By David MacGillivray
The Green Party believes they have found the root of Ottawa’s problem.
The Greens want local communities to be given new powers over development, traffic regulation and pollution, as well as a restoration of funding for public transit.
Chris Bradshaw, the Ottawa Centre candidate, says the problem is too much power in the hands of the provincial government.
“Much of the history of government has been to jump in and say the local council was doing something wrong and to take away the autonomous power to make those decisions,” he says.
Bradshaw, 51, is retired and has lived and worked in Ottawa Centre for 24 years. He is the founder of Ottawalk, a walkers’ advocacy group. This is his first time running in an election.
Bradshaw says if he were elected, he work to give cities the power to lower the speed limit in residential areas, with funding for new signs from the province. He would give the cities the power to license bicycles, and charge for those licenses, as well as giving decision making power back to school boards.
Bradshaw is also devoted to making the streets safer by finding ways to reduce the amount of traffic on the roads.
He would also follow the Green Party policy of making the environment a factor in all decision making.
These promises follow along the main themes of the party, namely devolving decision making powers onto cities and communities while supporting them with the provincial tax base.
Cities and communities would also be given the power to re-write zoning by-laws so they could specify exactly what kind of business a neighbourhood needs, be it a drug store, grocery or garage, rather than simply zoning a lot commercial, industrial or residential.
“People believe this somehow takes away the rights of business owners. I say it gives them the right to fail more often than it gives them the right to succeed,” he says.
Bradshaw says site specific zoning would guarantee customer loyalty, while reducing the number people who use a car to shop.
To pay for the restructuring of government, the Green Party has promised to tax industrial polluters, people using cars, and more heavily taxing alcohol and cigarettes.
The Ontario Green Party estimates it will be two more elections before their first member is elected to Queen’s Park.