When I moved to Kanata North over 30 years ago, there was one grocery store, one community centre, five schools and one fire station. Everyone seemed to know everyone. The sense of “community” was evident everywhere. Kanata was a distinct and separate suburb with its own municipal government. A lot has changed since that time! However, what has not changed is the belief in community, the depth of business acumen and technology talent, the diversity of our residents, and the love of greenspace. It is on these foundations that my platform is based. I see it as my job as your current City Councillor and as your future City Councillor to represent the values of the residents of Kanata North.
Here are the priorities I understand are important to Kanata North residents.
Greenspace Protection
Whether it is the Kanata Lakes Golf Course lands and greenspace, Trillium Woods, Bill Teron Park, South March Highlands, the Morgan’s Grant Hydro Corridor, our trails, ponds, parks and brooks, I will do whatever it takes to preserve what we already have as natural, open greenspace. As your City Councillor, I have spent the last five years doing everything within the law and within my abilities to work with the community and Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and City Council to preserve our Kanata 40% greenspace lands. Everyone at the table when the 40% agreement was signed knew that the land would revert back to the city as soon as golf operations ceased. It was the 40% parkland dedication land allocated when developers benefitted from an urban boundary extension. It was always intended to be the community’s central park. And, all development and infrastructure/stormwater management planning that happened after that was done with the understanding that that land would be open greenspace as a community’s central park in perpetuity. The attempt to disregard that legal agreement indicates a complete lack of integrity. Integrity is paramount for Kanata North residents. If you have been following this file for the past 7 years, you will see that we have made progress. With Premier Doug Ford now telling residents and me plainly and clearly that he is working on a land swap, there is incredible hope! I will continue to work on this until the land is back in the City of Ottawa’s name. In the meantime, I am working with residents and the local Community Associations on the park plan!
Climate Change
One need not watch the nightly news for very long to see the dramatic weather events taking place all over the planet. Our recent flooding of over 500 homes in Kanata North told us everything we needed to know. Climate changes are impacting our world and we have to do what we can to change the way we live and work that negatively impacts climate. We have set laudable goals for canopy coverage as a city. We have taken steps to reduce, reuse and recycle. We have set new energy and carbon reduction targets for any new construction. We have offered rebates for residents to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. We have implemented new waste reduction programs getting producers to pay for the recycling and collection of their products, not cities! However, we have much more to do and less time to do it. I look to the leaders in our business and entrepreneur community who are finding ways to capture carbon and sequester it. I look to initiatives by the Ottawa Community Foundation and the Ottawa Climate Action Fund to find new ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I drive and support electric vehicles while ensuring that the electrical grid can support the increase in demand for electricity. With my role on the Hydro Ottawa board, I helped to support significant infrastructure upgrades and projects to ensure that we are finding additional ways to create, store and use more green electricity and reduce consumption so that we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
Public Transportation
With the upload of the LRT, the Provincial government has committed to extending the LRT to Kanata. I will continue to push for it to get extended as soon as possible as the population, tech sector jobs and housing developments continue to grow. In my advocacy with the new General Manager of OC Transpo, we will be seeing more frequent and additional bus routes to and from Kanata North and within Kanata North. In addition, express buses up Carling will be added to bring residents from all over Ottawa to DND and the Tech Park. When the Moodie Drive station is completed, there will be even more transit options for Kanata North. The data collection from the Kanata North Business Association and the over 800 companies in the Tech Park, have enabled staff at OC Transpo to add buses where the demand is. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plan to transform March Road is very exciting! With $80 million allocated from the Provincial government, and $80 from the City of Ottawa, the plan is just waiting on $80 from the federal government. I continue to advocate for this funding. So much of the planning for Kanata North has relied on a future with LRT and BRT. The continual case needs to be made for both of those things to be initiated much sooner than the 2031-2038 time frame that I have been given. It is frustrating to see infrastructure come after development. Just because we may understand that funding dictates why that has to be does not mean we have to accept it. As your City Councillor, I have held many public consultations and value the input residents and Community Association representatives make at those consultations. We will have many more over the next four years as Kanata North continues to grow. I am committed to representing your views when the applications come to Planning Committee.
Active Transportation
Your Kanata North Transportation Committee has helped me recognize where bike lanes, walking paths, trails and multi-use pathways need to be added, better marked, and made safer. The current construction of the Multi-Use Pathway using the former rail line behind the Brookstreet (that goes all the way through West Carleton and beyond) was a huge win for Kanata North! The Hydro Corridor trails are already a community gem, but there is so much more to come as the Hydro Corridor evolves as a pollinator meadow. That project has been such a success thanks to community volunteers. I will continue to support that project as it evolves as a true asset in the heart of Morgan’s Grant. Continuing to look at missing links, where trails or pathways end and there is no connection, is a priority for the community. However, with the reinstatement of the pathway that helped people get from South March Highlands to and through Trillium Woods (across the railroad track), we celebrated! Many more missing links to attend to. Know that I am committed to working on those, too!
Housing Affordability
I have four young adults in my house who remind me everyday how difficult it is for people their age to afford to buy a house. Housing prices and rent have gone far beyond many residents’ ability to pay. Kanata North has significant housing developments either in the process of being built or about to be built. In fact, there are over 20,000 units slated to be developed in Kanata North in the next few years. If the province mandates that the urban boundary is extended further up March Road towards Carp/Dunrobin, even more houses and apartments will be built sooner than we think. Building more houses is supposed to mean more affordability. I question that. There are a number of problems with that simple equation. Some houses are being bought by out-of-town buyers who keep them empty. Some apartment buildings remain only 20% full because the developers do not want to lower rent rates. I support development but not at any cost. I support community design plans and livable communities with amenities for healthy, active living. Development anywhere and everywhere just because it may bring about affordability, is not smart planning.
Police and Social Services
From my career in education and as a director on many of our city’s most important boards, including the Ottawa Police Services Board, I know that education, health, policing and social services are all inter-connected. All have important roles to play in ensuring the health of individuals and communities.
With the new Police Services Act, (now called the Community Safety and Policing Act) with the growth of our Community Policing Model, and the incredible leadership of Police Chief Eric Stubbs, I am proud to be a member of your Ottawa Police Services Board. We have worked incredibly hard to create a new strategic plan with clear performance indicators. We have been lauded by the Solicitor General and the Inspectorate of Policing as a leading board in the province. We have added more officers and civilians and leading technology to ensure that we keep our neighbourhoods and residents safe.
Social services, however, never seem to be properly funded. With our focus on housing and the ANCHOR program that has social services staff attend mental health calls instead of police, we are seeing greater care and supports for our most vulnerable citizens. This type of thinking and the successes we have achieved so far in diverting calls away from police needs to continue. Working together with Ottawa Community Housing, the Ottawa Police Service, Ottawa Public Health and our many community health and resource centres, the City’s Social Services Department is making a difference. I will continue to do whatever I can to ensure that our most vulnerable residents get the care they deserve.
Roads and Infrastructure
Even despite new pothole filling technology, Ottawa’s climate is hard on our roads. Since the province reassigned the cost of repairing roads to municipalities, the City’s budget has struggled to keep its roads in good shape. And, with all of the new construction in Kanata North, infrastructure changes have required roads to be dismantled, dug up, rerouted and redone. Some of these costs are paid for by developers. Some are not. As your City Councillor, I rely on residents to let me or 311 know right away where potholes need to be filled to try to reduce the damage to cars and further damage to the rest of the road. However, I drive these roads, too. And, so many need to be repaved. I focused my attention to sidewalks and pathways this past term (and I will continue to); however, I will be advocating harder for road renewal this coming term. So many of them need to be redone.
And, if there is significant infrastructure that needs to be replaced under the roads, I will be advocating that any possible “while you are at it” projects are done then.
The Hydro Corridor Eco-District project
Kanata North is lucky to have the Hydro Corridor that sits right in the middle of Morgan’s Grant. It is an area that is essential in connecting our community. With its paths and Community Garden, there has been so much work done in the past by multiple groups to create a usable greenspace that also respects the natural environment. I believe that our Hydro Corridor is an area that gives Kanata North the opportunity to be a model to the rest of the city of what can be done in a Hydro Corridor. This past term, I brought together interested community members and City staff to look at what can be done to really get this vision to become a reality. And, a number of great things happened! Many invasive and noxious plants that had been growing there were reduced significantly. Pollinator-loving plants were planted. Agreements were reached on sharing the water and reducing the costs for the community garden users and organizers. Conversations were had with Hydro One staff to coordinate the planning of a shed and more community gardens. A policy was passed by City Council that will make projects in the Corridor much easier to begin and complete. None of this would have been possible without the dedicated work of community volunteers. I look forward to continuing to work with the Ottawa Stewardship Council, the Kanata North Regeneration Stewards, the Kanata North Community Gardens leaders, and the Briarbrook, Brookside, Morgan’s Grant Community Association leaders to ensure the entire Kanata North Hydro Corridor embodies the vision the community has for it.
With the opening of the long-awaited dog park in the Kanata North Hydro Corridor, dog owners rejoiced! Know that I will continue to work with the amazing community leaders as we continue to define our Hydro Corridor as a unique space for the residents and pollinators of Kanata North to enjoy for years to come.
Celebrating Diversity
I have come to realize that it would be easier to mark on a map the countries of the world whose residents are not represented in Kanata North and who work in our Kanata North Tech Park! I bet there are less than five. The diversity of our community is one of its greatest strengths. It is for that reason that I attend so many culturally diverse events and festivals. I love to learn more about the cultures and holidays celebrated in our community. To that end, I have been so pleased to support the annual Multicultural Festival that is now held each summer in Kanata. The festival has expanded now to be a two-day event given its popularity. I have also enjoyed helping so many different groups book rooms and parks for their celebrations. I have been welcomed in so many places of worship, I am truly honoured. My parents often said, “Live and let live.” However, as a community leader, I really feel it is my job to do more than just live (of course!) and let live. Maybe it is my teaching background, but I feel it is my job to help others thrive. When people in our community thrive, we all benefit.
Taxes
I have yet to hear one person in Kanata North tell me they want their property taxes increased. Kanata North residents understand that their property taxes pay for so many of the things we need and enjoy. We all get that. However, right now, everything costs more. Gas, groceries, services, furniture, appliances, rent, pet food…you name it. People cannot afford to pay more property tax. And, for those residents in Kanata North on a fixed income, all of these increases affect residents’ abilities to stay in their homes. This past term of Council saw a continuation of low tax increases. I sat on the Service Review Working Group that worked with the staff and the residents of Ottawa to find over $250 million of savings so that we could keep taxes as low as possible. Know that I will do whatever I can to continue to look for savings and revenue-generating opportunities to keep taxes as low as possible.
The Kanata North Tech Park
The City’s new official plan properly designated our Kanata North Tech Park a Special Economic District. With that designation came many benefits. The vision for the Tech Park–that it truly becomes a place where people live, work, play, learn and innovate–is becoming a reality. Both UOttawa and Carleton University expanded their programming in The Park. Nokia’s transformation has begun. High school classes were held in The Park, bringing students and technology companies and leaders together! Many more companies are expanding. Four years ago, I told people there were over 500 companies in The Tech Park. Now there are over 800! Mayor Mark Sutcliffe asked Bloomberg Philanthropies to set out a plan for the Kanata North Tech Park to rival any tech park in the world. Bloomberg set out a plan to elevate The Park to the same calibre as other successful tech parks around the world. I am so excited to continue to work with the Kanata North Business Association and so many other partners to take our Tech Park to the next level.
Mosquito Program
We have now had 10 years of our Kanata North Mosquito Program. With many consultations and public information nights, I have been very pleased with the level of interest and cooperative work by the community and GDG Environment, the company that applies the larvicide. Ten years ago, I was not sure about the mosquito program. I found it hard to believe that the spray was not affecting frog, bat, turtle, animal and other insect populations. I attended the presentation given by the researcher from the University of Ottawa who studied the use of different chemicals on all of those populations. The chemical used by GDG was the only one that was not found in other populations. Now, after 10 years of experiencing only occasional mosquito buzzing and bites, I can hardly remember the years where we could literally not go out of our houses.The contract will come up for renewal in 2029. Rest assured that we will do a fulsome RFP and consultation at that time. For now, let me say thank you to so many of the Kanata North residents who let GDG know if there were any areas where mosquitoes might be breeding. This collaboration has made all the difference.
