Councillor Ariel Troster Triggered by the use of the Word Vagrancy at Council Meeting

 Ottawa City Council’s Tuesday, June 25 meeting began with a presentation on Hydro Ottawa’s annual report. The utilities Chair, Bernie Ash and President Byrce Conrad provided a comprehensive review of the past year, including acknowledging the challenges faced in 2023—a three-month strike, multiple extreme weather events, and a turbine failure.

City Approves Road Closures for Upcoming Festivals

 Ottawa City Council met for an extremely brief session today, May 29th. Councillor Shawn Menard proposed that Council direct city staff to consider Hydro Ottawa’s resiliency and system capacity planning objectives to determine design priority for the burial of power lines. Menard explained that Hydro Ottawa has its own list

The City of Ottawa to Increase Development Charges for New Homes

 Ottawa City Council began its monthly meeting with the adoption of committee reports, including the report that the Council approved the Irish Famine memorial in McDonald Gardens Park.  A substantial portion of the meeting was devoted to approving a new schedule of development charges and a new development charges by-law

Council Votes to Move Forward With Toboggan Hill Safety Study

 As the mercury rises, winter activities are the farthest thing from our minds, but today at Ottawa City Council, toboggan hills were the main topic of discussion. The city boasts 75 hills designated for winter activities; however, one of these locations has been off-limits for public winter use since 2017.

Renoviction Motion Receives Unanimous Support From Housing Committee

 Councillor Ariel Troster, an outspoken figure on Ottawa City Council and a Housing and Community Services Committee member, is a steadfast advocate for housing policy in the city. In her first term on Council, she is achieving results for the progressive side of the housing debate. Earlier this month, Troster penned

Economic Action Plan and City-Province Agreement Focus of Council

 The Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan was the first issue of contention at today’s meeting of Ottawa City Council. The document, which is significant in length, examines the city’s economy and focuses on where the city can target resources to improve growth by attracting tourism, small businesses, investment, and

City to Convert 230 Queen into Emergency Housing Shelter

 In an unusual change of procedure, Ottawa City Council began its monthly meeting with a private, in-camera session that lasted nearly 45 minutes. Councillor Catherine Kitts kicked off the public session by bringing forward a motion asking that Caitlin Salter MacDonald be appointed city clerk, effective April 12, 2024. The

Council Strikes Down Gower Brownfield Land Redevelopment Motion

 Despite being the budget season and one of the busiest times of the year for city councillors, the main topic of discussion at yesterday’s meeting of Council was the Ottawa Brownfield Redevelopment Community Improvement Plan (CIP). Brownfields are abandoned, vacant, or underutilized properties within the city’s urban boundaries where past

Parkdale Market Generates More Revenue Than ByWard Market in 2022

 ABOVE: Seasonal markets like The Ottawa Farmers’ Market: Westboro are allowing consumers to obtain fresh produce away from the downtown core.  Ottawa Markets Chair Bryan Chandler gave a presentation on the state of Ottawa Markets at today’s Ottawa City Council meeting and the various areas inside the city that fall

City Council Imposes Garbage limit but no cash for trash

 At the previous May 24th sitting of Ottawa City Council, Councillors David Brown and Alan Hubley had a motion successfully passed asking the City of Ottawa to explore other methods of garbage disposal to offset the use of the city’s landfill that is set to run out of space within