With Ottawa’s municipal election set for Oct. 24, the Charlatan consulted the city’s 14 mayoral candidates about their plans to address public and sustainable transit. In order of nomination, with those the Charlatan didn’t interview listed last, here’s what each candidate wants voters to know.
Brandon Bay
Brandon Bay said he’d prioritize building “complete communities” that reduce the need for gas-powered vehicles. When people have everything they need around them, he said, they’re less likely to go out and drive.
“Reducing the number of cars on the road goes a long way, so we can then look at some of [Ottawa’s vacant] older buildings and get them restored,” Bay said.
Recounting when he lived in Bells Corners and how transit wasn’t a viable way to access the nearby shopping plazas, he emphasized the importance of community transit systems. Bay added he wants to improve transit and use funding from parking revenue and in-station retail to make bus fares free.
Catherine McKenney
Catherine McKenney’s transit plan would freeze fares, make transit free for children under 18 and lower the cost of the EquiPass. They’d raise transit investments by 20 per cent to increase the frequency and number of bus routes. McKenney added they’d improve the LRT service, which is currently maintained under a public-private partnership, by attempting to bring it back into municipal control at the lowest cost.
They plan to increase spending on bike infrastructure by building the bike lanes planned for the next 25 years in four. The plan would be financed through green bonds, which can pay for climate-friendly projects at lower interest rates.
“It will make Ottawa a world-class cycling city,” McKenney said. “We won’t have to compare ourselves to other cities. Other cities will compare themselves to Ottawa.”
They said it would also benefit people in suburban communities, as well as drivers, by taking cars off the road to decrease gridlock and reduce collisions. McKenney added that their transit and bike plans would reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by getting people out of cars. They’d further reduce emissions by retrofitting city buildings and electrifying Ottawa’s bus fleet.
Ade Olumide
Ade Olumide wants free transit for those earning $53,000 or less a year, calling transit such as the LRT essential and a human right because many can’t afford to take an Uber instead.
“You are asking people who cannot put food on the table to pay the transit of millionaires,” he said. “If [the federal government] bought a transit pass for all their employees in the National Capital Region, everyone would be able to ride transit for free in Ottawa.”
If future LRT shutdowns occur, Olumide suggested using available train cars to pick up passengers who miss their ride. He’d also provide 13-person shuttles that transport rural and urban homeowners to LRT stations.
Olumide opposed giving tax dollars to electric vehicle (EV) companies and hiking transit fees. He said he’d support a $2-million lottery tax and prioritize getting people to leave their cars at home.
“We’re giving millionaires lots of money to buy electric cars, to help Elon Musk go to space, but we’re not giving people—single mothers in social housing—rebates to buy electric bikes,” Olumide said.
Param Singh
Connecting all communities in Ottawa with reliable transit would address the climate crisis, Param Singh said.
“That’s something that we have to look at [to] make sure that every system that we do have—whether it’s bike paths, whether it’s the transit system, is interconnected,” he said. “When you have a transit system that works, that makes sense, that’s affordable for everyone, there’s no rhyme or reason for a person or family … to buy a vehicle.”
Singh said he’d establish a transit system review committee composed of experts outside Ottawa to fix issues that arise with the O-Train. He’d also reduce CO2 emissions by promoting hybrid and electric vehicles and increasing the efficiency of aging infrastructure through eco-friendly technologies.
“Before we jump on that bandwagon and say we’re going to buy eco-friendly vehicles, we often have to make sure that they’re actually going to work in our harsh environment,” Singh said. “I want to see what the cost is to maintain those vehicles.”
Mark Sutcliffe
As someone who regularly takes transit, Mark Sutcliffe wants to fix the LRT and revive confidence in Ottawa’s bus service.
“We’ve got to take a very hard look at how the bus system [operates],” Sutcliffe said. “We’ve got to fix [LRT] Phase 1, and we’ve got to apply the lessons of Phase 1 to Phase 2.”
He added the Phase 3 expansion to Kanata, Barrhaven and Stittsville is important, saying that some choose to attend the University of Ottawa over Carleton University because it’s more accessible via transit from where they live.
Sutcliffe also said he’d install 200 EV charging stations for cars and bikes. He plans to electrify all city vehicles by 2030 and phase out gas-powered vehicles.
Mike Maguire
Mike Maguire plans to introduce a commuter Via Rail service in Ottawa, using existing rail running from Kanata and Orléans.
“[The line] would take people out of Kanata through Bells Corners … right by Algonquin College, into the [Ottawa] Train Yards and then … to Renaud Road, right by Orléans,” he said, adding it would intersect with the LRT Trillium Line in Train Yards.
Maguire said he plans to strengthen and restore the OC Transpo service, ensuring buses are no longer “feeders to the LRT.” A stronger transit system will go a long way in reducing CO2 emissions throughout the city, he said.
“The single most successful thing [we] can do is make a viable, flexible, affordable transit system,” Maguire said. “People will always operate in their best interest. If they don’t need to take their cars, then they won’t.”
Celine Debassige
Celine Debassige said free transit would significantly help people cut their costs of living and put people of all income brackets on the same level. She also wants to add more bus routes for those living in suburbs and more isolated areas.
Debassige suggested designated and sustainable lanes and pathways for vehicles such as scooters and said free transit would additionally cut CO2 emissions. She added incentives such as tax deductions for e-bike and solar power users would serve to educate Ottawans on environmental sustainability.
Gregory Guevara*
Gregory Guevara would expand the LRT by building lines around his planned wall, which he said he’d construct around Ottawa as part of an “Ottawexit” from Canada to protect the city’s resources. He’d then encourage people to move away from the city centre and toward the wall in what he called “anti-centrist distribution.”
Guevara said his other major plan, to give every Ottawan a government job, would reduce the strain on transit, as positions would be remote. The reduction in transportation would also reduce CO2 emissions, he added. Overall, Guevara said there’s little left to do to fix the climate crisis.
“It’s no longer about addressing the climate,” he said. “It’s about holding on to what you have as the world burns around you.”
Guevara called his campaign “post-ironic,” meaning that any humorous aspects of his campaign are also his true intentions.
Nour Kadri
Nour Kadri proposed building homes for areas such as South Keys close to transit lines, grocers and medical clinics to remove the need for people to drive. He acknowledged the need to improve transit, which he said Ottawans have a right to, so people are incentivized to use it.
“The biggest issue we have with the current [transit] system is [that] reliability and ridership is low,” Kadri said. “We need to invest in proper scheduling for buses so you don’t have a bus coming a few minutes after another because of poor scheduling.”
Zed Chebib
Zed Chebib would increase transit fares in line with the inflation rate, providing free transit to seniors who struggle to access the LRT.
“You have to leave some money on the side,” Chebib said. “If you ever have a breakdown, where are you going to get the money? The taxpayers already have enough. Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
He’d order an investigation into the LRT to address underlying wheel-and-axle problems. Chebib would prioritize solar panel installations on top of homes and cancel the $1-billion deal to electrify OC Transpo’s bus fleet on grounds that the plan is unapproved and “unproven.”
“We’re not going to be the guinea pigs for somebody else to try something on us,” he said, adding that vehicles using lithium batteries are expensive and risk breaking down mid-journey.
Chebib would add a circle route—funded municipally, provincially and federally—that connects the east and west sides of Ottawa as an alternative to the Queensway. He’d also stop the $330-million Lansdowne 2.0 project, partly because he said it would increase traffic congestion in the Glebe.
Jacob Solomon
Jacob Solomon wants transit to be completely free.
“It sounds kind of crazy, but when you really look at it, the majority of the funding for OC Transpo does not come from actually paying for fares,” he said. “It comes from taxes.”
Solomon said switching buses to a voluntary payment system would make Ottawa a much better place. He added the city boasts a good bike network but could still do “way, way, way, way better” because cycling isn’t a “viable option” year round. Solomon said Ottawa charging higher transit fees than any major Canadian city is a “slap in the face” but he still supports the LRT expansion.
“Right now, it runs just a couple kilometres and it takes, like, 25 minutes to go from one end to the other. It costs us so much money and it’s caused so much pain and struggling for so many people,” he said. “That’s really embarrassing.”
The least the city can do, Solomon said, is finish the line and make it a “full-fledged, fully functioning system.”
Bob Chiarelli
According to his website, Bob Chiarelli would stop new road construction, including plans to twin Airport and Alta Vista parkways, and divert the funds to repair existing city roads. He also proposed using parking revenue and money received from red light violations and photo radar fines to fund existing road infrastructure. During the first year of term, Chiarelli would create a financial plan for fixing roads and have public works staff determine which ones need repair.
He’d work to implement charging stations and other electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure and ensure a “slow and steady” transition to electrifying buses.
Chiarelli did not respond to the Charlatan’s request for comment.
Bernard Couchman
According to his website, Bernard Couchman has sat in on Ottawa Light Rail Transit Commission meetings and wants free transit for all Ottawa residents. He proposed a system where half the city uses “current forms of transport” and the other half uses active transit. Couchman wants to build bike-, scooter- and wheelchair-friendly connections from Cumberland to Kanata and filter out traffic with one-ways that “make sense.”
Couchman did not respond to the Charlatan’s request for comment.
Graham MacDonald
According to his website, Graham MacDonald supports a public and transparent inquiry into LRT Phase 1. He said Ottawans deserve to know what went wrong and added “accountability is important to maintain public trust and avoid further erosion of that trust.”
MacDonald called for financial, ridership and maintenance audits to ensure the LRT runs effectively and efficiently. He added he’d hold “necessary parties” accountable after the inquiry and urge subsequent inquiries into LRT phases 2 and 3. MacDonald wants to better maintain Ottawa’s streets using technology such as infrared asphalt equipment, as well as remove shrubs, trees and bushes from the centre of roundabouts to improve drivers’ visibility.
MacDonald did not respond to the Charlatan’s request for comment.
*Gregory Guevara was the Charlatan’s Arts editor for the 2018-19 publication year.
Featured image by Rafka Abou-Khalil.
