Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Quebec's stimulus bill passed into law despite environmental concerns

By CBC News, December 11, 2020

It took two attempts, but in the end the Coalition Avenir Québec government got it what it wanted, with the National Assembly passing the controversial Bill 66 into law Thursday evening.

The new law will help fast-track 180 infrastructure projects in an attempt to stimulate an economy that is reeling from the effects of COVID-19. 

(...)There are still concerns about the law's potential effect on the environment, as two of the three opposition parties voted against the bill.

In a statement, the PQ claimed "the government insists on pitting environment against economic recovery", a sentiment shared by Québec Solidaire.

"In the end, we still find [within the bill] attacks against environmental processes, and that, for Québec Solidaire, is unacceptable," said MNA Vincent Marissal.

Liberal MNA Gaétan Barrette disagreed, saying the COVID-19 pandemic has created an exceptional set of challenges that call for exceptional solutions.

"Economic recovery happens in part through infrastructures," Barrette said. "It seems acceptable to us to deviate from the strict rules that we know, particularly in terms of the environment."

Bernstein and Borsten: Plan for the ByWard Market moves us in the right, green direction

By Liz Bernstein and John Borsten, Ottawa Citizen, December 5, 2020

The ByWard Market is Canada’s oldest continuous outdoor market, a cultural and heritage space and a major tourist attraction. And as we have seen this past year, its streets, sidewalks, parks and plazas make the ByWard Market a people-gathering place, even during a pandemic.

Next week, on Dec. 9, the ByWard Market Public Realm Plan will be presented to city council for approval. The plan aims to revitalize outdoor spaces in the ByWard Market and has the support of business, health, community and environment leaders across Ottawa.

The ByWard Market Public Realm Plan reimagines the market to include wide pedestrian promenades, focal points for outdoor festival spaces and comprehensive tree-planting.

(...)The plan’s vision is a green one and aims to move the ByWard Market from a car-based space to one that is pedestrian-friendly, where active transportation – walking and cycling – is prioritized. The plan also calls for the planting of hundreds more trees with the goal of having 30-per-cent tree cover in the ByWard Market. Although a 40-per-cent tree cover goal is what is needed across the city, rethinking how we build neighbourhoods to make them greener and accessible to all is what this plan does. The ByWard Market Public Realm Plan moves the city in the right green direction.

Net Zero homes: Let the cold winds blow

By Louise Rachlis, Ottawa Citizen, December 10, 2020

Tyler Galaski and his family have zero regrets about building and living in a Net Zero energy home.

Net Zero Homes produce as much clean energy as they consume. They are up to 80 per cent more energy efficient than typical new homes and use renewable energy systems to produce the remaining energy they need.

“After researching the subject and taking building science courses, I knew it would be very healthy and quiet to live in,” says Galaski of OTG (Off the Grid) Construction, who built a net zero energy ready/passive house in Calabogie, Ont., near Ottawa, for himself.

“I knew that energy costs are rising and I can over-insulate a home and have cost benefits later. I wanted to take a different turn, and prove to myself that it wasn’t going to cost that much more than a regular house. I decided to build only net zero energy homes in Ottawa, Renfrew, Calabogie and surrounding areas.”

As for his own net zero home, “we were living in Alta Vista, and we wanted to move to the country for the kids,” says Galaski, 40, who has been in the construction business for his whole career, establishing OTG Construction in 2009.

City to start designing pathway on unused rail bridge

By Kate Porter, CBC News Ottawa, December 9, 2020

The City of Ottawa wants to have designs ready to turn the Prince of Wales Bridge into a multi-use pathway over the Ottawa River, in case federal funding becomes available.

On Wednesday, city council directed staff to start the environmental assessment and design for that pathway using $540,000 set aside for pier works that it now plans to spread out over time. 

"It's taken a long time to get to where we've gotten today," said Mayor Jim Watson, who tabled the motion.

Coun. Theresa Kavanagh said she has dreamed of such a pathway for nearly twenty years, and thinks of it every time she cycles under the unused bridge on her way to city hall.

Seeking solutions to West Centretown's 'food desert'

By CBC News Ottawa (All in a Day), December 9, 2020 (this lack of services make it hard to have walkable neighborhoods)

Ottawa's West Centretown neighbourhood is a "food desert" whose residents need easier access to essential groceries, according to a new study.  

Emilie Hayes, community engagement manager for Somerset West Community Health Centre, which produced the study, said families in the neighbourhood, which includes Chinatown, Little Italy, Rochester Heights and LeBreton Flats, have few options to buy affordable fresh food.

She said the area's sole full-service grocery store closed in 2006, leaving residents with only smaller stores to fill their pantries.

(...)According to the study, West Centretown is considered a low-income area where nearly one-quarter of the housing is subsidized and many residents rely on public transportation to get around.

"It's much more difficult for [them] to hop in a car ... to go get all of their groceries," Hayes said. "And so having something close by in the neighbourhood that's affordable, it's really important for them."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/west-centretown-food-desert-1.5833727?ref=mobilerss&cmp=newsletter_CBC%20Ottawa_1643_223086

Expect to pay a lot more for groceries next year, thanks to climate change and COVID-19

By the Canadian Press, CBC News Ottawa, December 8, 2020

The average Canadian family will pay up to an extra $695 for food next year, as the pandemic, wildfires and changing consumer habits drive up grocery bills to the highest increase ever predicted by an annual food price report.

(...)Meanwhile, climate change — including heat waves, ice loss, wildfires, floods and droughts — will also influence how much we pay for groceries next year.

Vegetables could be particularly hard hit, with prices expected to jump as much as 6.5 per cent, according to the report.

Much of the produce Canadians consume comes from California, a state that has been ravaged by one of the worst wildfire seasons on record.

Ford government to strip some powers of environmental regulators

By Max Hartshorn, Global News, December 7, 2020

The Ontario legislature is moving ahead with a Ford government bill to remove powers that allow local environmental regulators to protect communities against flooding and erosion. This despite warnings from those local environmental authorities that the changes would give new powers to provincial cabinet ministers to make political decisions about construction and industry projects that are not based on scientific evidence.

Conservation Ontario, which represents all 36 regional conservation authorities in the province, has asked the government to eliminate provisions of the bill that would take powers away from them. The association that represents municipalities across Ontario has also called on the government to revise its proposal.

As of Monday, the bill was in its final stages of debate at Queen’s Park. But a growing backlash has already provoked some resignations on a key panel.

https://globalnews.ca/news/7505677/ford-government-strip-powers-of-environmental-regulators/

City not doing enough to combat climate change: Ecology Ottawa

By Alex Goudge, City News, December 7, 2020

Non-profit organization Ecology Ottawa feels the City of Ottawa's plans to help fight climate change in the capital don't go far enough.

This comes as the City of Ottawa released new data on emissions, ahead of its Standing Committee of Environmental Protection, Water and Waste Management meeting on December 15.

Ecology Ottawa Executive Director Robb Barnes says the new data, which shows community greenhouse gas emissions from 2019, demonstrates emissions are continuing to rise in Ottawa, and adds, he hasn't seen levels this high since before the provincial phase-out of coal.

Barnes blames a lack of municipal leadership.

Brockington and Meehan: Why it can't be business as usual at OC Transpo

By Riley Brockington and Carol Anne Meehan, Ottawa Citizen, December 7, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic will have a long-lasting impact on the city of Ottawa.

We are two Ottawa city councillors and transit commissioners worried and frustrated that any attempt to stop hemorrhaging money from the operating side of the budget at OC Transpo is being resisted as not workable because of the long-term financial implications

(...)

Preserving the entire system for those who need it the most is quite noble, but comes at a considerable cost to taxpayers.

OC Transpo is on life support, generating a $125-million deficit in 2020. Some capital projects have been cut, and a massive bailout from the provincial and federal governments should provide relief until March 30, 2021.

Manconi recently presented the transit commission with three budget options. Plan A ambitiously estimates a return to 70 per cent of pre-COVID ridership levels, when we are hovering around 35 per cent today. Plan B would require tens of millions of dollars in cuts to the capital side of the budget if a second-round bailout was not received. And Plan C would result in drastic cuts that would leave no neighbourhood unscathed.

Missing the bus (schedule): how the pandemic is boosting on-demand transit

CBC News, December 6, 2020 (Could this be a solution for some of the transit issues in Ottawa?)

Going to work on weekends used to be a challenge for Ben Hazel.

But since the arrival of on-demand bus service in Belleville, Ont., Hazel no longer has to worry about wasting money on cab rides to get to his job at a food processing plant.

"It's been very beneficial because when buses shut down at a certain time, you can rely on on-demand to get you to work," he told CBC Radio's Cost of Living.

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"Before there was an on-demand, I had to be up [the industrial park] at roughly 6:00 in the morning on a Sunday, so I had to rely on a cab to get me to work. Going into my monthly pay, you know what I mean?" said Hazel.

OC Transpo secures funding for four electric buses

By Alex Black, 1310 News, December 4, 2020

The City of Ottawa is moving forward with its electric bus project. 

Councillor Allan Hubley made the announcement on Twitter, saying OC Transpo has secured funding for four New Flyer electric buses

The buses are set to be deployed for testing in 2021, to assess how they perform across a variety of routes and weather conditions.. 

Confederation Line's eastern leg closing again this weekend

By CBC News Ottawa, December 3, 2020

LRT service on Ottawa's Confederation Line will be suspended between Blair and Hurdman stations this weekend for more work on the track's switch heaters.

That eastern section of the line will close Saturday and Sunday. Similar work led to closures over the last two weekends.

Last winter, snow accumulation appeared to cause switches on the eastern leg of the Confederation Line to malfunction, one of the key causes of the delays that beset the transit system.

The Trillium Line has switch heaters powered by propane and natural gas, whereas the newer Confederation Line's were originally electric. The new heaters being installed will be powered by natural gas.