If asked to name all of the different neighbourhoods of Ottawa, many residents might first jump to the urban core - the Glebe and the Byward Market, Vanier and Chinatown. They might also rattle off the big suburbs that fill the City Council and make up a bulk of the population - Kanata, Orleans, Barrhaven, maybe Stittsville or a Blackburn Hamlet.
But after they exhausted those low-hanging fruit, would they be able to name any of the proud rural communities of Osgoode Ward? Maybe they could get Osgoode itself, but how about Greely or Metcalfe? If they got those, would they be able to speak about the smaller villages of Vars, Vernon or Carlsbad Springs?
The residents of these neighbourhoods have a reasonable complaint - the City of Ottawa is a massive, sprawling place, and their voices have not been properly heard. Just as residents in the urban four wards have spoken out about their unique issues being overruled by the suburban majority, residents in the four rural wards have also noted that they are not seeing themselves represented in City Council.
For the last few years, the residents of Osgoode Ward have been specifically represented by George Darouze, whose notable achievements in his time at City Council include being the subject of a scathing integrity report for bullying constituents and texting while livestreaming while driving during a council meeting. Despite this, the Ontario PC Party saw fit to promote him as their candidate for MPP for Carleton, and now he will be taking his talents to Queen’s Park.
There were 11 candidates looking to replace Darouze as councillor, and their perspectives were captured in debates and interviews - but who listented to the other 32,249 people living in Osgoode Ward every day? Horizon Ottawa, the city’s grassroots progressive organization, spent just over a month sending teams of volunteers to knock on doors in the ward, visiting every village and community to hear directly from residents - and to see where we can find common ground.
Infrastructure for People
While we saw dozens of cyclists and pedestrians on the interior streets of the various neighbourhoods we visited in Osgoode, we also consistently heard that the main thoroughfares of the ward were far too dangerous for everyday active transportation. Families who lived on the wrong side of major streets might even see their kid’s school outside of their window, but be unwilling to risk letting them cross due to speeding cars. A lack of crosswalks, sidewalks, traffic calming measures and cycling infrastructure were common refrains - all of which are completely aligned with Horizon Ottawa’s advocacy for a more walkable, bikeable city.
Speeding isn’t the only problem on roads in Osgoode Ward. While the city spends an inordinate amount of money on expanding roadways in places like Strandherd Road, the regular maintenance of city-owned infrastructure in the rural wards - including roads, parks and ditches - have been left under-serviced by the City. Those who have lived in the community since pre-amalgamation can point to clear declines in the level of maintenance and upkeep. This relative neglect fuels complaints from rural residents that they are not being supported, and contributes to an apathy that creates an unfortunate sympathy towards austerity budgets. We believe that the City needs to step up and bridge the maintenance gap, and should be brave enough to raise revenues to do so if necessary.
Who Does Tewin Benefit?
The people behind the Tewin development have done a remarkable job of keeping things quiet in the communities that will be most impacted by it - but when residents learn about what is happening, they have been consistently opposed to the project. Whether their issue is based on the lack of consultations with community members, the exorbitant costs to create a new subdivision from scratch, or the environmental impacts of building on essential marshes and wetlands, it is clear that the people of Osgoode Ward simply do not support the Tewin development.
This has been a key topic for Horizon Ottawa since it was first proposed, as it represents some of the worst results of the cozy developer-councillor relationship at Ottawa City Hall. Since our original research on developer donations was released in 2022, we have continued to push political candidates in Ottawa to disclose their donors proactively and reject any donations from the development industry, and that work has continued here in Osgoode Ward:
As you can see, a number of candidates replied and confirmed that they are refusing developer donations, and agreed to disclose all donations over $100 in advance of the election on June 16th. However, a number of candidates - including two of the most established, Doug Thompson and Collette Lacroix-Velthuis - declined to respond to our requests, meaning that residents will go to the polls without knowing whether developer money is influencing their future decisions on the Tewin development.
Make Your Voice Heard
With a massive amalgamated city of Ottawa that is forced to combine the diverse perspectives of rural villages, suburbanites and residents of the downtown core, both the most rural and most urban voices often get washed out in the mix. Horizon is working to build a movement with all 24 wards of Ottawa, and hopes to raise up strong progressive voices that better represent their communities.
Our overwhelming experience in Osgoode Ward these past few weeks has been that rural residents love their communities deeply, and care passionately about protecting the things that make their neighbourhoods special.
