By Bob McClelland, Ottawa Citizen Letter to the Editor, September 30, 2015
Re: Hospital wanted to delay public meetings about moving Civic to Experimental Farm, Sept. 28.
There are too many unanswered questions about the move of the Ottawa Hospital‘s Civic campus to the Central Experimental Farm land. What other sites were considered? Will the hospital be transparent and release the studies of other sites evaluated?
Consultations after all the decisions are made are not consultations.
By Anita Murray, Ottawa Citizen, October 1, 2015
Across the highway from Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, something new is happening in suburban home building.
Minto has just opened model homes in its Arcadia community, among them an uber-energy-efficient single that in the past might only be found in a custom infill project or perhaps a house out in the country.
By Emma Jackson, Ottawa Metro News, September 29, 2015
A development in Greely has been put on hold until the owner deals with a troubling trend: rising contamination in its communal well.
The Shadow Ridge well serving about 430 people in Greely has more and more nitrates in it every year – a trend that, if allowed to continue, could put levels above acceptable safe drinking levels within a decade.
By Ottawa Community News, September 28, 2015
Tom Milroy wants to show the Green Party is not just a one trick pony.
The 57-year-old human resources and labour relations professional decided to run for the party in Ottawa Centre after leader Elizabeth May encouraged him to do so.
By Ottawa Community News, September 28, 2015
Incumbent Paul Dewar has represented the riding of Ottawa-Centre since he was first elected in 2006 and has been the NDP’s foreign affairs critic for eight years.
The 52-year-old father of two lives in Old Ottawa East and was born and raised in Ottawa. He is son of former Ottawa mayor Marion Dewar, who was also elected as an NDP MP in the 1980s. Before running for office, Dewar was a teacher and he received his Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University in 1994
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Sun, September 29, 2015
Thousands of businesses and public institutions would need to install special devices to prevent contaminated fluid from entering the drinking water system if council finally implements a long-planned program.
The work will cost property owners anywhere between $500 and $20,000, while not installing them could come with a hefty fine, according to a report for council’s environment committee,
By CBC News Ottawa, September 30, 2015
City of Ottawa staff have set out how they hope to deal with budget pressures in the coming three years by increasing user fees and finding efficiencies in snow removal, the paramedic service and its parks and buildings management, among other things.
In a report that will go to the finance and economic development committee next week, staff expect pressures from compensation and costs of maintaining new infrastructure to strain the budget by $63.7 million in 2016, $51.2 million in 2017 and $52.3 million in 2018.
By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, September 29, 2015
Cars are regularly being ticketed around the park-and-ride on Eagleson Road at the Queensway, an alert reader tells us, evidence of a transit policy that suffers its success.
The lot can hold 1,216 cars and, apparently, is not expandable. Cars are leaking onto the closest streets, like Hearst Way, and the lots of nearby businesses, which is hardly a tenable, long-term solution. Complaints come in, bylaw goes out, tickets fly.
By Wayne Adams, Ottawa Citizen Letter to the Editor, September 29, 2015
Re: Be prudent with cuts to the food inspected bureaucracy, Sept. 25.
I support writer Maurice Hladik’s appeal for more funds for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Whether you choose to eat organic or not, you should be concerned about the food you eat. However, he seems to unfairly question the integrity of the organic sector to justify additional funds for the agency. The organic sector is more closely regulated than the much larger non-organic sector. Further, it is also rather unseemly to suggest that because we have higher production costs to produce a distinct product that we are therefore more inclined to cheat.
For a product to be certified organic it must be produced according to federal standards. There are third party site inspections and audits,
By Kathryn Wood, Ottawa Metro News, September 28, 2015
OC Transpo has a thorny problem on its hands. Ridership isn’t going up, and costs are. Since 2011, fewer people have been taking the bus each year, and the projections for the rest of 2015 aren’t looking great.
At their last meeting (Sept. 14), the transit commission heard that OC Transpo was expecting a deficit of $11.5 million by the end of the year. Staff blamed a number of factors, some of which are simply fixed costs like maintenance and insurance, and the expense of running a transit system in cold weather.
By Alex Robinson, Ottawa Community News, September 28, 2015
Action Sandy Hill is hoping it will have the last word on a 14-storey mixed-use development being proposed for Rideau Street.
The community association has filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board with the intention of walking back a city council decision to give Richcraft Group the necessary approvals to build the highrise.
By Staff, Ottawa Community News, September 28, 2015
Having knocked on more than 55,000 doors in recent months, Catherine McKenna is sure she has a firm grasp on the issues that are on the minds of Ottawa Centre residents.
The 44-year-old lawyer and mother of three is running under the Liberal banner in a bid to unseat NDP incumbent Paul Dewar.