Meet the provincial election candidates in the battle ground of Nepean

Good morning! 

We are now only about two weeks before Ontario voters head to the polls and at least three Ottawa ridings see new representatives at Queen’s Park. On Monday I was in Bells Corners, Barrhaven, and the Merivale area to speak with the three main political candidates about their platforms and aspirations. All eyes will be on Nepean because this is the first time in almost 20 years the area will have new representation after PC incumbent Lisa MacLeod decided to leave provincial politics. 

Devastating news is hitting Algonquin College which is cutting 16 per cent of its programs due to tough economic times caused by caps on foreign students. Among the many programs cut are multiple writing programs and the radio broadcasting program. It’s where I did a portion of my grade 11 high school co-op placement and I can’t underestimate how awful this is to the local media industry. So many incredible talents have graduated from these programs, who are taught by some of the best in the business. 

I also want to take a second to apologize for the few spelling errors that were caught by readers in the Monday edition. We do our best to catch them, but oftentimes I’m filing at midnight after running around the city hall day. On Tuesday alone I conducted 11 interviews — which I’m pretty sure is a new record for me. Nonetheless, we will do our best to ensure it doesn’t happen often. 

Please feel free to write to us and let me know if there is any specific provincial election coverage you would like to see. 

Let’s get to today's headlines.

— Charlie Senack, managing editor

[email protected] 

X: @Charlie_Senack

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WEATHER

Wednesday: -10 🌡️ -13 | ❄️ (30-40 cm overnight)

Thursday: -3 🌡️ -14 | ❄️

Friday: -8 🌡️ -17 | 🌤️

NUMBERS

❄️ 40cm: The amount of snow expected to fall Wednesday and Thursday in Ottawa. It would be the biggest storm of the winter for the region. [CTV[

🐖 3,000: The number of hogs that an Ottawa farmer will sell this year. But, due to interprovincial trade barriers, he cannot sell to Quebec. [Ottawa Citizen]

❌ 37: The number of academic programs that Algonquin College is suspending in the fall. It’s part of downsizing taking place across the country due to the federal government’s cap on international students. [CTV]

PROVINCIAL ELECTION

Meet the candidates running in Nepean

Change is coming: For the first time in almost 20 years Nepean will have a new representative at Queen’s Park. Last year longtime PC incumbent Lisa MacLeod announced she would not be seeking re-election after serving the riding since 2006. 

• According to 2021 statistics, 132,000 people call the riding of Nepean home. It includes Bells Corners, the growing suburb of Barrhaven, Arlington Woods, Craig Henry, and Manordale. 

Who’s running: Tyler Watt, who lost to MacLeod by only about 2,000 votes in 2022, is running for the Nepean Liberals again. Days before the early winter election was called, the PCs chose Alex Lewis as their candidate. The NDP are running Max Blair. Shelagh McLeran is running as the Green Party candidate. 

Early polling: Numbers released by Mainstreet Research on Feb. 5, show Lewis is in the lead with 33.5 per cent of respondents saying he has their vote. Watt is polling in second place with 27.5 per cent, and Blair is in third place at 6.9 per cent. Another 26.5 per cent say they are still undecided. A total of 1,200 people responded through a phone survey. 

The Lookout sat down with the three main party candidates to hear their platforms and priorities. Answers have been edited for length and clarity. 

Alex Lewis - Progressive Conservative

Background: Lewis, a proud gay father, has been a police officer in Ottawa for the last decade. Prior to that, he worked behind the scenes in politics. The Nepean PC candidate also used to serve as executive director of the Bell’s Corners BIA. 

Public safety: “I am a municipal police officer and I worked exclusively in the ByWard Market. I've seen the failed policies related to drugs and the effects that that's had on the families and the residents. We talk about public safety as an all-encompassing view. I'll tell you right now, we've seen a 116 per cent increase in Canadian firearms crime alone. That is a result of failed policies, including failed policies at the border. President Trump is forcing us to deal with this issue in some respect. But there’s some irony in the fact that he says we’ve got all this fentanyl coming into the United States from Canada. Well, that doesn’t address the cocaine that we’ve got coming up from the United States. It doesn’t  address the fact that nearly every single gun that’s pulled off the streets is an illegal firearm that’s brought in from the United States.”

U.S. imposed tariffs: “We are facing an existential crisis here in this province right now, and we can have conversations about health care, we can have conversations about education, and I'm happy to have those. The fear however is that if we don't get ourselves prepared for the impending doom that we are actually facing then we're we're in a distinct disadvantage for things like education, things like health care, which are based off a tax base from small and medium-sized businesses if we are faced with the prospect of, you know, 400,000 people losing their jobs and over two million small businesses in the province that will be affected by a trade war. That is why we are pushing for this four-year mandate to match President Trump's term, so we have some continuity in who is negotiating on our behalf.”

Transit: “We are creating an environment for Nepean and Ottawa to be more affordable by uploading the LRT system to Metrolinx. Premier Ford made it very clear that Stage 3 LRT was in the works. It's wonderful to see that type of investment. If you live in a community like Half Moon Bay, you need to take a bus to get to Fallowfield Station. You get off, then get on another bus, and that drives you to the LRT station. Stage 3 will change that. 

When I was the executive director of the Bells Corners BIA, I knew the benefit of having rapid transit based out of a community like this. And with D&D moving into the area, one of my priorities became advocating for a major bus line. I managed to get the 85 to come all the way here and it went all the way to the airport.” 

Sprung structures: “I am not in support of having the Nepean Sprung shelter built. I am in support of affordable housing. I am in support of an immigration system that takes these into account before the federal government decides to offload their failed immigration policies onto the backs of municipalities and onto the backs of the provincial government, which provides these services for healthcare, provides the services for first responders, etc…”

Healthcare: “Wait times are always an issue. In policing, I am bringing people into a hospital literally on a daily basis, and I've seen elderly members of our communities waiting in hallways, in emergency rooms, in ambulance stretchers, in hospital beds, waiting to get rooms. We're going to be adding another 3,000 beds across the province. We're one of the only governments that is committed to building new hospitals. That has not happened in decades. We have already seen the expansion locally with the Queensway Carleton Hospital.”  

Tyler Watt - Liberal 

Background: In 2022, Watt took almost 35 per cent of the vote in Nepean and came in second place. It was a big increase for the Ontario Liberals, who jumped 15 percentage points in the riding. Watt, who’s also gay, grew up in Barrhaven and works as a registered nurse at the Queensway Carleton Hospital.  

Healthcare: “Being a nurse in our riding, I see firsthand what's going on with our healthcare system. I think people are excited about the fact that a nurse is running, and I can bring that nurse lens and experience into our provincial legislature to really advocate for increasing access. For healthcare in our communities, access really is the biggest thing when it comes to healthcare, and right now, far too many people are depending on emergency rooms and are waiting 12-plus hours to get basic primary care that they should be getting-a lot easier into the community. 

Number one there are 30,000 people in this very Ward that don't have a family doctor, and that number is only increasing with the number of people that are retiring or leaving family medicine altogether.

Number two is that we have to change the way that we experience healthcare. I have a vision for getting a healthcare hub here in Nepean, which is where people have access to a kind of one-stop shop type of thing. So this would be having access to physicians, practitioners, phlebotomy blood clinics, diagnostic imaging, instead of the current complicated and convoluted system where you're lucky enough to speak with a doctor if you happen to have a family doctor.”

Education: “We have a growing number of families that are coming to Nepean and what I hear at the doors is that they're really concerned about the quality and meaningful education for their kids. Doug Ford got rid of class size caps, so we're going to reduce class sizes and cap them. That way, we can provide a more attentive and meaningful education for our students. No one can manage a class size of 30, 35 plus students. There's workplace violence and there's just not enough support or resources for our education workers.

So if we help them have a good, safe job where they can actually do their job and where they're passionate about it, that's going to be great for our students and that's what matters the most.”

Housing and affordability: “Bonnie Crombie and the Ontario Liberals have released their affordability plan and housing plan. We need to bring back rent control. This is something that Doug Ford got rid of in 2018. There are a bunch of development charges that we can change to reduce the price of building houses by up to $170,000. We're going to get rid of the land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers, for seniors who want to downsize and move to somewhere else to let that home become someone's first-time home or next new home. We're going to cut your taxes, we're going to get rid of the HST on home heating and hydro.”

Transit: ”Anyone in Ottawa knows that transit and getting around here is a nightmare. Our leader Bonnie Crombie came down to Ottawa. She is here frequently, which I love, and she announced that the Ontario Liberal government, under her, will upload the LRT. Now what we're doing differently than what Doug Ford promised last minute is we are not going to upload it to Metrolinx and privatize it. We're going to take on the funding for it, but still let OC Transpo manage it, and all of their staff will keep their jobs. We want to protect that unit and protect those workers, but we know that they need funding and they need those investments.”

Max Blair - NDP 

Background: Blair is a recent Carleton University graduate who has been employed as a legislative assistant for the House of Commons. He also worked as a policy analyst at Natural Resources Canada. 

Transit: “I think that my colleague Catherine McKenney really hit it on the head, which is that we keep getting capital funding, which is great when you have an already flourishing bus service.

But when your bus service is in what's been described as a death spiral, where you have fares going up, which is lowering ridership, which then causes fares to go up and it just keeps spinning, you need to do something to stop the spiral and start that growth again.

What we need to do is we need to invest in operations funding so we can actually hire new drivers, get the bus here on time, get the train here on time, make sure that there is a pair of transport drivers who can actually come out when you need them to come out. Once we have those in place, we'll start seeing ridership go up, which will allow us to lower fares, which will then allow us to build out our transit properly. 

I think the Liberals and PC plans to upload the LRT system to the province is a bad idea for two reasons: First, Metrolinx has shown that they are adding a lot of bureaucracy to things that don't necessarily need it. They have a couple of projects in Toronto that are many years past deadline and over budget. When Greyhound closed down across the province, they couldn't seem to get things together enough to fill in all of the spaces that were already existing.

I don't think there's a good decision to be made about uploading a municipal issue to a provincial level. When you start talking about something like transit where it really is a community's need-based and start putting it in the hands of a group that may say ’oh well my voters over here don't want me to spend on this so I'm not going to,’ and suddenly Bell's Corners doesn't get the bus that it needs, or Barrhaven doesn't get the service rates that it needs.“

Healthcare: “For Nepean residents specifically, there are two main approaches that I think that we should take.

The first is expanding the number of residency spots that we have in our schools and also increasing, or not increasing, and expediting the rate at which international accreditation gets recognized. Doing that alone would allow us to start stopping the shortage that we're having. We have two great universities and a great college that all have spots for nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, which we could then use to leverage into our own local healthcare workforce.

The second step would be to make sure that we actually are taking the funding that we need and giving it to our healthcare workers. We're seeing more and more of our nurses in particular, leave for private practice, which you can't really blame them when it comes down to it. They can either feed their family doing private service or they can work overtime constantly and maybe make ends meet because Ford's capped our wages for so long.” 

Education: “The schools that we have here in the riding are some of the best in Ottawa and, I would argu,e potentially in the province, but that doesn't mean that they aren't without their issues. We're seeing more and more young people currently facing issues and traumas that they've never faced before. The need for counselors and support staff is higher than it's ever been. And the repair backlog across the province is growing larger and larger. At Franco West, we're seeing more and more portables appear outside of the school, which is not an ideal learning environment for kids, especially when their class sizes are ballooning.”

Affordability: “Our rents are 26 per cent above the national average, which is absolutely absurd. Bringing back rent controls and instituting bans on unfair evictions and unfair rent heights would be the first step in stopping that unaffordability from skyrocketing.

The second is we've seen so many folks falling off the housing ladder. We're at a spot where there are more people living on the street in province's history, and so we need to make sure that we're building supportive housing, non-profit co-op housing as much as we can, to make sure people can get back up onto the housing ladder and to ease the pressure that other folks are feeling.”

Latest provincial election stories

• Meet the provincial election candidates in Kanata-Carleton

• Doug Ford commits to uploading Ottawa LRT system to province

• Q&A: Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie discusses platform for Ottawa

DREAM HOME

What does one of the more expensive homes in Vanier get you? Luxury, that’s what.

This place has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and all themodern flourishes you’d expect from a luxury building. The kitchen is black. Seriously, jet black. It may not suit everyone’s tastes, but it’s certainly noticeable.

A hidden coffee bar, a waterfall and a hot tub round out the place. With all this, it’s definitely not cheap!

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

THE AGENDA

📖 In some disturbing news, white nationalist books were placed in free libraries across Ottawa. The police are now investigating. [CBC]

😷 Cover those mouths when you sneeze — we’re in the height of flu season, with RSV and influenza both circulating throughout the community. [CTV]

🏥 Eight CHEO employees who worked on patient experience kindness initiatives in the emergency department are losing their jobs. These were created during the pandemic and were only meant to be temporary jobs. [Ottawa Citizen]

🍎 The Ottawa Food Bank’s decision to cut back on the supply of food it gives to neighbourhood food programs means fewer people are able to access the items they need. They’ve had to cut food programs by 50 per cent due to not being able to purchase enough items, with everything more expensive. [CTV]

🍺 The Beer Store is shutting down two of its stores in Bells Corner at 82 North Side Rd., and on Princess Street in Kingston. More closures are expected, and workers’ contracts will be bought out to meet Ford’s promise to open up beer and wine sales in other stores. [CTV]

🏠️ A pilot project for transitional housing that uses converted shipping containers has proven to be popular with those experiencing homelessness. The project is managed by a non-profit, and will provide housing for five years. [CBC]

🏒 Who’s a trade target for the Senators? The team unfortunately, doesn’t have much cap space, but still wants to find some additional players. Both Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato and Kraken winger Brandon Tanev are on the shortlist. The team needs some help, as they’ve lost their last three games. [TSN]

👮 A man has been charged over a road rage incident over the weekend near Perth after a driver allegedly approached another person with a hammer. [CityNews]

EDUCATION

Algonquin College cutting 16 per cent of its programs

Tough times: Algonquin College has announced its cutting 36 programs — 16 per cent of the academics it offers — due to a multi-million-dollar deficit the school is facing.

The cause: President and CEO Claude Brulé said drastic measures are needed due to the federal government's decision to reduce international student permits and the province's caps on tuition fees. While some provincial grants are offered, the College said they don’t keep up with inflation.  

• "This is due in part to a prolonged and ongoing provincial government tuition freeze, chronic underfunding, and recent federal government immigration policy changes that negatively impact international enrolments. The College needs to take immediate and substantial action to address this perilous fiscal situation," Brulé wrote in a letter to staff.

By the numbers: If these measures were not taken, Algonquin would face a $60 million deficit during the 2025-2026 school year, which would rise by $93 million the following year. Even with the cuts, Brulé said the financial challenges are far from over. 

What happens to staff and students: Those in the impacted programs will have the opportunity to finish their program, though no new students will be enrolled in them starting September 2025. The recommended cuts also still need to be approved by the board of governors on Feb. 24. For staff, layoffs will be “unavoidable,” but buyouts and “modest financial incentives” will also be offered. 

Algonquin is not the only school facing cuts: Earlier this month, it was announced that 56 programs were being cut at St. Lawrence College, and a 30 per cent cut was also announced at Loyalist College. Algonquin also previously announced the closure of its Perth campus. 

The negative impact: As Algonquin College radio professor Dan Mellon pointed out on Facebook, ”students who live in those communities will now have to move to centres like Toronto / GTA to take these programs, where they could have lived at home two more years and saved money will now face $80,000+ costs to get a diploma due to cost of living.”

Reaction: Mellon, who’s taught the program since 2010 and is also a graduate of it, said, “the current funding model for Community Colleges is broken.”

• “The Radio Program was always more than just audio editing, recording, writing and performing. We all learned a lot about life, and there were many ups and downs. I am proud of what we were able to accomplish, and it always brought me great joy to see our students move on to successful jobs that they chose,” he said on Facebook.

Former Move 100 radio host Stuntman (Stu) Schwartz, who graduated from the radio program in 1997 alongside his wife, Connie Bernardi, said his daughter was planning to attend a Performing Arts program in the fall. It was also axed. 

• “If it wasn't for Algonquin and the program, I wouldn't have had 28 years in the radio biz, and wouldn't have met my wife. I think fondly of my former instructors Norm Wright, Iain Barrie and Don Crockford,” said Schwartz. “They not only taught me skills and prepared me for the industry, but they also provided me with much needed mentorship.”

A list of the programs being cut 

(A reminder they are still pending approval by the board of governors) 

Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence (ACCE): Building Information Modelling — Lifecycle Management; Building Information Modelling — Lifecycle Management Canadian Context; Energy Management; and Business — Trades (online)

School of Advanced Technology (ATEC)

• Bachelor of Technology (Digital Health) (Honours); Digital Health; General Arts and Science — Aviation Management; Regulatory Affairs — Sciences; and Technical Writer. 

Faculty of Creative Arts and Media (FCAM): Brand Management; Brand Management (two-year); Broadcasting — Radio and Podcasting; Creative Industries Management; Interdisciplinary Studies in Human-Centred Design; Interior Decorating; Performing Arts; Photography — Content Creation; Professional Writing; Scriptwriting; Teachers of English as a Second/Foreign Language; and Visual Development for Entertainment. 

Cuts to Pembroke: Outdoor Adventure Naturalist; Police Foundations; Regulatory Affairs — Sciences; and Water and Wastewater Technician. 

ARTS GUIDE

Performance Arts

The Tony Award-winning musical Tina — The Tina Turner Musical is on now until Feb. 16, with a few tickets still remaining.

The NAC’s Big Bang Festival is on from Feb 15-16. It’s a music festival for the whole family, with something for people of all ages, with shows, mini-concerts and interactive experiences. 

Montreal-based arts Myriam Gendrom is performing in Ottawa this Thursday, with music focused on the folk traditions of Quebec, with accompanying musical performances. 

Movies 

ByTowne Cinema is showing Universal Language, Canada’s Oscer foreign film selection, which is getting rave reviews. Art house movies not your thing? There’s also Cinderella 4k Restoration and Twilight: Eclipse. 

Mayfair Theatre has a bevy of options, from the late great David Lynch with Eraserhead, to the underappreciated recent Sing Sing, and the classic Pulp Fiction. It’s a stacked week of movies. 

Music Shows

Decapitated | Overflow Brewing, 2477 Kaladar Av | Feb. 12 | Polish death metal titans bring their intense, genre-blending sound, intricate riffs, and relentless energy. Tickets $48.

The Brothership | Irene’s, 885 Bank St | Feb. 14 | High-powered party funk combining funk, deep groove and afro-futuristic soul. Tickets $15.

Crystallize | Club SAW, 67 Nicholas St | Feb. 15 | Stellar line up of artists and DJs headlined by the ethereal avant-pop of Yolande Laroche. Tickets $25.

Basement Brass | NAC, 1 Elgin St | Feb. 15/16 | Montreal group fusing modern hip hop and traditional New Orleans brass for six free shows over the weekend. Free Show 

El Balcón |Art House Cafe,555 Somerset St W| Feb. 16 |  Fiery acoustic ensemble leading a new wave of progressive Latin music, blending Mexican folk instruments with Middle Eastern melodies.Tickets $15.

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

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Is this the best night out in the city, on a Tuesday? [Ottawa Citizen]

• Atlético Ottawa has released their jerseys! 

• This snowman on Elizabeth Driveway really loves Canada. [CTV]

• This French liqueur has become so popular that a local distillery is trying to replicate it. [CBC]

• Beef is king at this restaurant out food editor reviewed.