Motion for Chalk River referred to Standing Committee on Environmental Protection and Waste Water Management One of the most important natural resources we have in Ottawa is our drinking water supply from the Ottawa River so we need to ensure that it is protected for generations to come. The privately-owned Canadian Nuclear Laboratories is proposing…
Community and Protective Services Committee Update This past Thursday I attended, the first Community and Protective Services Committee (CPSC) meeting of 2021, as a voting member. During this meeting we received and approved a report on Ottawa’s emergency shelters and transitional housing programs These supportive agencies will soon offer improved standards of operations and service…
This week City Council voted to add 1,281 hectares of land to our city urban boundary and designated where those lands would be located. This was based on a decision made in May 2020 that Ottawa would expand its urban boundary to absorb 40% of its projected growth while 60% of its growth was to be done through intensification…
In May 2020, after much debate, Ottawa City Council adopted a framework on how to deal with the City’s future growth to the year 2046. The decision was that City growth would be managed by a combination of 60% of growth occurring through intensification (i.e. building within our current urban boundary) and 40% through urban land expansion (i.e. using undeveloped land on the City’s outskirts for new development). Not everyone agreed with this approach…
At City Council’s first meeting of 2021, this past Wednesday, I put forward a motion seconded by Mayor Jim Watson asking Council to request the Mayor to write to the Premier of Ontario and the Ontario Minister of Health to request that the Government of Ontario immediately apply the same rules to small businesses that…
Blue Monday and the mental health and well-being of Ottawa parents This past Monday, or what has come to be known as “Blue Monday”, is the inspiration for my message to you this week. “Blue Monday”, the third Monday of January, is the saddest day of the year. There is no factual science behind why…
I have received many questions from residents who are confused about the new measures imposed to control COVID-19 in our communities. I will be hosting a meeting on Wednesday, January 20, on COVID-19. I invited Brent Moloughney, the Deputy Medical Officer of Health from Ottawa Public Health. He will be available to answer your questions…
Come outside! There has been a lot of discouraging news with the latest pandemic lock-down here in Ottawa and it is not easy to swallow after many of us have done our part for many months being COVID-Wise. Vaccines are getting done but we still need to be careful until everyone is inoculated. The good…
For this holiday season and the coming year, we wish you health and happiness, moments of peace amid the difficulties, and connections with family and friends, even if they can’t be in person. I also want to thank my team for their dedication and hard work for the residents of Bay Ward throughout this challenging…
Hindsight 2020 If I was to describe 2020 it would be the year that we would most like to forget but should not. I don’t believe any of us will forget the work of Ottawa Public Health in this precarious situation under the leadership of Dr. Vera Etches. We were all in uncharted territory as we learned what we could and could not…