City to consider privatizing services to find budget ‘efficiencies’

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Good morning!

Hope everyone enjoyed the big game this weekend. I certainly enjoyed making food just horrible for my body. (With the exception of my wife’s delightful homemade guac, that stuff’s all good.) Get an air fryer, that’s my advice. Or, if you have a convection oven, use that.

Of course, I’m not the food editor here, so maybe it’s best not to take any of my advice.

Besides, there’s plenty of news to get to today, so let’s not doddle.

Onward.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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Weather Report

Monday: +3 🌡️ -2 | 🌧/❄️/⛅

Tuesday: +3 🌡️ -4 | ☀️

Wednesday: +6 🌡️ +3 | 🌧

WEEKLY LOOKOUT

Valentine’s Day: Tuesday is that day for love birds everywhere. But, unfortunately, it’s also the one-year anniversary of the Emergencies Act, which eventually led to the clearing of protestors from the core by police. This week, it’s likely to mean traffic disruptions as officials are expecting a follow-up protest. (A bit more on this below.)

Committee week: Budget preparations continue as city hall committees look at the draft budget for their respective departments. The police board, heritage committee, planning committee, LRT committee and more all meet this week.

CITY HALL

Mayor’s service reviews will consider privatizing city services

What happened: Over the next year a working group will begin doing a review of city operations, and part of its mandate is to look at possibly privatizing services. The plan is part of a top-to-bottom budget review set to begin next year.

A budget document describing the group said it would look at how to save the city money through one of six potential options:

• Keep a program as-is;

• Keep a program as part of the city, but change how it’s done;

• Have the city bid against private contractors to deliver a service;

• Contracting out a service;

• A public-private partnership (P3);

• Or a public-public partnership working with another municipality or level of government.

The documents, first reported by CBC, lay out the mechanisms to achieve Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s campaign promise to review city spending. To do so, a working group of Sutcliffe, Kanata Coun. Cathy Curry (the head of the audit committee), and one other councillor will decide which city programs are the best place to find so-called efficiencies in the budget.

Principles: The guide posts for the review are set out in another document laying out the working group’s principles. All programs are up for assessment, and the goal is to “build and support a competitive culture … not service level cuts.”

City workers: The working group’s commitment to city workers is not absolute. “The provisions of the collective agreement(s) will be respected; however, the collective agreement should not be a barrier to becoming competitive,” the document said.

Time to discuss: Sutcliffe told council decisions wouldn’t be made without input from elected officials outside the working group.

• “We want it to be a tight working group. … But everything that we decide, everything that we recommend, is going to go to council and there will be lots of time for everybody to discuss it,” he said according to CBC.

P3 warnings: The LRT is one big warning for pursuing public-private partnerships. The inquiry report into what went wrong put some of the blame on the structure of the deal for private contractors to build, operate, and maintain the system.

• While it saved the city money when the Rideau Street sinkhole opened up, it also put both sides at odds with each other, and limited accountability for the project.

“The P3 model caused or contributed to several of the ongoing difficulties on the project. For example, whereas the city traditionally had a hands-on, leading role in projects, given the lesser role it played under this model, the city was left in a position where it had limited insight or control over the [LRT] project,” the report said.

• Dig deeper: Ottawa’s LRT didn’t go wrong, it started wrong [The Globe and Mail]

Bad deals: The promise of private-sector savings is alluring. Toronto privatized garbage collection in the western half of the city and initially saved $11 million per year. That has since evaporated. Private collection now costs the city more per home than in the east where city employees still collect the garbage, according to the Toronto Star.

• Toronto also contracted out its sidewalk trash and recycle bins, which are now notorious for being broken, disgusting or both, according to the Star. The city is stuck with the contract until it runs out later this decade.

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• It was easy! Like any trip, if you plan ahead, it’s smooth sailing

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OTTAWA BY THE NUMBERS

⛈️ 65: The number of weather alerts issued for Ottawa last year, the most of any city in the country. [Ottawa Citizen]

🏚️ 4.6%: The drop in average home sale prices in 2022 in Manotick, the only Ottawa neighbourhood to see prices decrease, down to $1.067 million from $1.114 million in 2021. [CTV]

WINTERLUDE

The Rideau Canal may never open this year

What happened: Environment Canada said there was a “slim to nil” chance the Canal will open this season to skating, according to CTV.

To get ice thick enough, there typically needs to be at least 10 straight days of weather below -10 C. Temperatures have been warmer than normal all winter, with cold snaps not lasting long enough. That pattern is set to continue.

Forecast ahead: An Environment Canada meteorologist told the broadcaster the temperature will yo-yo over the next few weeks with cold temperatures on the weekend, followed by above-zero temperatures during the week.

This would mark the first winter where the Canal did not open, even for a few days, since it opened to skaters. The shortest season was in 2016, where it was open for 16 days.

Rest of Winterlude: Crowds at Jacques-Cartier Park have been well above average for Winterlude activities, according to CTV. More than 15,000 people came out on Saturday to enjoy the festivities.

NEW LOCAL JOBS

Check out the new open positions in Ottawa.

1. Senior procurement advisor at the International Development Research Centre

2. Workplace equity, inclusion, and belonging program manager at the City of Ottawa

3. Customer engineer at Microsoft

4. Data and analytics manager at the Minto Group

5. Policy analyst at Canadian Centre of Substance Use and Addiction

THE AGENDA

🚧 The city is warning of possible convoy disruptions and 417 ramp closures on Feb. 14, the one-year anniversary of the invocation of the Emergencies Act. More details are expected today. [CTV]

🚇 The LRT was down for about an hour during the evening rush hour on Friday, with service stopped between St-Laurent and Rideau because the overhead power line had a minor break. [CBC]

🚔 There are more questions than answers about a manhunt by the OPP west of the city last week. The force warned of two armed men on the loose, before retracting the warning without explanation. One person was arrested. [CBC]

🚨 A fourth person has been charged in the killing of an Ottawa physiotherapist. A woman in her 30s has been charged with accessory after the fact to murder. [CTV]

🥅 Extra bad news for the Sens, as goalie Anton Forsberg is likely done for the season with MCL tears in both knees, after the team lost 6-3 to the Oilers. [CTV]

🪙 Ottawa workers have been spared layoffs at the Royal Canadian Mint. In Winnipeg, 56 workers are being laid off. [CTV]

🙈 John Tory — who lobbied the province for minority-rule powers for himself and the mayor of Ottawa — stepped down as mayor of Toronto after admitting to an affair during COVID with a staffer half his age. [Toronto Star]

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• The indie film Painted Sharks is putting Pembroke and the Valley on the map. [CBC]

• (Insiders) Our food editor was at the Canadian Culinary Championship to see an Ottawa chef take the top prize.

• The brass imitation Battle of Billings Bridge plaque may have been taken down, but an enterprising citizen has taped up a tribute to the tribute in its place. [Twitter]

• Have you seen snow bears in the west end? Here’s the story of the woman creating them along the Kichi Sibi Winter Trail. [Kitchissippi Times]

• A new restaurant in Renfrew County is bringing a taste of the Caribbean to the valley. [CTV]

• Check out this west-end brewery for an Altbier that transported our food editor back to Germany.

• Want to have your announcement featured? Contact our partnership team for more info.

EVENTS

Your weekend guide

Music

GOTTA DANCE! - uOttawa Wind Ensemble in Concert, Thursday 7:30 pm: A night of music including Strauss Jr., Benson, Khachaturian, and Ginastera. At Pavillon Tabaret Hall, uOttawa 550 Cumberland St. Tickets are free.

Food

Ottawa Wine Auction, Friday 6:30 pm: In support of Music and Beyond’s annual programming, this auction is for collectors, connoisseurs, and even beginners. Tickets $50.

General

Valentine’s Day Wagon Rides, Tuesday 5 pm: The ByWard Market is putting on free wagon rides. Pickups at the William Street Performance Area. Free registration, sign up in person.

Culture

Migrating seeds, until March 11: A new exhibition exploring the relationship between Anishnaabe people and manoomin, wild rice, through sculpture, photography and an installation of wild rice seeds. To find out more, see this CBC story. At Gallery 101, 280 Catherine St. Admission is free.

TOP PHOTO

Today’s photo comes from reader André Martin, who sends in this shot of a lovely Winterlude ice sculpture…before it likely met its end thanks to the warm rain. There’s always next year!

Do you have a photo you’d like to share with the Lookout community? Send it in!

OTTAWA GAMES

Congrats to everyone who got last week’s Ottawa Wordle. The answer was BUSES, as in the city is getting rid of more than 100 older buses from its fleet.

For the news quiz we want to know something Canal related, because it looks like we won’t have any skating this season. In what year did the Canal open as a skateway? The first five people to write in with the correct answer will get their names mentioned in the next issue.

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