REGIONAL REPORT
BY CLIVE DOUCET, COUNCILLOR, CAPITAL WARD
DEAR OSCAR READERS,
QUALITY OF LIFE - A NEW CITY PRIORITY?
oday's reality is that cities are mini states and compete on a world-wide basis. Ottawa's Silicon Valley North competes not only with its Californian equivalent, but also with Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal, Boston, Denver, Toulouse and so on. A regional economic strategy has to make sense not just in terms of who and what we are, but also how we fit in with cities of similar size and accomplishment in the United States and Europe.
And we're hearing from the Californian company engaged by the Region to prepare a long-overdue economic strategy for Ottawa-Carleton that quality of life is the most important factor in successful and sustainable economic development. Without a strong quality of life, no matter what the financial inducements, industries will move on because industries are people and people prefer to live in pleasant places.
This is both good and bad news for our Region. The good news is that in the international quality of life stakes, Ottawa is well positioned; our streets are safe and quality of air, water, and community life is high. The bad news is that there are distressing indications that all is not well in Shangri-la.
From my perch on the local government tree, I see cracks appearing. Emergency shelters are bulging with homeless people. We have twice the number of homeless on the street as Vancouver. Ambulance service is the slowest in the province. Subsidized day care spaces are shrinking but our population is growing. The spillover of patients onto our streets from the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital closing increases each month. Our downtown streets, from Bank to Rideau, are dismal.
The bottom line is that the municipal property tax was never designed to provide the medical infrastructure severely damaged people require, cover social housing costs, school system costs bound to funding formulas which make no sense in the local context. Yet this is what is happening. The reaction at Regional Council has been band-aids, because that is all we can afford; for 911, for the homeless, aids for the mentally ill.
A high quality of life doesn't come for free. Schools, community centres, swimming pools, libraries, parks, psychiatric nurses, hospitals, doctors, light rail systems, homes for the disabled, theatres, and galleries all require public investment. Cities that don't invest in themselves can't compete with the ones that do.
I'm sure the recommendations the Silicon Valley consultants preparing our regional economic strategy will be interesting, but I wonder if they have any understanding of the political environment in which they will be making them. This is ultimately more important than their recommendations, because we can't move on local quality of life investments with the Province steadily tightening the noose at the municipal level. The latest is the bizarre idea advanced by the transition board that one full-time politician is sufficient to serve 750,000 people. That's not taking some of the rungs away, that's taking away the whole ladder.
It doesn't look good at the staff level either. The City of Ottawa, for example, not only has decaying and closed-up community infrastructure but whole departments reduced to skeletal levels. In suburban areas, much of this community infrastructure doesn't even exist, let alone staff to run it.
Like many local politicians, I was a great believer in amalgamation as way to reduce duplication of local government and clarify who was responsible for what. But none of this rationalization will benefit anyone if it's used to reduce our ability to act locally and make the changes necessary to keep this region in the running as an international center of commerce and culture.
CAPITAL WARD ROUNDTABLE
I thank all those that found the time to participate in the Capital Ward Roundtable at the Old Town Hall in Ottawa East. Over 45 people took part in what I think was an important first step in the process of building ward-wide consensus on a number of defining issues: greening Lansdowne Park, a ward pedestrian plan and funding for community centres in the new city.
Following the discussion, sub-committees were struck to take up where the brainstorming ended. Anyone who would like to sign up for the sub committees on greening Lansdowne Park, a ward pedestrian plan or for better community centre funding in the new city should contact my office. Minutes are also available for those that would like a copy.
OUT AND ABOUT
Bouquets to the volunteers, Regional Health Department staff and Billings Bridge Mall management that make the Pacesetters Seniors' Drop-In such a community asset. I attended their annual volunteer appreciation day April 13. It's always a pleasure recognizing the efforts of volunteers in the community.
The annual Bellwood Street Hockey Tournament, April 16, was a great success. Bellwood Ave. resident Richard Cléroux did a great job.
I participated in a tree planting ceremony at Carleton University April 19 to celebrate a $25,000 forest renewal grant from the Region. The money will go to improving the greenspace along Carleton's Bronson Avenue property boundary. With the planting project the Region undertook two summers ago on the east side of Bronson, this grant is another step in reducing the usual blight of the Bronson corridor by buffering car noise and creating a visual screen.
All the best,
Clive Doucet
Regional Councillor, Capital Ward
111 Lisgar St., Ottawa ON K2P 2L7
Tel: 560-1224 Fax: 560-6075
Email: doucetcl@rmoc.on.ca
Website: www.rmoc.on.ca/ward17