Yasir Naqvi
I was thrilled to host my first annual Ottawa Centre Cup event at St. Luke’s Park in Centretown. This community event provided an opportunity to promote sports, youth and inclusion with a basketball game and a community barbecue.
The event opened with an Indigenous drumming ceremony by Theland Kicknosway, an educator and leader, who shares Indigenous history and culture in everything he does. This was followed by two basketball games. First, the Christie Lake Kids Team took the game with the St. Luke’s youth team 62 to 41. Then the St. Luke’s Bulls beat the OC Express by a score of 72-43, with the Bulls winning the cup.
Downtown Ottawa Revitalization Task Force
This summer we also launched the Downtown Ottawa Revitalization Task Force. Following the last two years of pandemic hardship, downtown Ottawa has changed significantly.
Downtown office workers from communities across the region have changed their commuting habits. A business community that once relied on daily foot traffic in the tens of thousands is struggling to get by. Ottawa’s transit system, once envisioned to bring workers from the suburbs to downtown, has yet to re-gain its pre-pandemic ridership.
Recognizing this, it became clear that now is the time to bring together community and business representatives to propose creative ideas for Ottawa’s downtown core, post-pandemic.
The Downtown Ottawa Revitalization Task Force includes affordable/social housing advocates, not-for-profit and for-profit housing developers, Indigenous leaders, sustainability advocates, local business improvement area representatives, and tourism stakeholders. You can read more about this at bit.ly/3QXj3c9. Meetings will be held over the next four months. Please feel free to share your ideas that will help revitalized our downtown.
I have also been able to get out to meet and hear from residents. These community check-ins have provided an opportunity for me and my team to speak with residents about the issues that matter most and to let people know what services they can access through our community office, such as help with immigration or other federal government files.
Protecting the Central Experimental Farm
The House of Commons will also be back in session on September 20 with much work ahead to be done. Local priorities will include supporting affordable housing projects in our community by developing partnerships with non-profit housing organizations and leveraging federal funding.
I also look forward to following the progress of Bill C-23, the Historic Places of Canada Act to respect places, persons and events of national historic significance or national interest, archeological resources, and cultural and natural heritage. This includes the Central Experimental Farm. I remain committed to supporting legislation that will protect the Farm from any further future development.
My community office is located in Hintonburg. Please don’t hesitate to visit, or call at 613-946-8682 or email at Yasir.Naqvi@parl.gc.ca.