I’m bringing a motion to Council today focusing on our citizen Advisory Committees and other volunteer bodies that advise Councillors on important issues.
The Council Governance report recommends staff review this, for the first time in 10 (or possibly 20) years. The current structure has existed since before amalgamation. The world is a very different place and our participatory processes should reflect our current reality...
I believe in citizen engagement. I believe that residents deserve to know how they are being listened to.
My motion has Councillors, not staff, take the lead on this review. It’s important to show that we value and respond to what the public has to say.
Aujourd’hui, je présente au Conseil une motion portant sur nos comités consultatifs de résidents et d’autres organismes bénévoles qui informent les conseillers et conseillères au sujet de questions importantes.
Le Rapport sur l’examen de la structure de gestion publique du Conseil recommande au personnel d’examiner cette question pour la première fois en 10 (ou peut-être 20) ans. La structure actuelle existe depuis avant la fusion. Le monde a beaucoup changé depuis et nos processus participatifs devraient refléter notre réalité actuelle.
Je crois en l’engagement des résidents. Je suis d’avis que les résidents méritent de savoir comment on les écoute.
Dans le cadre de ma motion, je propose que ce soit les conseillers et conseillères, et non les membres du personnel, qui dirigent cet examen. Il est important de montrer que nous accordons de la valeur à ce que le public a à dire et que nous y répondons.
Today, the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved my motion to improve road safety across Ottawa. Here's my motion:WHEREAS speeding continues to be one of the most significant road‑safety concerns raised by residents across the City of Ottawa, particularly in residential neighbourhoods and school zones where vulnerable road users, including children, are at heightened risk; and
WHEREAS recent City data has shown a substantial increase in speeding in school zones, with compliance dropping from 87 percent to 41 percent within a 12‑week period following the removal of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras, and high‑end speeding increasing from 0.3 percent to over 4 percent during the same period; and
Whereas speed data is an important input in understanding risk related to more serious collisions; and
WHEREAS the city’s current approach to collecting speed data is limited and does not provide a full picture of speeds across the roadway network, and
WHEREAS other jurisdictions across Canada and internationally are increasingly incorporating innovative, technology‑enabled, and data‑driven approaches—including, predictive analytics, and AI‑supported monitoring systems—to inform their road safety programs; and
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa is currently undertaking work to update the Road Safety Action Plan, which will guide the road safety priorities for the next term of Council; and
WHEREAS this work presents an opportunity to modernize and strengthen the inputs used to make informed data-driven decisions about road safety;
THERFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT staff, through the update to the City’s Road Safety Action Plan, leverage advanced data analytics, predictive modelling, and AI‑supported technologies, where appropriate, to enhance the City’s ability to identify, monitor, and respond to speeding trends and inform road safety priorities
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT staff consider speed management as a focus area when developing the Road Safety Action Plan that will be presented to Council in 2027.
Read the Year Three Progress ReportDear Neighbours,
I am pleased to provide you with the College Ward Annual
Progress Report, showing the work that we did in 2025. I work hard every day to represent you on the
issues that are important to our neighbourhoods.
I hope this Progress Report is informative of the projects we
took on last year, and that it demonstrates my continuing
transparency and accountability to you. There is still more
always to do, and I list some future areas of interest.
Warm regards,
Laine
The news this week wasn’t good. Thousands of bus trips cancelled again in February. LRT down to one train for the foreseeable future. When it comes to Ottawa’s public transit, it seems there’s never good news.
Even the announcement of progress on the LRT East project was met with cynicism, given that the trains that Line 1 uses continue to have “spalling” issues with the wheel assembly.
When will it end? And what am I – one of the members of OC Transpo’s governance body – going to do about it?
Since 2022, I’ve been wrestling with myself over a feeling of powerlessness about OC Transpo, in conflict with my ability as a decision maker to affect change.
I have residents who are suffering immeasurably from a lack of service. Algonquin College students have the biggest uptake of the U-pass of all of Ottawa’s post-secondary institutions, but they can’t get to and from classes reliably. Bells Corners’ routes were cut during the pandemic, and the subsequent elimination of the 200 series through the New Ways to Bus changes have completely isolated that community from transit.
