CANDIDATES IN KANATA SOUTH AND RIDEAU-GOULBOURN SPEAK
In the lead-up to Ottawa’s municipal election, the Citizen surveyed every candidate, providing them with a list of questions. It’s an exercise that’s meant to help residents get to know the candidates better and to get a firm sense of where they stand on important issues facing our city. We’ll run a selection of their answers, featuring different wards each day. Today we begin with Kanata South (Ward 23) and RideauGoulbourn (Ward 21). Candidates appear in alphabetical order. For the full survey
responses, go to Ottawacitizen.com.
Ward 23: Kanata South
Population (2016): 48,700
Households (2016): 18,238
Votes eligible/cast in 2014: 31,909/11,681 (36.6 per cent)
Area: 16.5 square kilometres
Boundaries: Terry Fox Drive on the west; Highway 417 on the north; Eagleson and Scissons roads on the east; and Hope Side Road on the south.
After initially promising in 2010 that he wouldn’t seek more than two terms on council, incumbent Allan Hubley is looking to make it three in a row. He won a six-person match in 2010, capturing almost half of the vote, then bettered that in a three-way contest in 2014, with nearly 85 per cent of voters giving him their check mark.
This year, Hubley faces three challengers for his seat: public servant/analyst Steve Anderson; accountant Mike Brown; and sales and marketing manager Doug Large.
STEVE ANDERSON
1.
What are the two most important issues in your ward? Why?
Transportation and Disrepair/ Bleakness. Public transit is particularly terrible in a big chunk of the riding south and southwest of old Bridlewood. This has resulted in spinoff problems with so many townhome families owning three or more cars. The lack of on-street parking is resulting in neighbours arguing with neighbours and repeated bylaw calls, problems clearing snow from vehicle-lined streets days or weeks after large snowfalls, front lawns either paved over or “landscaped” to allow an extra parking spot on the property but increasing surface run-off, a huge lack of traffic lights, roundabouts, crosswalks ... many stop signs and road lines are missing, etc. I don’t believe it is an exaggeration to say that many of those who bought homes in these areas are feeling ripped off and cheated as they wait year after year for work that is never done. In the more northern, older, neighbourhoods things are literally falling apart, and if there is neighbourhood consultation and a transparent schedule for repairs it is not shared. Many benches, garbage cans, pathways, sidewalks and roads haven’t been touched since those neighbourhoods were built in the 1980s-1990s. Over the years, the same road potholes appear over and over and are patched over and over, not to mention asphalt sidewalks that have been cut and patched so many times they are a serious tripping hazard along their entire length. When the City of Kanata was amalgamated into the City of Ottawa, one of the first things to go were the flower-boxes on the street corners in Kanata South. Our major roads are looking increasingly bleak and boring. There is huge potential to create beautiful and useful streetscapes for relatively little cost, and we need to get started right away!
2.
If you are the incumbent, what ward-specific decision made by council in the last term are you most proud?
N/A
3.
What ward-specific decision do you wish council had dealt with better?
The lack of LRT funding to Kanata is an easy choice for worst decision. But a more specific lack of good judgment is the way some councillors are allowed to spend an inordinate amount of money on what seems like self-promotion using tax dollars. I don’t agree with councillors giving money to various causes in the community without clearly labelling the donations as having come from our tax money. Councillors should not act like Santa Claus, and I believe council has failed in not reining in this type of behaviour.
4.
Do you live in the ward in which you’re running? If not, what’s your interest in the area?
Yes. I have lived in Kanata South, Ward 23, for more than 20 years.
MIKE BROWN
1.
What are the two most important issues in your ward? Why?
First would be infrastructure. We have not fixed the traffic issue in our ward; all we have done is build more houses and put more vehicles on roads that were designed 20, 30 and some 40 years ago. Poor infrastructure affects everything in the ward, from residential speeding from commuters trying to avoid the gridlock that occurs during the morning and evening commutes by using residential streets as cut throughs, to the extra maintenance that is put on residents and OC Transpo vehicles from deteriorating roads. Second would be transit. Residents from Kanata South are not able to get to work in Kanata North in a reasonable time frame or route, having to sometimes change three or four buses just to get, by car, 12 minutes down the road. Residents need better routes to LRT, in a more acceptable time. Reviewing and modernizing the Park and Ride at Eagleson Road to accommodate the growth is also needed.
2.
If you are the incumbent, what ward-specific decision made by council in the last term are you most proud?
N/A.
3.
What ward-specific decision do you wish council had dealt with better?
Development. Making developers install infrastructure to handle the final amount of homes, not making residents wait decades for something that should have been in place from the start. People invest a lot of time and money into where they live and raise their families, and they are being let down by the current method of development in the ward.
4.
Do you live in the ward in which you’re running? If not, what’s your interest in the area?
Yes, I have been a resident of Bridlewood for almost 10 years. I was born and raised in Munster and my wife in Katimavik. We have been in or around the ward for 33 years and see first-hand how current decisions are having a negative affect on the quality of life for the residents in the ward.
DOUG LARGE
1.
What are the two most important issues in your ward? Why?
Rivers (pollution and mismanagement) and roads (from speeding issues to repair to adjacent, broken sidewalks).
2.
If you are the incumbent, what ward-specific decision made by council in the last term are you most proud?
N/A
3.
What ward-specific decision do you wish council had dealt with better?
Candidate did not answer.
4.
Do you live in the ward in which you’re running? If not, what’s your interest in the area?
Candidate did not answer.
ALLAN HUBLEY
Allan Hubley, the incumbent, did not respond to multiple emails asking him to participate in the survey.
Ward 21: Rideau-Goulbourn
Population (2016): 27,681
Households (2016): 9,807
Votes eligible/cast in 2014: 19,524/8,314 (42.6 per cent)
Area: 744 square kilometres
Boundaries: The southernmost and second-most-spacious ward in the city, Rideau- Goulbourn is bounded by Gilroy and Ashton Station roads on the west, Highways 7 and 417 on the north, and the Rideau River on the south and east, but does not include Stittsville or Kanata. Its largest communities include Manotick, Richmond, North Gower, Munster, Kars, Fallowfield, Ashton and Burritts Rapids.
In 2014, incumbent Scott Moffatt claimed his second term with a little more than 62 per cent of the votes in a two-man contest against Daniel Scharf. This year, Moffatt’s lone opponent is David Brown, who worked for two years at city hall as Moffatt’s assistant. Brown is also president of the Richmond Agricultural Society and a former staffer for Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre.
DAVID BROWN
1.
What are the two most important issues in your ward? Why?
Development of our villages and infrastructure funding. With the growth that several villages in Rideau- Goulbourn have and will continue to experience, I believe the city-wide development policy that exists to upgrade infrastructure to accommodate growth must change so any growth-related infrastructure is completed at the beginning of the development process. It is unfair to expect existing residents of each community to live with years of construction and growth, which places pressure on the existing infrastructure such as roads and community facilities.
2.
If you are the incumbent, what ward-specific decision made by council in the last term are you most proud? N/A
3.
What ward-specific decision do you wish council had dealt with better?
The manner in which the stormwater tax was communicated and developed left much to be desired. The city talking point, indicating that those in rural Ottawa that are not connected to city water and sewer services were receiving a free ride since amalgamation, was disrespectful and disingenuous. Many properties owners in rural Ottawa pay for the maintenance of municipal drains to manage water run-off from their properties, in addition to paying their property taxes. Ottawa is a unique municipality in that 81 per cent of its land mass is rural. A one-size-fits-all solution does not work for us.
4.
Do you live in the ward in which you’re running? If not, what’s your interest in the area? Yes, I live in Richmond.
SCOTT MOFFATT
1.
What are the two most important issues in your ward? Why?
Infrastructure and growth. Renewal of our roads, parks and buildings is critical and we need to remain focused on increasing our annual contribution to capital renewal spending as we have done since 2011. On growth, we need to continue to ensure that our communities are the beneficiaries of smart growth. We need to properly integrate new communities into our existing villages and ensure that the entire community benefits.
2.
If you are the incumbent, what ward-specific decision made by council in the last term are you most proud?
More so this most recent term than the previous, the commitments made to our parks and recreation facilities throughout the ward. Projects approved this term include the expansion of the Manotick Arena, renewal of parks in Manotick, Kars, North Gower and Richmond, as well as new park development in Richmond and Manotick.
3.
What ward-specific decision do you wish council had dealt with better?
The Trail Road Landfill is in Rideau-Goulbourn. We need to be more focused on ensuring that we lengthen the lifespan of the landfill and ensure that we don’t need to site a new landfill. It was my motion that set the deadline for Plasco at Dec. 31, 2014. Since then, we have been waiting for the province’s Waste Master Plan, which I believe was a mistake. We cannot carry that through to the next term. We need to be focused on the future of waste management and diversion in our city.
4.
Do you live in the ward in which you’re running? If not, what’s your interest in the area?
Yes.