City missing climate goals

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WEATHER

Wednesday: 23 🌡️ 14 | 🌤

Thursday: 25 🌡️ 17 | 🌧

Friday: 24 🌡️ 12 | ☀️

CLIMATE

City falling short of its climate goals, not tracking its progress

What happened: The city is likely going to miss its stated climate goals, and future goals are at risk because of a lack of direction and performance metrics the city’s auditor general, Nathalie Gougeon, found in a new report.

Off track: While the city is updating several of its plans to include climate aspects, the auditor general said the city is falling behind. “It is well known that the city is behind on its climate change priorities and targets. The plan identified eight priority areas to be undertaken from 2020 to 2025 and the city is off track on the majority of them,” the report said.

The city’s carbon reduction goals are laid out in this graphic:

The problems: The city dedicated climate change team lacks the resources to do its job, but the city doesn’t have any established metrics to measure its progress toward its goals, and hasn’t taken an emissions survey since 2020. Add to that, a so-called “tiger team” of city executives wasn’t tasked with making any decisions, only receiving information.

• The auditor’s office found that within departments, where there has been climate progress, it has only been “advanced primarily on the ‘side of people’s desks’ based on the goodwill or passion of departmental representatives rather than through formal roles/responsibilities.” The report goes on to say that “This has caused some instances of inefficiencies, delays, duplication of work, additional costs and some tension between teams.”

Temporary team: While there is a dedicated climate change and resilience team, nearly two-thirds of them are on temporary contracts. For the first time, the team was given direct funding in the city’s budget, to the tune of $5 million. But the auditor found that half of the money is going to staff salaries. “This leaves only 50% of the capital budget available for capital investments,” the report said.

Adrift: This has left the city’s climate change strategy twisting in the wind, and it’s unclear what progress is being made. The lack of metrics means the city can’t “measure and demonstrate progress; assess value for money; and, effectively make decisions to support the priorities of the plan.”

• The city said it agreed with all Gougeon’s recommendations, and would have plans to implement most of them by the end of the year.

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OTTAWA BY THE NUMBERS

📝 $1.169 billion: The Ottawa Carleton District School Board unanimously passed its operating budget worth this much. The board has at least three more budget cycles under supervision of the Ministry of Education because of its difficult financial situation. [CTV]

🚗 $1.5 billion: Auto insurers in Canada paid out this record amount last year for stolen vehicles, now locals are being told to install costly vehicle immobilizers or pay additional surcharges on their insurance. [CTV]

OUTSIDE DOWNTOWN

🍾 The city named Montrealer Mathieu Grondin as Ottawa’s new night mayor. Grondin is a researcher and advocate for better nightlife policy in Montreal, and recently moved to the region. [Ottawa Lookout]

🦆 The OPP were able to get a family of ducks safely off the 401 median near Prescott, and escorted them to safety. [CTV]

💰 A woman from Pembroke won $1 million on a $10 scratch ticket. After stopping at a gas station with closed pumps, she, her husband, and their friends drove their ATVs to another open station where she bought the ticket. [CTV]

🚨 An 11-year-old boy drowned in the Carp River after possibly jumping in from a bridge. The boy was pulled from the water by firefighters who attempted to revive him, but he was declared dead at the hospital. [CTV]

💐 Garrett’s Legacy Act went into force last week, in honour of 15-year-old Garrett Mills of Napanee who was killed when an unsecured soccer net fell on top of him. The law puts in place new safety measures for moveable soccer nets to protect others from a similar calamity. [The Canadian Press]

🌪️ Researchers confirmed a low-grade EF0 tornado touched down last week near Spencerville. Wind speeds reached as high as 115 km/h along the storm’s path. No one was injured. [CTV]

🚔 Six months after being in a car struck by an alleged drunk driver in Gatineau, eight-year-old Jayden is dealing with life-altering injuries that mean he will likely never walk again. [CTV]

💥 Police are investigating after several trees and a waterfront viewing platform in Morrisburg were seriously damaged in an apparent act of vandalism. [CTV]

CITY HALL

Despite objections, Hudson’s Bay building given heritage status

What happened: The city’s planning committee upheld the heritage designation of the building occupied by the Hudson’s Bay Company. Committee members voted unanimously to keep the designation over objections from the Bay.

• The company argued the designation would harm possible future development at the site and the age of the building was making upkeep difficult. 

Long history: The building is the last of the four original department stores still standing on Rideau. According to staff, “Freiman’s department store, one of the earliest businesses on Rideau Street and through its 71-year history, it became the largest department store in Ottawa.” Hudson’s Bay bought the building about five decades ago. 

• Staff said it’s an integral part of Rideau’s heritage, which was the city’s main commercial district stretching back to the 19th century.

Half-heritage: Because the back half of the building is within the ByWard Market heritage district, part of it is already protected under heritage status, staff said in their presentation. Adding the designation to the half of the building that faces Rideau Street would “unify the property’s designation status and clarify the permitting requirements for any potential new owner, in the event of sale,” according to staff.

HOUSE OF THE WEEK

Today’s house is a lovely Sandy Hill house, with plenty of lovely hardwood inside. The carpets in part of the house might not be to everyone’s taste. But look at that fireplace! And the exterior brick work is quite nice, too. With five bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, it’s got plenty of space for the whole family.

Check the listing to see the price.

House of The Week is a home selected by the Lookout team and is not a paid advertisement. All ads are labelled as such. If you’re a realtor who wishes to feature your home in our newsletter, please contact our sales team. 

GIG LISTINGS

Listings are provided by OttawaGigs.ca, the best place to discover live music in Ottawa. Check out Ottawagigs.ca for full listings across the city.

Zakari Frantz Trio, Thursday 7:30 pm: Ottawa-based saxophonist and in-demand jazz, funk, soul, and world music artist. At Montgomery Scotch Lounge, 750 Gladstone Ave. Tickets $10. 

Mivule, Thursday 8 pm: Infectious rhythms and heartfelt lyrics incorporating reggae, afrobeat and dub. At Rainbow Bistro, 76 Murray St. Tickets $22.

Andrew Cassara, Friday 8 pm: Electric pop grooves with funk, disco, and pop influences. At the 27 Club, 27 York St. Tickets $15. 

Frown Line, Saturday 8 pm: 90s-inspired songwriting with a modern indie rock twist. At Live! on Elgin, 220 Elgin St. Tickets $15.

Shane Murphy, Saturday 9 pm: A stellar member of Montréal's blues scene since 1996.At Irene’s, 885 Bank St. Tickets $20.

THE AGENDA

🚨 A man was charged with impaired driving after OPP officers stopped him on the 417 illegally driving an electric motorcycle on the 417. He faces five charges including driving on a suspended licence. [CTV]

🏃‍♂️ The Terry Fox statue has been moved from its location across from Parliament Hill to a new spot on Sparks Street. The new location is on the route Fox took during the Marathon of Hope. [CTV]

🍷 An order by the provincial government to once again offer paper bags caught the LCBO unprepared. The liquor board is still looking for a new supplier, after cancelling its previous contract last year when it stopped offering the bags. [CBC]

🎓 A 27-year-old man is facing charges for allegedly spraying a security guard at a uOttawa graduation ceremony with a “noxious substance.” Police wouldn’t say what the substance was, but did say it was no pepper spray. The incident allegedly occurred during a disruption by pro-Palestinian protestors. [CTV]

🚨 A 32-year-old man is facing multiple charges for allegedly setting up a hidden camera in the shower and strip search area of a youth detention facility. Multiple recordings were made between April 2022 and 2023. [CBC]

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• British comedian John Clesse will be featured at this year’s Ottawa ComicCon in early September. [CTV]

• It’s not your imagination, traffic on the Alexandra Bridge has really slowed to a crawl lately… [Reddit]

• Another deer decided to take a swim in the Canal. [Reddit]

• Arlo, Bar Lupulus and Social all made OpenTable’s list of the best 100 restaurants to eat outdoors in Canada. [CTV]

• Want to have your announcement featured? Learn how here.

CITY HALL INSIDER

Insider: Sitting down with the new Liberal leader

Sitting down at a Lansdowne coffee shop, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie adjusts one of the succulents on the table, placing it just so. “I thought it was pointing at me, I’m spatial, I like to move things around,” Crombie says.

Crombie was in town for several days to get the lay of the land in Ottawa, visit local politicians, and see what problems were visible on the ground. Before meeting the Lookout at a coffee shop, she’d had breakfast with former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty.

Once a federal MP, Crombie spent three years on Mississauga council, before becoming mayor in 2014. Last year, she won the leadership of the provincial Liberals on the first ballot. She stayed on as mayor until the start of the year, to get one more municipal budget across the line. 

In a wide-ranging interview, Crombie says cities are asked to do too much, with too little help from the province. She’s the first mayor to lead the party since Gordon Daniel Conant briefly headed the Liberals during the Second World War during a tumultuous split with the federal wing of the party.

OTTAWA GAMES

Congrats to the 81% of you who knew that ambulance crews waited an average of 559 hours per day to offload their patients at the hospital.

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