Village.

Set on 310 acres of rolling land that made up Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe, the mammoth development has been years in the making and will ultimately see an influx of some 9,500 residents in about 5,300 homes and condos over the next 15 to 20 years.

(...)

“It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity,” says Jean Lachance, CLC’s senior director of real estate. “You’ve got 300 acres right in the core of the city, in the urban area, which will have many unique environmentally ‎sustainable elements within it … It’s really something new to Ottawa in terms of trying to achieve something different for a community.”

Farmers' markets in a bit of a pickle

Metro Ottawa

By Ryan Tumilty, Ottawa Metro News, December 1, 2016

There have been problems with cash handling, wild swings in rent payment and a general lack of oversight by the city in its management of the Byward and Parkdale markets, the auditor has found.

The auditor general’s office delivered the troubling assessment of the markets on Thursday, finding a slew of problems with how the markets operate.

“It appears that no accountability had been assigned,” deputy auditor Sonia Brennan told councillors.

Liberal MPs, MPPs, mayor back Sir John Carling site for new Civic hospital - Ottawa - CBC News

By CBC News Ottawa, December 2, 2016

Liberal MPs and MPPs are joining Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson's call for the future Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital to be built at the Sir John Carling site.

At a news conference outside the mayor's office on Friday morning, flanked by more than a dozen other politicians, Watson said there has been "a lot of dialogue and collaboration over the last few days."

"Together, we believe that the Sir John Carling site provides the best location to build the hospital of the future," Watson said."The site addresses issues that are critical for a hospital's success, such as its central location, providing easy access from the Queensway, Carling Avenue and Prince of Wales. It's also within 100 metres of the Trillium Line's Carling station.

Today’s letters: Don’t attack BDS, ‘complete streets’ are good

Ottawa Citizen

By John Dance and Robb Barnes, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, December 2, 2016

Main Street is better as a ‘complete street’

Re: ‘Complete streets’ or total fiasco? project scorned, Nov. 30

Columnist Kelly Egan drove along the reconstructed Main Street and found it slower than before. But perhaps he also should have walked, shopped, biked or tried living along Main. He would have found it vastly better as a “complete street.”