Archive 1997-2016
Putting school closures off a year may not be enough to save Ottawa’s downtown Catholic schools.
As suburbs rapidly expand, downtown schools could still be sacrificed for new suburban schools.
The Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board announced the recommended closure of 10 schools Nov. 5, including Centretown’s St. Mary elementary school. The board at a meeting this week decided to delay any closure decision until next March.
It didn’t even make the front page. Miriam Chrétien, 6, and her little sister Audrey, 3, shot to death in the wee hours of the morning of Sept. 30, 1998.
Shot. By their father. Rene Chrétien, 32, who then turned the gun on himself.
And the Ottawa Citizen didn’t even put the story on the front page. Relegated to the City section, the Oct. 1 headline read “Distraught father kills self, 2 daughters.” The article clarifies, stating Chrétien was “distraught over the breakup of his marriage.”
Are we all supposed to be stupid? The City of Ottawa wants to dump the prime location of the Centretown public library property by selling it to Cadillac Fairview Corp. and then lease it back?
According to Mayor Jim Watson, the city would then be off the hook for further building maintenance and renovation and only have to buy books and computers. The library is looking for $10 million to renovate and add more shelf and meeting space. Are we to believe that Cadillac Fairview Corp. will shell out $10 million to renovate the library building and upgrade it in future? I don’t think so, as it is not in the business of providing library services or any other public services.
Why do local governments always insist on looking just at the bottom line? Negotiations to sell the main branch of the public library and lease it back from Cadillac Fairview Development Corp. reflects the current trend of the abdication of responsibility over public services by government.