One size does not fit all

Yesterday at City Council, I defended what my rural Council colleagues and I have been working tirelessly to accomplish. That is to remove the idea that a one-size-fits-all model is an efficient way to govern rural property owners. Rural issues need rural-specific solutions. A hard fact that I will continue to advocate for around the Council table.

Listen to my comments through the video above or read them below:
****
”Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.

I’d like to thank Councillor Darouze for all of his work on this [motion]. He has taken a situation that is unfortunate and worked with the City and the landowners to find a solution that is workable. I just looked on the City’s own website (Ottawa.ca), it says right under ‘Local Improvement – Charges and Process,’ that it’s 3-4 years from point of initial inquiry to the start of construction. So, if you have a local improvement process that takes 3-4 years, or you make a ditching complaint to the City and it takes 3-4 years to come out, it’s no wonder that landowners are taking matters into their own hands. I agree with Councillor Brockington, we don’t want to see residents out there doing things under their own will, we want them to follow the process. But, there has to be a reasonable amount of time from a point of contact with the City to raise a complaint to having it solved; 3-4 to years is not acceptable.

I think we’re starting to see that Councillor Kelly raised it; ditching is one of the largest issues that we have in rural Ottawa. It’s the most common storm water asset feature that we have in rural Ottawa. For every 1km of road, we have 2km of ditches – so that should give you a pretty good idea as to how many thousands of kilometers of ditches we have in rural Ottawa.

I think we need to accept what’s on the table here today, because as Councillor Brockington said, we don’t want to add a further financial burden onto these landowners. Councillor Darouze has brought in, for this situation, a reasonable alternative to ensure that we can carry on going forward. But I think this is the opportunity that this council needs to say ‘Hey, there are issues out there that we do need to take another look at.’ I think it’s very unreasonable that we can’t affect a solution at ARAC that this council can support. I think that this motion is going to pass today, Mr. Mayor, but you continually hear from your colleagues on ARAC, that we’re looking for rural solutions created at ARAC by the rural representatives and the residents that we have the fortunate pleasure of representing.

We just need a little bit of understanding that we are not urban Ottawa, that 80% of the city that you govern is in fact in one of the five rural wards. It’s okay to have different solutions for different areas of the city – the one-size-fits-all approach does not work; it’s never worked from my perspective. I think that it’s unreasonable to think that we’ll be able to take almost 2,800 square kilometers of this city and come with a one-size-fits-all solution to every problem. It’s not going to happen, and I think it leaves everyone in across the city further behind.

So, Councillor Darouze, I’ll certainly be looking forward to supporting your motion, I commend you for the work that you have done to bring this situation forward and find a solution that works for all.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.”
****