Finance committee shifts ward lines set by independent consultants - Action News
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Ottawa

Finance committee shifts ward lines set by independent consultants

Ottawa's finance committee voted on Tuesday to modifythe ward map that independent consultants produced for future municipal elections, despite cautions that politicians should not interfere except in minor ways.

Politicians wanted to address the representation concerns of francophone residents

Ottawa's finance committee approved redrawing lines for future wards so that rural villages Navan and Sarsfield can remain in a ward with the booming Orlanssuburbs to the south of Innes Road. (Kate Porter/CBC)

Latest

  • Ottawa city council approved new ward boundaries on Dec. 9, 2020 in a 17-6 vote.
  • No further changes were made beyond those at finance committee on Dec. 1.
  • Councillors who voted against: Egli, Fleury, King, Leiper, McKenney and Moffatt.

Ottawa's finance committee voted on Tuesday to modifythe ward map that independent consultants produced for future municipal elections, despite cautions that politicians should not interfere except in minor ways.

Mayor Jim Watson said the final decision for new ward boundaries falls with council and it needs to address residents' concerns, especially those of francophones in the rural east end.

"While [the consultants]did a very good job...councillors know their wards better than almost anyone else," said Watson.

The biggest modification was toshift lines significantly in the rural east, where residents decried the giant rural ward that had beenproposed. Many people addressed committee, relaying fears francophones would no longer be representedalong with residents inOrlansbut instead with rural residents as far away as Osgoodevillage.

Their new councillor, Cumberland's Catherine Kitts, heard those concerns "loud and clear" while campaigning this fall. She said having votes carry relatively the same weight among wards matters, but so dominority language rights.

So, finance committee approved bringing a rural swath that includes the villages of Navan and Sarsfield into a ward with growing suburbs in Orlans. Cumberland village was already to be joined to an urban Orlans ward in the north. That leaves onlyCarlsbad Springs and Varsvillages to join a rural ward with Osgoode.

Committee also approved moving the dividing line in Vanier from McArthur Road south to Donald Street. Eastway Gardens, a community with alphabet street names near the Via Rail station, was moved back into what is currently Alta Vista ward.

Finance committee made changes on Dec. 1 to this map proposed by consultants. The biggest change would see the ward called RW-6 stretch further east to capture a rural area that includes Sarsfield and Navan. (City of Ottawa)

But when it came to a motion to restore McKellar Park to what is currently Kitchissippi ward, as residents wanted, the committee voted against it. That leaves the boundaryat DenburyAvenue, as consultants propose. The councillorsin the area, Jeff Leiper and Theresa Kavanagh, questioned the consultants' underlying assumptions about how populations will grow in the area, especially with new developments around LRT in its second stage.

Only Coun. Scott Moffatt voted against the many changes, and he opposed the ward boundary recommendations themselves.

Council to grow to 24 wards

A few councillors who have no votes on the committee reminded colleagues that council had been told to stay out of the redrawing of electoral lines.

"I understand if it's a parking lot or a field... but councillors in my view should not be moving portions of the electorate in or out of their ward boundaries against the advice of independent experts we hired," said Capital ward's Shawn Menard.

Menard asked if it might lead the city to lose an appeal at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.

"Yes, we feel some of the changes do not achieve effective representation and would cause some difficulty in defending it," said ward boundaryconsultantGary Davidson.

McKellar Park residents wanted the boundary between what are currently Bay and Kitchissippi wards to remain at Sherbourne Road, but a finance committee voted down that motion. Consultants have moved the line to the east, because Kitchissippi's fast-growing population had to be addressed so that its councillor doesn't end up with too many residents. (City of Ottawa)

The city clerk has said ward boundary reviews are usually appealed. The mayor, meanwhile, expects the changes to be defensible.

As for the size of council, the approved plan would see it grow by a seat to 24. Watson would have preferred it remain at 23 seats plus a mayor. He had even wanted council to shrink, when first elected a decade ago.

"I tried that. It didn't work. I'm not going to rehash history," said Watson. He's happy with the new 24-seat map, because keeping council the same size "was not going to be possible given geographic considerations and population bursts in different parts of the city."

The proposed ward boundaries, and amendments made by finance committee,go to full council for a vote Dec. 9.

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