PRESS RELEASE: Some concerns met with amended bylaw as committee caves to public pressure, community will continue to fight bylaw

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OTTAWA - Although some concerns from the community were met with the new amended by-law, Horizon Ottawa says they will continue to fight back to ensure that the rights of all residents, labour unions, and community organizations to dissent are protected.

The amending motion addressed some concerns such as the removal of language around law enforcement discretion to determine what would be considered a “nuisance” protest, the proposed bylaw is still problematic as the vagueness of the motion still allows for a wide variety of protest to be at risk.

Council is also now considering an application process similar to what Toronto is proposing.

In the days leading up to the committee, Mayor Sutcliffe expressed his support for a “bubble by-law”, and said he had consulted extensively with the community. This consultation notably did not include reaching out to Planned Parenthood Ottawa or the organizers of Ottawa Pride, among many other interested parties. Sutcliffe was not present at the committee meeting either day.

Horizon Ottawa is proud of their efforts alongside the dozens of concerned community organizations, labour unions, advocacy groups, and residents who met with their councillors, wrote letters to the city, and delegated before the committee in great numbers. Without this organizing, it is unlikely that Council would have put as much consideration to the arguments against this kind of by-law.

“We forced council to back down on the worst version of this bylaw, but this is still raising some red flags”, said Tom Ledgley, coordinator for Horizon Ottawa. “We’re glad the committee heard the many concerns from residents over the past two days of delegations, but ultimately, any barrier to expressing dissent is tough to stomach especially with the concerning rise in crackdowns on speech south of the border.”

Throughout the coming months of public consultations on this by-law, Horizon Ottawa says they will continue to advocate on behalf of residents to express their rights and counter narratives that mischaracterize peaceful protests, and ultimately hope to see City Council prioritize the right to dissent in crafting this legislation.

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2025 Osgoode Ward By-Election Report

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PRESS RELEASE: Horizon Ottawa Releases Donor Information from Osgoode By-election Candidates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

09 June 2025

OTTAWA - Horizon Ottawa has released information about how candidates in the Osgoode by-election have financed their campaigns in an effort to improve transparency. The organization has consistently called on candidates to refuse contributions from the development industry based on the perception that this could create a conflict of interest when elected officials are tasked with decisions that would affect developer profits. The City of Ottawa already requires candidates to release a list of all donations over $100 following the election, but Horizon also stresses the importance of voters having access to this information before casting their ballot.

Of the eleven candidates registered in the by-election, Horizon was able to contact ten, six of whom responded to the request. Horizon’s findings can be seen in this chart:

Three candidates: Dalton Holloway, Jennifer van Koughnett, and Peter Westaway provided a list of their donors and were verified to have not received any funding from those connected to the development industry.

Greg Vail provided a list of donors and was found to have received two $100 contributions from donors who could be construed to be connected to the real estate development industry.

Isabelle Skalski and Dan O’Brien both claim to have received no developer-related funding, but did not disclose a list of their donors.

Doug Thompson, Colette Lacroix Velthuis, Guy Boone, and Bobby Gulati did not respond to Horizon’s request. While this does not necessarily mean that their campaigns were funded by developer-connected donors, Osgoode Ward residents will not have access to this information before selecting a councillor.

Horizon encourages each of these candidates to show voters that transparency matters to them and to make this information publicly available before election day on June 16th.

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For media inquiries:

English

Tom Ledgley

[email protected]

613-663-7018

French

Sam Hersh