Hi neighbour,
Hope you’re all doing well with all the snow and cold temperatures this week. It was another busy week at City Hall, with the vote on the 2026 Budget on Wednesday. I’ve also really enjoyed meeting with residents at holiday parties and events over the past 7 days.
City Council approves 2026 Budget
On Wednesday, Council voted to approve the 2026 Budget , after an almost 10-hour meeting. I want to thank every community member, advocate, and neighbour who participated in the budget planning process- whether it was delegating at a committee, calling or writing to your councillor, or participating in a budget info session over the past few months. Your input is invaluable to this process, and I would like to work with staff and my colleagues around council to see how we can make changes to this entire process, so public feedback can be incorporated earlier, rather than at the 11th hour, when it’s very difficult to make changes.
I voted to support the 2026 budget, but not without some reservations. This week’s message is slightly longer than usual, but there’s a lot to unpack in this year’s budget!
Better, more reliable public transit is desperately needed
For the Transit Budget, I was happy to see the fare freeze for Community Passes and Equipasses, something I’ve advocated for every year since I joined Council in 2018. I’m also heartened to see that the number of these monthly passes is increasing, but I think we can do more to ensure that people who qualify for these discounted passes are aware of and can easily access the program, so I’m looking forward to working with the OC Transpo team on that in the coming months.
I also welcome the additional motions to increase LRT frequency, and the introduction of a youth pass to make transit more accessible for young people across Ottawa. However, I struggle with supporting another fare increase for users when service continues to be as infrequent and unreliable as it is. Public transit in our city is at a critical inflection point- after years of delays, traffic chaos, and detours, the LRT East Extension is finally set to open in early 2026, and the LRT West Extension (bringing 7 new rail stations through Bay Ward) is coming in 2027. These extensions will dramatically increase both the reliability and efficiency of public transit across the city. However, while we’re in the “messy middle” of all this construction, we can’t continue to ask transit users to pay more for a service that’s giving them less at this time.
Better, more affordable public transit benefits all road users. When more people choose public transit because it’s a cost effective, efficient alternative to commuting by car, it reduces congestion on the roads, makes parking easier to find downtown, contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and gives people more options for moving through our city in a climate-friendly way.
Policing , community safety and other interventions
I respect the work the Ottawa Police do in our community every day. In my office, we are in regular contact with our Community Police Liaison Officer, and their deep knowledge of, and connections with, the communities they serve is evident in all of our interactions with them, and in the work that we see them doing with the community. I am aware that residents want to see police in their neighbourhoods and there will be more officers hired. This will be challenging given there will be more demands on traffic officers with the loss of Automated Speed Cameras in school zones. It should be noted that 80% of this budget increase is going towards compensation, including better maternity leave benefits for female officers. It was a difficult decision, but after hearing from many residents I supported the police budget this year.
At Council, I also shared a personal story about an encounter I had with someone experiencing mental health problems a few months ago, and my deep gratitude for the quick response of the Ottawa Police. That experience left me reflecting not only on the role that the police play in community safety, but also the critical supports that are currently missing in our city for people with complex needs who require housing and mental health supports.
The Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) has demonstrated when alternatives to policing can be effective in response to mental health or substance use crises that are nonviolent in nature. Programs like ANCHOR can free up police resources for actual for police work, not social work- allowing more resources to go towards addressing crimes like sexual assault cases, domestic violence calls, fraud, and car thefts, and supporting community and road safety. I fully support the expansion of the ANCHOR program and would like to see it rolled out to more neighbourhoods across Ottawa in the coming years. Investments in both ANCHOR and police services address how the city will respond to people in crisis, often at the worst times of their life. I would like us as a Council to look at how we can better fund upstream interventions to prevent these crises in the first place.
I’m looking forward to learning more details of the Build Canada Homes partnership announcement from earlier this week and am hopeful that some of this new federal money could be invested in building more supportive housing units across our city- so people with complex needs can get the help they deserve as well as a roof over their heads. Supportive housing — and community housing with embedded supports — are proven solutions. They reduce homelessness, hospital visits, and emergency service use (including the need for police intervention). It’s cost-effective and it works.
I would also like to see more attention given to long-term planning to manage community buildings and other infrastructure reaching the end of their lifecycle. In Bay Ward, we’ve just started public engagement to figure out a path forward for the Belltown Dome– a 50-year-old ice pad that has reached the end of its lifecycle and is no longer usable. The city knew this was facility was coming to the end of its lifecycle, but we still don’t have guaranteed funding for a replacement recreational centre- whether it’s a space for community events, or an indoor court for basketball, pickleball, or other activities.
Spaces where people can participate in cultural or recreational activities help build strong ties across communities, and strong communities are safe communities. I will continue to encourage investments in these upstream interventions, rather than just investing in more policing or private security in neighbourhoods.
Heads up: Bay Ward Office Holiday Break
I wanted to give readers a heads up that after next week (December 19th), our newsletter will be on pause for the rest of the year, returning on Friday, January 9th. My team will be taking a much-needed break over the holiday season, but we’ll still be around to answer any urgent inquiries between December 22 and January 2nd.
Read on this week’s newsletter for more news and events across Bay Ward!
