Financial plan finally confronts lack of infrastructure spending

For years, I’ve been sounding the alarm that while Ottawa has become effective at approving growth, we have not been nearly as effective at delivering the infrastructure needed to support it. In fast-growing communities like Orléans South-Navan, residents experience the consequences every day through congestion, inefficient transit, and delayed road projects.

What was often dismissed as anecdotal frustration now has proof behind it.

Following years of advocacy and calls for a closer look at growth-related infrastructure, the City’s new Tax Long Range Financial Plan confirms what we have been experiencing. Over the last decade, only 58% of approved growth-related capital budgets were spent, compared to between 80% and 96% for other project categories.

That means while new homes continued to be approved and built at a rapid pace, many of the transportation and growth-supporting projects intended to serve those communities never materialized as planned.

The encouraging news is that this report does not simply identify the problem, it begins to outline solutions.

Several initiatives I have championed since joining Council are reflected in the plan, including recommendations to accelerate transportation projects, improve how growth infrastructure is financed, and a new Agile Capital Budgeting Pilot to get projects funded faster, and address project delivery bottlenecks.

I also directed staff to review all Transportation Master Plan road capacity projects and report back with a prioritized ranking based on existing congestion, growth pressures, roadway constraints, and connectivity needs. Staff will also identify projects that may be suitable for acceleration through the new agile pilot.

If we are going to celebrate housing acceleration, we must also champion infrastructure acceleration. Building homes is only part of building a community. Orléans South-Navan deserves both.

 

Paying tribute to the life of a true force of nature, Sue Guarda

Last week, I attended the celebration of life for Sue Guarda, and I left with a full heart and a deep sense of gratitude for the life she lived and the community she helped build.

Sue was bright, colour-ful, caring, and full of love. She was also a doer. When something mattered to her, she showed up. She gave her time, her energy, her creativity, and her heart to the people and places she loved.

What struck me most was the number of people whose lives she touched. Through the Big Sisters program, Sue offered mentorship, kindness, and steady support. In Queenswood Heights, she was a true community leader, helping bring neighbours together and making sure local stories, local needs, and local people were never overlooked.

Through her work managing the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association’s Bookworm, she helped turn donated books into support for our public library system, extending the life of each book while strengthening literacy and community connection.

Sue also understood the importance of memory. Her work helping preserve the history of Queenswood Heights was a gift to all of us. Com-munities are built by people, but they are sustained by the stories we choose to remember. Sue helped make sure those stories would endure.

She faced cancer for 37 years with courage, honesty, humour, and strength. But cancer was never the measure of Sue’s life. Her life was measured in service, friendship, laughter, family, generosity, and the count-less people who were better because she was part of their lives.

My heart is with Bob, the Guarda and Tweddle families, and everyone mourning this tremendous loss. We mourn with you, and we also give thanks with you.

Sue made Orléans stronger, kinder, more connected, and more colourful. Her legacy lives on in the people she loved, the organizations she strengthened, and the community she helped shape.

 

More needs to be done to make Ottawa more user-friendly

Between mortgage renewals, rising grocery bills, and inflation, residents in Orléans are watching every dollar. That’s why I have always believed that local government should make life easier, not add more paperwork, stress and
financial burdens to our plates.

Unfortunately, common sense is not always the
default at City Hall.

There is a frustrating trend where municipal policies and programs create cumbersome, bureaucratic headaches for law-abiding homeowners. A prime example is the City’s Vacant Unit Tax. The intention of this policy was noble, targeting wealthy property speculators who are leaving homes empty to turn a profit. Instead, the reality is that it has cast far too wide a net, turning what should be a targeted tool into an intrusive, city-wide compliance trap. It is exactly why I voted against its creation and remain opposed.

I have heard from homeowners confused about whether their in-law suite needs to be rented out, and increasingly from families caught in stressful audits and appeals, forced to prove that they live in their own homes.

When City policies treat residents like suspects in their own neighbourhoods, they have missed the mark. No level of government should ever be so rigid or self-assured that it cannot acknowledge a mistake and take a step back with fresh perspective.

The City needs to design policies around the needs of everyday citizens, ensuring that municipal operations support your life rather than complicating it. The focus should always be on getting the basics right - delivering reliable transit, safe roads, and quality parks – not on placing additional regulatory burdens on residents.

There needs to be a refocus on accountability and outcomes, not process for the sake of process. Residents deserve a City Hall that listens, adapts, and corrects course when something is not working. That is how trust is built, and it is how all governments should operate.

 

Big Wheels event part of National Public Works Week

National Public Works Week may have wrapped up, but the work behind it never really stops and neither does the opportunity to celebrate the people who keep Ottawa running every day.

From clearing snow during winter storms to
maintaining roads, sidewalks, water systems, parks, traffic infrastruc-ture and public spaces, Public Works staff are often the people residents rely on most without even realizing it. Their work touches nearly every part of daily life in Ottawa, and when things are working well, it is usually because a dedicated team has been working behind the scenes to make sure they do.

This year’s National Public Works Week theme, “Rooted in Service, Powered by Community,” could not be more fitting. Public Works is one of the clearest examples of how city services directly impact residents. Whether it is repairing roads after a harsh freeze-thaw season, collecting waste, maintaining safe drinking water, keeping traffic moving or responding during emergencies, these teams continue to deliver every day across Ottawa.

One of the best ways to see that work up close is through the return of the Public Works Big Wheels Expo on Sunday, June 7 at the Ottawa Stadium.

The event has become a favourite for families, especially for children fascinated by the massive vehicles and equipment that keep the city operating day and night. Residents will have the opportunity to get up close to snowplows, garbage trucks, road painting vehicles and more while meeting the operators behind them.

The City has also continued making the event more inclusive with a dedicated sensory-friendly opening from 9 to 9:30 a.m., featuring reduced noise, smaller crowds and limited announcements.

The Public Works Big Wheels Expo runs from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Admission is free, and beginning at 10:30 a.m., the first 100 attendees will receive free tickets to an upcoming Ottawa Titans game.