Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Denley: It makes sense to cancel wind and solar contracts in over-powered Ontario. Here's why

By Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen, December 5, 2019

The cost and source of Ontario’s electrical power has been a hot topic for years, but happily for the PC government, it had dropped from the headlines. That is, until Energy Minister Greg Rickford was forced to defend the cost of cancelling 750 wind and solar contracts.

It ought to have been easy, because not going ahead with the extra generating capacity is the most rational thing the PCs have done on the electricity file. Ontario already generates more power than it needs and it sells the surplus at a loss. A 2017 study by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers estimated that exporting power at big discounts cost Ontario up to $1.25 billion over two years. Adding more wind and solar would make that problem worse while doing nothing to make Ontario’s already-green power generation system greener still.

In Ontario, 86 per cent of power comes from emissions-free hydro and nuclear power. Wind provides seven per cent of the province’s electricity, with solar and biofuel contributing less than one per cent. Gas plants produce six per cent of power and act primarily as a backup for wind and solar, when it’s not sunny or windy.

Nature Conservancy preserves rocky wilderness near Kingston

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, December 5, 2019

The Nature Conservancy of Canada has purchased 119 hectares of granite ridges, wetlands, stream banks and forests in a rocky area north of Kingston known as the Frontenac Arch.

The area known as the Leland Wetlands, 25 kilometres from Kingston, will be preserved as part of the Nature Conservancy’s Loughborough Wilderness, a collection of protected lands.

The Frontenac Arch is a long, rocky expanse that forms a natural north-south bridge for wildlife between two larger natural areas — Ontario’s Algonquin Highlands to the north and the Adirondack and Appalachian Mountain chain to the south. Such corridors are vital for the long-term success of natural areas as they allow wildlife to move over long distances, rather than being cut off in isolated pockets.

Auditor general says Ontario not on track to achieving emissions reductions targets

By Allison Jones, the Canadian Press, Global News, December 4, 2019

TORONTO – Ontario is unlikely to meet its 2030 emissions target under its current climate change plan – and Premier Doug Ford’s government knows it, the province’s auditor general said Wednesday in her annual report.

Bonnie Lysyk found a number of issues with the government’s “Made in Ontario” climate plan, which she said underestimated the starting point for emissions by including several green programs that were actually cancelled by the Progressive Conservatives after they came to power last year.

Some reductions in the plan were double-counted or overstated, while others weren’t backed up by policies to achieve those targets, she said.

New road safety plan to reduce traffic deaths falls short, Ottawa road users argue

By Beatrice Brittneff, Global News Ottawa, December 4, 2019

Reducing the average rate of traffic deaths and collisions causing serious injuries each year by 20 per cent over the next five years isn’t an ambitious enough goal for the national capital, community leaders and residents told Ottawa councillors on Wednesday.

A number of people who use Ottawa’s roads lamented that the City of Ottawa isn’t adopting ‘Vision Zero’ – a program that aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries – in its new road safety action plan for 2020-2024.

“This is a ‘Vision 20 per cent reduction,'” Ecology Ottawa’s executive director Robb Barnes said of the proposed plan.

The new road safety plan – the city’s third – has been two years in the making and was announced by the mayor and transportation committee chair Stephen Blais last week. The third generation of the plan is proposing new initiatives to enhance safety in four main areas – cyclists, pedestrians, high-risk drivers and rural roads – in order to reach its 20 per cent goal by 2024.

New OC Transpo R1 buses running up a big tab: $95,000 per week

By Jenn Pritchard, 1310 News, December 3, 2019

The buses that were added to the OC Transpo fleet as a back up solution for light rail issues, are running up a hefty tab.

General Manager of Transportation John Manconi revealed that these 20 R1 buses are costing the city $95,000 per week. However, he did explain that these costs will be covered by the Rideau Transit Group (RTG) as part of their contract.

The city has been witholding payment from RTG for months, to help recoup the costs associated with Confederation Line issues.

City paying outside experts to oversee LRT fix Social Sharing

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, December 3, 2019

The City of Ottawa is paying outside experts to ride herd on the consortium that built the $2.1-billion Confederation Line, councillors on the finance and economic development committee learned Tuesday.

OC Transpo boss John Manconi told them reliability is improving, but Rideau Transit Group (RTG) still can't commit to a specific date by which the problem-plagued system will be declared stable.

To move things along, Manconi announced the city would conduct an operational review and provide extra maintenance oversight due to what he characterized as "consistently poor performance" from RTG.

'People were in tears': Tree loss for Stage 2 LRT upsets residents Social Sharing

By Hillary Johnstone, CBC News Ottawa, December 4, 2019

Some people who live near the western extension of Ottawa's light rail project say they're horrified by the number of trees that have already been cut down.

Tree and vegetation clearing has already started along the future route to Moodie Drive and Algonquin College, including on Connaught Avenue and sections of the Byron Linear Park.

(...)The city has said it will aim to plant two trees for every one that is removed during LRT development, expected to take until 2025 for this section west of Tunney's Pasture station.

• Stage 2 LRT work means chopping trees, moving roads
• LRT Stage 2: What Ottawa will get for $4.66B

Crash victims, advocates call for more ambitious road safety plan

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, December 4, 2019

The City of Ottawa's transportation committee has backed a new road safety strategy that aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries by 20 per cent over the next four years, but some people hurt in collisions say that doesn't go nearly far enough.

The most significant element of the strategy will see new and rebuilt roads in residential areas specifically designed for speed limits of 30 km/h. Other measures include banning right turns at some red lights and enhancing "high visibility" crosswalk markings in 10 locations.

The committee also voted for Coun. Shawn Menard's motion to adopt a goal of zero fatalities by 2030.

Transportation committee backs new road safety plan despite calls for more ambitious goal

By Jon Willing, December 4, 2019 The city’s latest road safety plan received the transportation committee’s unanimous approval Wednesday, even after advocates called on councillors to be more bold in trying to stop traffic deaths. The plan’s goal is to reduce the average annual rate of fatal and major injury collisions by 20 per cent. The last iteration of the road safety plan achieved a reduction of 14 per cent between 2012 and 2017. In drafting the 20-per-cent goal, city staff listened to feedback during public consultations and created what they believe is an achievable target for 2020-2024. However, critics don’t understand why the city didn’t make it a goal to have zero deaths, falling more in line with a “vision zero” approach to road safety. Robb Barnes, executive director of Ecology Ottawa, said the city should have car-free zones, reduce car lanes on roads, impose bans on right turns on red lights and embrace a vision zero philosophy.

“(The city’s plan) is a vision 20-per-cent reduction and that’s not far enough for us,” Barnes said.

When it comes to city planning, get people out of cars and trucks, Gatineau council told

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, November 3, 2019

Gatineau’s transportation planners have a problem common across Canada: Our vehicles, like our people, are packing on weight and taking up more space.

That means more congestion, slower commutes, and more greenhouse gas emissions, as we switch to bigger vehicles.

Since 1990 the emissions from cars have remained relatively stable in the Gatineau region, Professor Fanny Tremblay-Racicot told Gatineau council Tuesday.

“But emissions from light trucks have doubled. From heavy vehicles they have tripled.”

Today the favourite personal vehicle in the region is the Ford F-Series pickup, as it is across Canada.

But she warned that more roads, or wider roads, won’t solve the congestion problem.

Canadian communities are tapping into greener ways to heat and cool buildings

By Emily Chung, CBC, December 3, 2019

During the cold, snowy winters in much of Canada, many of us rely on furnaces, boilers and baseboard heaters to keep our homes and offices comfortable — and hope they don't suddenly quit during a cold snap.

But what if you didn't need any heating equipment in your home? What if your community provided a greener, more efficient, more reliable source of heat using locally sourced energy? What if it didn't take up space in your home or office building, you didn't have to maintain it, and it was just about guaranteed to keep running and keep you warm through big storms and power outages?

That's the promise of district energy systems — along with climate benefits that have earned them an endorsement from the United Nations Environment Program. World leaders meet Dec. 2-13 for the COP 25 UN climate conference in Madrid to discuss next steps in implementing the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb global warming, and district energy is one potential tool.

New Barrhaven downtown plans to be debated at city hall Thursday

By CTV News Ottawa, November 28, 2019

OTTAWA -- A proposed plan for a new downtown in Barrhaven will be up for debate at city hall Thursday.

“I couldn’t be more pleased,” Coun. Jan Harder, chair of planning committee which will discuss the report, said earlier this week. “I am excited to kick start Barrhaven’s Downtown."

A sign posted near a large field on Longfields Drive alerts residents to the proposal for new activity on the Barrhaven Town Centre lands, which is bound by Standherd Drive to the north, Longfields Drive to the east, the Jock River to the south and the Kennedy-Burnett Stormwater Management facility to the west. That's 165 hectares of land.

With Barrhaven reaching 100,000 in population Harder says it is ready for “this next big step.”

The new plan references minimum density around rapid transit stations, while maximizing parkland opportunities to support a dense urban environment and a flexible range of uses fostering a mixed-use environment, according to the report to planning committee by Minto Communities and Richcraft Homes.