Let’s Talk Lansdowne!

This is a community-led event that will allow residents across Ottawa an opportunity to learn more about the final concepts and costs of Lansdowne 2.0 -- and to express your views. Can’t make it in person? No worries. The meeting will be broadcast and live-streamed by Rogers at rogerstv.com/letstalklansdowne. There will also be live tweets throughout the evening. A recording will be posted on Youtube after the event and we will share the link and an online survey you can share with your networks.

Why Lansdowne Matters

With costs expected to be in the $500 Million range, Lansdowne 2.0 will be the most expensive project that will come before City Council this term. City Hall does not have the funds to fix public transit or affordable housing, but it is about to spend half a billion $$ to relocate a new arena to the Great Lawn/Great Toboggan area and rebuild the north side stands, creating a construction site again for 7+ years. The significant loss of greenspace given new arena location, in an area already underserved by greenspace, and certain to add density in future, is counter to the intent of Ottawa’s new Official Plan. And yet the City’s response is to push ahead by amending the OP, ignoring policy that is intended to make this City more liveable. This massive project on city-owned land involves construction of a new arena, new north stands, new retail and new high-rise towers but no new transportation infrastructure. So most people in Ottawa will continue to have a hard time getting there. There has been no financial transparency on the initial Lansdowne development and no meaningful public consultation on Lansdowne 2.0. The October 11 event will be the only opportunity for public engagement after the release of the City’s final report and before it goes to City Council. It is vital that people from all parts of the City participate because we will all pay the price of a bad decision. Lansdowne is another public-private partnership that appears headed for an LRT-type mess. But there are other alternatives for Lansdowne that could be explored. City Council is expected to vote on this project in one month. It is time that all Ottawa residents think about what we are getting into and share our views with our Councillors.