Five important questions to ask our leaders in 2018
Jon Willing has five points that need addressing in an election year:
HOW LONG WILL WE WAIT FOR AN ELECTRIFIED TRAIN SYSTEM?
The city doesn’t know when it will start running the Confederation Line LRT. It isn’t even sure when it will get the keys from the Rideau Transit Group. There should be a better indication by the end of January of when RTG will finish the $2.1-billion electric train line.
RTG won’t meet its May handover deadline, which is probably no surprise to people who have kept track of the progress at major LRT construction sites downtown. The good news is RTG has installed about 70 per cent of the tracks and all 335 poles for the overhead catenary system. All 10 traction power substations — the small buildings that convert the local power supply into the voltage needed to run LRT — have also been installed along the guideway. OC Transpo has its LRT operators in training.
How many people will abandon their cars and choose an LRTbackboned public transit network? That, too, is unknown.
HOW DEEP DOES THE CITY GET ON LeBRETON FLATS?
Considering the debates that have happened in Edmonton and Calgary, it’s remarkable that the City of Ottawa has kept a fairly low profile on the development of a new NHL arena. The City of Edmonton contributed money to a new arena where the Oilers now play. The City of Calgary has been wrangling with the Flames over funding for a new hockey facility.
Until recently, the City of Ottawa took a spectator’s seat while the National Capital Commission and the Ottawa Senators-led RendezVous LeBreton Group negotiate over an arena-anchored development at LeBreton Flats. Mayor Jim Watson and city manager Steve Kanellakos are now at the negotiating table, trying to insulate municipal taxpayers from large expenses that could come with building a new mixed-use community. With Senators owner Eugene Melnyk sounding the warning bell over the viability of the club, the next skate to drop might be the city’s financial involvement in professional hockey, or more on the possibility of relocation.
WHAT’S THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR A FLAGSHIP LIBRARY BRANCH?
There was momentum over the past two years on the central library project, then silence. The city didn’t think it would take this long for the federal government to decide if it should join in the construction of a $168-million super library at the eastern edge of LeBreton Flats. The project will move into 2018 on pause, mostly because the city hasn’t heard from the government. With a new library, the city would need to find about $95 million to fund its share of a joint project with Library and Archives Canada. The city hasn’t sent a financial plan to council because it’s waiting to hear what kind of facility it would build. Council needs to get moving on this bigticket decision and put shovels in the ground before cost estimates creep up. The city could always build a stand-alone library without Library and Archives Canada.
WILL THE CITY STRUGGLE TO ROLL WITH POT LAWS?
Ottawa is getting at least one legal pot shop with cannabis laws set to change this summer. Where the stores will be located will be the subject of conversations between city hall and the new Ontario Cannabis Retail Cor. (The province, incidentally, has a recruiter looking for people to manage the pot sales operation in Ottawa). It’s hard to say how communities will react to a proposal for a government-run pot shop on their streets, but they could put pressure on the city to reject locations. Municipalities want a chunk of the excise tax put on marijuana, and you can bet Ottawa will want its fair share. The two likely candidates for any revenue distribution to the city would be the Ottawa Police Service for enforcing drug-impaired driving and busting illegal pot shops, and Ottawa Public Health for any marijuana-specific programs.
WILL MUNICIPAL VOTERS FEEL ELECTION FATIGUE BY OCTOBER?
Besides a potentially lacklustre mayoral race, the most significant threat to the Ottawa municipal election on Oct. 22 is the Ontario election in June. Election exhaustion could set in by the fall, when most of the current members of council will likely seek another four years. Voter turnout for the municipal election could be a serious issue. New election rules mean a compressed nomination period, which runs between May 1 and July 27, and a ban on corporations and unions donating to municipal political campaigns. But anyone can contribute to thirdparty advertisers that promote or oppose candidates, another new feature of the 2018 municipal vote.