University of Ottawa student Ted Horton poses a question to councillors, including Somerset Ward’s Diane Holmes, at the recent budget consultations at Lansdowne Park.
People should be more important than roads, councillors and city residents argued at a public consultation on the City of Ottawa’s 2009 draft budget.
Residents indicated they are “fed up” with the city’s cuts in the funding of municipal services in previous budgets while increasing its funding for road construction.
The consultation at Lansdowne Park brought together residents of five city wards, including Somerset.
The councillors present, including Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes, agreed.
“You are speaking to those already in agreement with you, but other councillors don’t think that way,” said Georges Bédard, councillor for the Rideau-Vanier ward.
Bédard said other councillors value roads more than they value social services.
One downtown resident said she went on waiting lists for child care as soon as she found out she was pregnant, but struggled to find day care for her now 10-month-old child.
She said that one child-care worker told her that most children do not get into daycare until they are 14 to 18 months old.
“It really irks me that soft services are always the first to get cut; that’s not the Ottawa I want to live in,” she said.
Under the proposed operating budget, city department spending on child care will decrease by 50 per cent.
Transit, parks and recreation and cultural services will sustain 71 per cent of operating cuts. These services make up 22 per cent of the total budget.
“We’re going to virtually gut all of our community services for $10 million,” said Clive Doucet, Capital ward councillor.
Funding for integrated roads and roadways will rise from $151 to $157 million in 2009.
“This is the way we’ve done it, and I’ve done it, for a decade, and it’s proving not to work,” said Peter Hume, councillor for Alta Vista ward.
Dale Harley, president of communications and public relations firm Harley House Consultants and former municipal councillor for the Osgoode Township, said the new roads are needed to improve access for emergency vehicles.
“To say that we need no new roads is an impossibility,” said Harley.
Holmes pointed out the city is currently unable to afford the resurfacing of existing roads, meaning that the new roads would eventually need to be rebuilt.
“I think it’s crazy that we are the road building capital of Canada,” said Doucet.
A majority of audience members were particularly concerned about cuts to arts and culture. Spending on cultural services will decrease by 75 per cent under the proposed budget.
Christina Tessier, director of the Bytown Museum, said the mere proposal of arts cuts has had a destabilizing effect because it shows that the city is not willing to give financial support to arts organizations.
“More and more people are leaving the arts sector because we are tired of trying to get money from you,” she said.
The hopelessness of the situation in the arts sector has influenced her to quit the arts sector after working in it for the past six years, said Tessier.
The councillors present agreed that the budget should not make further cuts to arts and culture. Doucet said it is an important source of revenue for the city.
“A new road is a 100-per-cent cost forever, whereas we return $55 million from the Tulip Festival alone to our city,” said Doucet.
One resident, a board member for the Ottawa Folk Festival, said arts and culture make the city a good place to live.
“This is literally the life and death of a Canadian city right now,” she said.