City to get keys to LRT Aug. 16, mayor says

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, July 10, 2019

Ottawa's new LRT system is set to be delivered to the city by Aug. 16, Mayor Jim Watson said Wednesday morning.

If this sixth delivery target is met, the people of Ottawa should be riding the Confederation Line in September, more than a year after it was originally scheduled to be launched.

Members of the city's finance and economic development committee heard that train-maker Alstom had completed building the 34 trains last Sunday, and that Rideau Transit Group (RTG) is expecting to begin the crucial 12-day consecutive testing of the Confederation Line later this month.

Can Ottawa support the new and proposed high-rise condos along its LRT line?

By James Bagnall, Ottawa Citizen, July 11, 2019

From the 23rd floor of Ottawa’s newest apartment complex at 100 Frontier Path Private, the east end of the city stretches in great green swatches towards Montreal, bisected neatly by the Queensway.

Down below, Blair Station sits silent. It is the easternmost terminus of the first phase of Ottawa’s light rail system, which was to begin operations last year, but has been pushed to sometime later this year.

Philip Fraser, the chief executive of Killam Apartment REIT, is puzzling over how the LRT’s builders could be so far behind schedule. “This doesn’t make sense,” he said, during a recent tour of the apartment tower. “These people have done this before.”

Fraser, of course, has a direct interest in LRT’s punctuality. His company has a joint venture with RioCan REIT to build and manage up to five apartment buildings that could eventually be home for nearly 1,000 residents. The presence of an LRT station just steps away is a key feature of the marketing of these rental units.

Cyclist charged with careless driving after collision with OC Transpo bus

By Megan Gillis, Ottawa Citizen, July 11, 2019

A cyclist was charged with careless driving Wednesday night after he rode off the sidewalk into the Mackenzie King Bridge bus lane and collided with an OC Transpo bus.

The 57-year-old suffered minor injuries in the crash just after 9 p.m., police said.

Officers wrote up a ticket under the Highway Traffic Act with a fine totalling $490, police said.

E-Scooters could be coming to Ottawa

By CTV News Ottawa, July 9, 2019

At the unveiling of Lyft’s new Ottawa hub the company’s market manager says it hopes to offer e-scooters in the future.

“We think that it’s a very important part of our multi-model strategy, to have cars, have scooters and have bicycles up here, so we’re absolutely looking into the bylaws for that,” said Rob Woodbridge with Lyft Canada.

Under the current provincial legislation e-scooters "do not meet any federal or provincial safety standards for on-road use,” according to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation

Ottawa Valley starts to sort out recycling woes Social Sharing

By Darren Major, CBC News Ottawa, July 9, 2019

Municipalities in the Ottawa Valley are trying to find places for their recycling after the abrupt closure of the Beaumen Waste Management Systems plant last month.

The municipalities of Renfrew, Arnprior and McNab/Braeside were considering a deal with a waste-management company based in Carleton Place.

Topps Environmental Solutions has offered to pick up roadside recycling for six months, with the option of extending the contract on a month-by-month basis while municipalities look at a possible longer term fix and prepare for regulation changes coming form the province.

Dead fish in Ottawa River 'concerning,' Riverkeeper says

By Laurie Fagan, CBC News Ottawa, July 10, 2019

Ontario's Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks says more than a hundred dead fish that appeared in the Ottawa River near Cumberland are coming from the Lièvre River in Quebec, but it has yet to determine the reason for the die off.

On Monday, Carie McBain, who lives next to the Cumberland-Masson ferry, went to see for herself after noticing a photo of dead catfish on a social media site for Cumberland residents.

When you see a large number of fish and a variety of species, that is concerning and indicates something is going on.

- Larissa Holman, Ottawa Riverkeeper
"All you could see were spots bobbing all over the water as far as you can see, and we went up to them and saw big catfish with really huge big bellies, and perch, walleye, rock bass and carp," McBain said. "It was gross."

Local cyclist posts video of van clipping his bike mirror

By Jacob Hoytema, Ottawa Citizen, July 9, 2019

An Ottawa cyclist has posted a video to YouTube in which a minivan hits his bike’s handlebar mirror before driving away after an altercation on Cyrville Road.

The video, captured on helmet-mounted camera, begins with Brian (who declined to give his last name) biking west on Cyrville Road just before Star Top Road. As a separate bike lane ends, the cyclist continues onto the right edge of the roadway, rather than take a nearby paved multi-use pathway. Ottawa police confirm that this is legal as cyclists may opt to use the road if they deem it to be a safer option than a bike lane or multi-use path.

Brian said the multi-use path on Cyrville puts cyclists in the way of cars turning right toward a business and who might not be expecting to see a cyclist. “Had I been in this hidden sidewalk, I could have been clipped there,” he says.

EXCLUSIVE: Doug Ford didn’t tell you Ontario cancelled 227 clean energy projects

By Fatima Syed, National Observer, July 9, 2019

On the day Premier Doug Ford pulled Ontario out of an international clean energy trading market, it spelled the end for 227 emissions-reducing projects across the province, reveals a leaked document.

A full list of the cancelled projects assembled by a government source — based on information obtained through their role and through multiple information requests — was shared exclusively with National Observer detailing a breakdown, by municipality, of the $2.9-billion fund the province had collected through the cap and trade agreement, revealing that those most affected by the cancellation were students, low-income Ontarians, municipalities and commuters.

Until now, details of what kind of projects that money was allocated for were scant, but the leaked list reveals a wide range of initiatives set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that lost their funding, including schools, hospitals, small businesses and several social housing providers.

Treat climate change like the crisis it is, says journalism professor

By CBC Radio, July 5, 2019

There have been growing calls from climate scientists and environmental activists for the media to cover the climate crisis with the severity and urgency they say it demands.

Some news organizations have begun to make changes. The British newspaper The Guardian recently updated its policies to replace the term "climate change" with "climate emergency, crisis or breakdown." It also now favours "global heating" over "global warming."

In announcing the change, The Guardian's editor-in-chief Katharine Viner said that at a time when scientists are talking about a catastrophe for humanity, there is no place for passive terminology.

Finishing LRT trains by Sunday 'entirely achievable,' rail director says

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, July 6, 2019

Having all of Ottawa's LRT vehicles in working order by Sunday is "entirely achievable," according to the city's rail director — even though the system hasn't yet been tested at full capacity.

Last month, Mayor Jim Watson hauled executives from Rideau Transit Group (RTG), the consortium building the 12.5-kilometre Confederation Line, and train maker Alstom into his boardroom to express his frustration that the major infrastructure project is more than a year late.

Saturday morning crackdown on bicycle safety nets dozens of tickets

By the Ottawa Citizen, July 6, 2019

Ottawa police traffic officers showed they’re taking July’s crackdown on bicycle safety seriously Saturday morning.

A sunrise stakeout on Hunt Club Road netted officers two dozen tickets in a couple of hours.

The offences included “2 stunt drivers both going more than 120 in the 60 zone,” tweeted Const. Jon Hall, better known as @TheBeardedCop .

“High speeds like that make it dangerous for everyone!”

Hall’s colleague, Const. Phil (@CarbineKane) Kane weighed in later with the bust of a driver doing 56 km/h over the km/h speed limit on the Blackburn Bypass.

'Building back better' and other tips for adapting to climate change

By Emily Chung, CBC News, July 5, 2019

This story is part of a CBC News series entitled In Our Backyard, which looks at the effects climate change is having in Canada, from extreme weather events to how it's reshaping our economy.

Climate change is fuelling risks like wildfires, heat waves and flooding, but Canada can reduce the worst damages and costs by being strategic about how it adapts — such as taking advantage of opportunities provided by such disasters, a new report says.

"Canada's Top Climate Change Risks," commissioned by the federal government and released Thursday by an expert panel from the Council of Canadian Academies, identified the top six climate change risks facing Canada, including damage to buildings, coastlines and northern communities. But it also looked at how to prioritize adaptation measures that might reduce those risks and their impacts.

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