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In Ottawa Centre, something sharp and bright materialized in Wednesday morning’s drizzle: a defining local issue in an aimless national election campaign.
Politics
Egan: NDP calls for Civic hospital inquiry — oh, the politics we would find – Ottawa Citizen
Things are crystallizing on this one big issue in Ottawa Centre.
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There was NDP candidate Angella MacEwen, in pink running shoes tucked beneath an instant podium, at Queen Juliana Park on the eastern end of the Central Experimental Farm, backdrop sumacs wearing their September reds.
MacEwen, a labour economist, is calling for a public inquiry into how this rolling green land near Dow’s Lake was chosen as the site of the new Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital.
“Why was this decision made and how did we get here?” she asked, mostly addressing a Facebook audience at a “press” conference. (There was one reporter present, one television camera operator, a few civilians literally running by, the odd dog.)
What to do about the future Civic, however, is the kind of instant referendum every riding needs at election time — a yes-or-no question that cuts through the campaign fog.
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First of all, it matters, obviously, where we put this $2.8-billion showpiece of health care. Secondly, the issue is easy for people to understand, unlike a binder of fairy-tale policies dropped from on high. Thirdly, the timing is fairly urgent.
And now we have two main candidates with different positions.
MacEwen briefly referenced the process by which the National Capital Commission evaluated more than a dozen sites in 2016, settling on the western side of Tunney’s Pasture, the 120-acre federal complex along the Ottawa River.
The hospital, among many, took one look and said, “No way,” and the Dow’s Lake site was taken as a compromise.
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Fighting to regain the seat once held by Paul Dewar, MacEwen said there had been no proper consultation with Indigenous Peoples and no justification as to why 50 or so acres of green space, perhaps 600 trees, needed to be bulldozed for a complex of concrete buildings.
“The best time to preserve our green space, as the saying goes, was 100 years ago. The second best time is now.”
Both she and MPP Joel Harden questioned why the plan does not have better transit integration and why it requires a 2,500-car parking garage — a “relic,” he called it — that would rise four storeys.
“I continue to hear from hundreds of residents, on the phone, on email, who are asking why would we do this in the middle of a climate emergency,” said Harden, who arrived on scene in his trademark cargo bike.
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Harden said it is not too late to pause the process. He said there are three elections (federal, municipal, provincial) scheduled before the main construction starts in 2024.
“That is straight-up fear-mongering,” he said of the “can’t-afford-to-delay” arguments.
Nor does he get very far at Queen’s Park or with federal colleagues, he added. “I hear the sound of one hand clapping when I raise this with decision-makers at all levels, and it’s unacceptable.”
MacEwen’s position to urgently apply the brakes (the start of the parking garage construction is roughly six months away) is in contrast to that of her main opponent, Liberal Yasir Naqvi.
He is calling for better consultation and public input on design, protection for the remainder of the farm and reinstatement of lost green space, but doesn’t support a review of the current location.
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(Realistically, how could he? He was part of the establishment that allowed TOH to reach this point: almost halfway through a five-stage process to have the campus completed by 2028.)
“No downtown site is perfect,” he writes, “and we cannot afford to relaunch a review process that will result in a decade of delays before we get this new hospital to serve the people of Ottawa.”
Neither has the Conservative candidate, Carol Clemenhagen, signalled that she would try to derail the current plan.
So things are crystallizing on this one big issue in Ottawa Centre. Voters can choose a candidate who wants to pause, explore and contemplate other locations or from a couple who want to proceed, but build better.
The location, and why not be real for a moment, probably isn’t changing. The point, though, is that voters now have choices about something important in their own backyard.
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The writing, in big letters, is right there: The process has been horribly political since it started. First the Tories handed the Civic an empty farm field, then the Liberals took it away, then a neutral process gave us Tunney’s, then it was swapped for the Farm-east, minus the crops.
So there’s your “public inquiry,” with a side-dish of “smite your enemies.” And, on a rain-washed morning when almost no one is listening, the hopeful sound of the old refrain: Politicians are the problem, politicians the only answer.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-291-6265 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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