By Jack MacLaren, Ottawa Citizen, October 16, 2016
When government starts taxing rain, it begs the question: What’s next? Will they tax sunlight or wind?
Ottawa city council needs to give its collective head a shake. Facing self-imposed budget pressures, it is considering a new tax on…wait for it…rain.
The City of Ottawa is debating whether to charge a fee for stormwater. If they do, all property owners in the city will face this new tax.
By Alison Sandor, CFRA News, October 13, 2016
When you're the city's biggest landlord, your utility bills can end up costing quite the pretty penny.But Ottawa Community Housing is taking steps to save on energy.OCH has upgraded all of the lights in the common areas of their buildings across the city to LED bulbs. They've also installed heat monitoring systems at a number of properties. The retrofit work done at buildings across the city is expected to save them some $57-million over the next decade.
"We look at $4 to $6-million per year on utility savings, water savings, utility all together," said Giguere. OCH also recently installed low flush toilets in a number of their units.
By Ottawa Community News, October 13, 2016
Algonquin College is poised to receive a $43-million infrastructure investment intended to help increase the school’s capacity for creating jobs, contributing to research and fostering innovation.
(...)
The investment is the product of commitments by the college, two levels of government and other sources to enhance and modernize the school’s research facilities and make them more environmentally sustainable.
By Melissa Murray, Ottawa Community News, October 14, 2016
About 130 people came together at city hall to talk about affordable transit, social services and safe transportation, on Oct. 13, as part of the public consultations taking place around the city's 2017 budget.
The event, which featured short presentations and then time for groups to brainstorm on specific issues before the room regrouped and shared ideas, was hosted by the city’s five urban councillors: Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury, Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Tobi Nussbaum, Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper and Capital Coun. David Chernushenko.
By Brent Paterson, Rabble.ca, October 13, 2016
Ottawa residents came out Tuesday to hear about the threats that would be posed to waterways by the 1.1 million barrel-per-day Energy East Pipeline.
The Council of Canadians and Ecology Ottawa co-hosted an evening town hall at the Ottawa Public Library to explore the impact Energy East tar sands pipeline may have on water, particularly the impact a spill would have on the Rideau, Mississippi and Ottawa rivers.
By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, October 13, 2016
Canada has to pay $28 million in damages and legal costs to a company that wanted to build a wind farm in Lake Ontario but whose plans were abruptly halted by the Ontario government in 2011, an international tribunal says.
Windstream Energy, whose plans were backed by American investors, filed a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement alleging the province treated it unfairly and inequitably. The company demanded $475 million US in damages. Because it’s a claim under an international trade treaty, the federal government had to stick up for the province’s decision.
By Erin McCracken, Ottawa Community News, October 11, 2016
While the city’s 2017 budget is still being ironed out, one item, at least, on Joan Olinik’s wish list has been granted.
The Greely resident and longtime volunteer at the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre had long been advocating for a safe crossing outside the centre on a very busy Russell Road, as well as repaired sidewalks.
“Some of our veterans are going down the side of the road in their wheelchairs because they cannot access the sidewalks,” Olinik said at an Oct. 6 budget consultation meeting at the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre just before Mayor Jim Watson delivered the good news that a new pedestrian crossing will be going in.
By the Editorial Board, Ottawa Citizen, October 12, 2016
Save the river, reject the pipeline
Re: An overflow of sewage-tank PR, Oct. 12.
The announcement by the municipal, provincial and federal governments of $232 million to protect the Ottawa River is great. However, I would take this one step further and it won’t cost us a dime.
An independent report commissioned by the Council of Canadians and Ecology Ottawa warns us that if there is an oil spill in the Mississippi or Rideau rivers, the quantity of oil released will be 13 million to 18 million litres. The Energy East pipeline will pump 1.1 million barrels of diluted bitumen per day through a 40-year-old pipeline built for natural gas. A spill will deprive Ottawa and Gatineau citizens of access to drinking water and cause interruption of recreational activities as well as loss of income-related to tourism.
By Melissa Murray, Ottawa Metro News, October 11, 2016
Residents attending a final consultation on the proposed Baseline Road bus rapid transit corridor had more concerns than praise for the project.
About 70 people attended a presentation about the Baseline Road bus corridor at the project’s final open house at the Nepean Sportsplex on Oct. 5.The city is currently working on the planning and environmental assessment study for the corridor, which will be presented to the transportation committee early next year.
By Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen, October 11, 2016
The Ottawa Public Library board has voted against releasing the shortlist of possible locations for a new central library in November, a month before a site is to be recommended.
The board approved a site evaluation process in the summer and later discussed behind closed doors the ranking of a dozen possible locations. Staff is now conducting detailed studies of an unknown number of shortlisted sites and will recommend in December a preferred location or locations for a stand-alone central branch and a potential OPL-Library and Archives Canada joint facility.
By the Editorial Board, Ottawa Citizen, October 11, 2016
Solutions do exist for improving Elgin; we must be creativeRe: The new battle for Elgin Street, Oct.7David Reevely is correct that the reconstruction of Elgin Street must confront the impossibility of meeting the desires of all users because the available width provides insufficient space to do so.
However, he overlooks an important suggestion in the recent consultation that could significantly ease that challenge: remove the monstrous telephone poles from the sidewalks and bury the now-overhead wires, as was done with the Centretown portion of Bank Street.
By Canadian Press, Ottawa Citizen, October 11, 2016
NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. - Premier Kathleen Wynne is defending the Liberal government's decision to introduce a cap-and-trade program next year to combat climate change, calling Ontarians "very bad actors" when it comes to creating greenhouse gases.
Wynne admits Ontario led the way in fighting climate change by shutting down its coal-fired electrical generation stations, but said the province must do more even though it produces only fraction of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.