On October 24, voters in Somerset Ward will elect a new city councillor for 2022-26.
In each issue up to the election, The BUZZ will ask the candidates running in this ward one question about city issues important to this ward. If you have suggestions for future questions, email editor@centretownbuzz.ca.
This month, we ask:
“Having heard the testimony from the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Commission hearings in June and July, what do you think the city should have done to improve the chances of the Confederation Line operating well for riders?”
Stuart MacKay
Testing, testing, and testing. The biggest thing the City of Ottawa and OC Transpo should have done with the Confederation Line was to increase the testing period of the system to ensure that it was reliable, robust, and ready for riders.
We knew that the Alstom Citadis Spirit trains were a brand-new design, and had never been used before in any city in the world. Without a proven track record of performance, the city and OC Transpo should have demanded a longer testing period with the full complement of trains. The city and OC Transpo should also have insisted on lengthy and rigorous outdoor winter testing, to ensure that the trains and the track could function during Ottawa’s harsh winters.
Finally, the city and OC Transpo should have been much more transparent and prompt in relaying information about LRT testing and delays to councillors and the general public.
With Stage 2 of the LRT launching soon and Stage 3 on the horizon, Somerset Ward needs a councillor with significant transit experience and knowledge. With my experience as a co-founder of Ottawa Transit Riders and my work as an advocate for public transit, I will be ready on Day 1 to hold city staff and OC Transpo to account and ensure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.
I will fight for better communication, more transparency, and more accountability from the city and OC Transpo, so that Ottawa’s residents finally get the transit system they deserve.
Ariel Troster
Ottawa residents deserve public transit that is reliable, frequent, accessible and affordable. None of those things are happening right now and the problems with the LRT are a huge factor.
I don’t believe that the flawed P3 deal for the LRT was in the best interests of the city or of transit riders. Citizens deserve complete transparency when it comes to an ambitious and costly project of this nature. Especially when it has failed us repeatedly. Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back, the city should have:
1. Engaged in a fulsome and transparent testing phase – it is clear from what we are hearing in the public inquiry that there was pressure to launch the LRT before it was ready.
2. Brought the project under public ownership and management: public transit is a public asset and should not be a profit-making venture for large corporations.
3. Maintenance should have always been in-house: if we own the system, we should be able to fix it.
I am thankful that Catherine McKenney pushed so hard for a public inquiry into the LRT disaster. We would not be receiving the same level of transparency without it. All Ottawa residents deserve a functional public transit system that gets us where we need to go, on time. The next City Council will have a lot of work to do to make this happen.
I would like to see more dedicated bus lanes, more drivers hired, and a re-orienting of the system beyond the commuter model. For public transit to be a real option for people, it can’t take twice as long to get places and be more expensive than driving.
We need serious climate action in this city and investing in public transit is a huge tool for reducing emissions. That starts with ensuring that our LRT actually works – in all weather, every single day.
Brandon Russell
These hearings gave us a small window into how this city has handled, or mishandled in this case Ottawa’s LRT system. With more outages planned for mid-August it is clear the LRT needs a lot more than this city can provide under our current leadership. I am a huge fan of the LRT, in fact I use it almost every day, or at least when it’s not closed. I know firsthand how these outages have impacted families and our community.
This will be a Day 1 issue for me, with my background as a crisis manager I know when a crisis needs attention, and this crisis needs top-level attention. I want to start with an independent assessment, then assessments from OC Transport’s international competition. Thus allowing us to see what it would take to have transport to the standards of Vancouver or Toronto. I have also heard voters express their wants and needs for a water bus style transport on the Rideau canal. Allowing for this kind of transport could have a fantastic impact on our city. As your councillor I promise to listen to the needs and wants of our community, something that has been missing from this conversation.