By Jeremy Chenier
While Centretown residents are concerned about municipal restructuring, some believe the creation of a mega-city is the best option.
“The principle of one big city is indisputable,” said Centretown resident David Gladstone at a recent forum on the issue, hosted by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.
Centretown residents at the Sept. 22 forum focused on issues including social services, municipal planning, representation in local government and cost sharing.
Most speakers from Centretown supported a one-city model, saying it would be best for the downtown core.
They rejected the three-city plan in which Nepean and Kanata would be combined into one city; Ottawa, Vanier and Rockliffe Park would merge into a second city; and Cumberland and Gloucester would form a third. They said the three-city model would present more problems to Centretown residents.
However, Gladstone expressed concern that amalgamation of any kind could harm Centretown.
Gladstone’s concern is that in a new larger city the planning that has been done for Centretown’s future could be swept aside.
He says Centretown is very dependent on the municipal plan but in a new city the priority placed on restoring the downtown could change and therefore harm Centretown.
“It’s very important for those plans to be maintained,” he said.
But others said that the three-city approach could hurt Centretown far more than the one-city model.
According to Peter Thorn, a member of the housing group Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, the three-city model would leave the downtown area with social problems that the new city could not pay for.
Currently, the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton foots the bill for many of the social services offered in Ottawa.
With a smaller tax base and far more homelessness than in the neighbouring cities, Thorn says the new Ottawa would not be able to even maintain the current level of service to the homeless.
“(Homelessness) would probably get worse,” he says.
Elisabeth Arnold, Ottawa city councillor for Somerset ward, is also concerned about what Centretown residents would have to pay for in a three-city system.
She argues that the region currently pays for many services that draw people into Ottawa from other cities.
If the region is eliminated, she says, Ottawa residents may have to pay for services used by residents of all three cities.
But Arnold also has other worries.
“In a larger system … will community voices continue to be heard?” she asks.
She says one city council would be more accountable than three, but she is concerned neighbourhood issues could be ignored by a large government.
However, she says local committees with no taxation powers could solve that problem by dealing with neighbourhood issues at the neighbourhood level.
As the region works toward a solution for municipal restructuring, Gladstone says the issues facing Centretown and the region as a whole must be properly debated.
“We have to make sure all the details are covered.”