Ward 23 - Kanata South

Bina Shah

Yes. As a local authority with powers handed down by the Province, the City has direct control over a range of services that touch people daily and affect how energy is consumed, including housing, transportation systems, water and sewer infrastructure, and managing waste.  With an estimated cost of $600M per year with significant positive financial returns accruing with the investment over time from energy and cost savings, it would be a missed opportunity if the city didn’t restore funding and implement Ottawa’s Energy Evolution Plan.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. Of the items mentioned above, I would like to put a high priority on retrofitting buildings, and diverting organic waste from landfills. These are practical things we can be working on that will have a significant impact on our carbon footprint. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. I appreciate that there is long term savings on this plan. 

Mike Dawson

Yes.

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. I would  be in support of maintaining our urban boundary and to look within our city limits for opportunities to intensify, while employing mixed use zoning so that complete communities are created.  These communities will  support active transportation and transit, reduce car dependency, and enable people to live car-light or possibly car-free. We know that 15-minute neighbourhoods are compact, well-connected places with a clustering of a diverse mix of land-uses which includes a range of housing types, shops, services, local access to food, schools and day care facilities, employment, green spaces, parks and pathways. 

Rouba Fattal

Yes. Kanata South is a very walkable and bike-able part of the city. I think rezoning efforts will have a very positive impact on people and businesses, and create more opportunity for folks in Kanata South to walk to their favourite small business.  

Erin Coffin

Yes. Kanata South needs to do better in this area. Not all areas have been developed to be 15 minute neighbourhoods and we need to see how we can fix this. 

Mike Dawson

Yes.

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. The OEB has recognized that the Energy Evolution plan is one that the municipality has to act on and should commit to phasing out natural gas infrastructure and prioritize conservation and efficiency over new, renewed or expanded gas infrastructure.  Conservation and efficiency concepts are critical pieces to shape the City’s future and line up with the City’s Energy Evolution Plan.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. I checked yes because in essence, and with what is going on in the world, reliance on gas is challenging as well as bad for our planet. However, after the derecho and no power in many homes in Kanata South (including mine for 7 days) I worry about total reliance one type of energy - we need to ensure that as we go through this transition we mitigate the possible challenges. 

Mike Dawson

Yes. Over time.

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. I do commit to investing in energy efficient housing for lower income communities and to ensure that the retrofit costs are not passed down to tenants. Improving efficiency in homes is critical to reaching Ottawa’s net-zero emissions target and is a worthwhile investment for our communities that are struggling with affordability.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. I am very supportive of this. I also this it is important to educate tenants on the impact of their energy consumption. There are many housing communities that have heating/AC included in their monthly bill, which leads to irresponsible energy consumption.

Erin Coffin

Yes. These investments will benefit on so many levels. We can work with all levels of government to explore how to make this happen. 

Mike Dawson

Yes. With additional information required re controlled costs.

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. We need to prioritize climate adaptation planning for the City including measures to protect people, infrastructure and city services and to ensure the City’s most vulnerable are supported during extreme climate events.  Emergency preparedness for climate disasters should be a city priority knowing that the frequency and severity of extreme climate events are occurring and are here to stay.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. Our window to take on meaningful climate action is closing quickly. Ottawa's next council must take this issue seriously, and do everything they can to look at issues with an environmental lens. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. Absolutely, as mentioned earlier, the derecho is in recent memory and the lack of power for days, the multiple storms and their strain on our sewers, and the heat so challenging that our parks often were empty. We need to plan and adapt to mitigate the affects of climate change on our city and our communities by creating greener infrastructure that also adapts to our existing challenges (roads and sewers builds and adapted to manage better with flooding from increasingly strong storms), as well as creating spaces that aid us in enjoying our community while also aiding us in keeping cool, safe, shaded, etc. (Like water fountains, splash pads, more tree canopy, gardens and protected areas like gazebos). 

Mike Dawson

Yes.

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. We need a public transit system that works: it must be rapid, reliable, affordable and accessible for all users, with proper transit routes within rural, suburban and lower income communities.  We need an overhaul of the routing system so that it is optimized and connections can be upheld.  We also need to look at innovative ways to increase ridership and restore our public’s faith in transit and to incentivize our communities to take transit over their vehicles, where possible.  Creating transit routes that run north-south along main thoroughfares which connect to transit hubs in areas that are not yet serviced by LRT should be a consideration.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. We have a great opportunity for next council to oversee some much needed improvements in OC Transpo operations. By fixing our scheduling, and making fares affordable to those who need it, we can an increase to ridership that will reduce the city's revenue loss and allow for further improvements in transit infrastructure.

Erin Coffin

Yes. This is one of my main priorities. We need reliable and safe transit so we have a viable option to taking our cars. It is presently inconvenient to use transit and is affecting our ability to thrive, succeed, and enjoy our community.

Mike Dawson

Yes.

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. I am in support of an active transit network that is interconnected, in which protected bike lanes are considered along with multi-use paths City-wide, but many pathways beyond the outer core must be safely connected first as a priority.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. Kanata South has a great opportunity to install meaningful bike infrastructure along Eagleson, and down Terry Fox as the city looks to widen that road to accomodate the new developments in Stittsville. There are lots of roads that are long over due for repaving, and I wish ensure that any full road repairs that happen are also considering safe biking infrastructure in their plan. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. This is not about a war on cars, this is about balance and safety. We deserve to have options and we need them to be able to travel around and enjoy our city. This is proactive in so many ways.

Mike Dawson

Yes We would like to be able to bike our children to school and daycare.  Currently the route ane dangerous/ impossible.  

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. I am in support of a 40% tree canopy cover per neighbourhood and the protection of mature trees through the new Tree Protection By-Law.  With the May derecho, many mature trees were destroyed in Kanata South and a number of trees in the Hazeldean Woods were also lost.  We need to ensure areas like this are restored first with native species and also encourage residents to replace their trees with a variety of native species that are appropriate for residential areas.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. I believe there is great opportunity to incorporate root cells into future road/side walk repairs as well. Root cells allow for tree roots to grow under roads and sidewalks, and will help prolong tree life. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. In essence, yes. Too many trees are being torn down for no reason, but we also need to allow for some justified reasons by property owners. 

Mike Dawson

Yes In KanataSouth, Katimavik-Hazledean Woods needs our immediate help  

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. I will ensure that the City of Ottawa prioritizes the conservation of existing green space, as well as biodiversity on both city and privately owned lands by actioning to amend the property standards by-law, as well as moving towards more naturalization city-wide.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. I believe that developers need to be doing a better job of preserving plant life on lands slated for development. Rather than just bulldozing over these naturalized areas, it's important that we integrate this plant life into new and existing developments to help preserve native plant species, and foster biodiversity. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. I’m open to reasonable amendments to protect our greenspace, and also to empower our families, businesses, and such to make our city a greener enjoyable and healthy place to live. 

Mike Dawson

No. Our endangered species need more protection.   I finding is available at the federal and provincial level.  We need to work collaboratively to address these important issues. 

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. I am in support of avoiding the replacement of the Trail Road landfill site with either a new landfill or an incinerator for residual waste. We need to improve our recycling program and do a much better job of collecting organic green bin waste for composting in multi-residential buildings as well as curbside - as 50% of what is going into our landfill can be diverted to our green bin waste program - which can drastically extend the life of our current landfill.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. We need to see a more robust composting and recycling program put in place for food businesses as well. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. This is absolutely needed. I know many hate the work involved in sorting and composting, but we need to divert recycling and compostable items away from our landfill. 

Mike Dawson

Yes.

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. I will support the introduction of a user pay system for curbside residual waste collection, where residents pay for the bags or containers that they put out for collection, according to the actual level of service that they use.  This incentivizes our community members to rethink waste and will help to divert waste from our landfill which will help to extend its life.

Rouba Fattal

No. This may result in people trying to dodge fees, and dump their trash in other places. I think having a more comprehensive and easy to use recycling program will be an easier solution to this, rather than using a pay-as-you-use program. Guelph's waste management strategy is one example we can look at for guidance. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. As long as it is reasonable, but I’d like to see a more fulsome proposal to understand the scope and limitations as well as the oversight and such.

Mike Dawson

No. It is totally unreasonable to put the primary burden on households (particularly large families) when they have little or NO influence on the packaging of the food and or other staples they are buying.  

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. Engaging and consulting with our Indigenous community members as the City creates and implements environmental policies should be an intentional inclusion and we must work in partnership with the Algonquin Anishinaabe people as they are the original stewards of the land and have a wealth of knowledge that can be harnessed and a perspective that needs to be respected.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. True climate action cannot be achieved without first realizing meaningful reconciliation with our first nations peoples. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. Absolutely.

Mike Dawson

Yes. Of course.

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

Yes. Experience in other municipalities suggests that when climate solutions consider and include equity and inclusion, multiple priorities can be addressed at the same time and more people can participate in the low carbon transition to fight back against the climate emergency collectively.  Everyone should be doing their part.  As a Queer South Asian woman, I understand the value of inclusion and it is important to bring Ottawans at all diversity intersections together on environment issues that require action.

Rouba Fattal

Yes. I believe that by creating more opportunities for artistic and cultural expression across the city can help create spaces for collaboration on all sorts of issues, not only environmental issues. 

Erin Coffin

Yes. Absolutely. 

Mike Dawson

Yes Essential. Previous council failed at this. 

Allan Hubley

Did not participate

Bina Shah

We require immediate action in our City.  We cannot continue doing things as we have in the past.  We are capable of solving problems and working together to do what is right for our future generations.  To do this, we need and require a commitment from our City’s leadership to carry out short-, mid- and long-term investment in our communities and for our residents.  

Rouba Fattal

Ottawa has done a good job retrofitting its buildings to make them more energy efficient. I have three priorities I wish to bring with me to council that I believe will help bring us closer to carbon neutrality. 

Erin Coffin

I appreciate the work Ecology Ottawa does for our city. 

Mike Dawson

Global change often begins when people act locally.   I will encourage residents, businesses and the community to become leaders in the fight against climate change !  Thank you for all that you do ! 

Allan Hubley

Did not participate