Newsletter Date Councillor’s Newsletter December 2, 2016 KEEPING YOU INFORMED Councillor’s View INSIDE THIS ISSUE Cookies with Santa this Saturday! 3 Dear Residents, Redblacks Celebration 4 Rink of Dreams Season Opening 5 There has been some discussion in the air this week Annual OC Transpo/Loblaws Christmas Food Drive 6 regarding the future location for the Civic Campus of Feedmill Creek Online Information Session 7 the Ottawa Hospital. Last week, the National Capital OC Transpo Service Changes this Month 7 Commission (NCC) approved the recommendation to Westbound 417 closed at March 11 relocate the campus to Tunney’s Pasture S.T.E.P. focus on Impaired Driving/Unsafe Lane Changes 12 Snow Mobiles on the TCT 12 The NCC decided upon this location based on a variety …and more! of factors including nearby Light Rail Transit (LRT) access, its close proximity to the region’s urban core, proposed medical facilities within the Ottawa area. It is multiple access points, smallest impact to natural, also important that any proposal which directly affects public recreation with a large variety of surface parking the health and safety of all Ottawa residents be received areas, and more. with a broad consensus from the public. As of so far, I do not believe that the Tunney’s Pasture location has However, many Ottawa residents feel that this location garnered that consensus. is too far away from major highway routes such as the 417, the current campus on Carling Avenue and the That said, I am happy to inform residents that today, ongoing-renovations of the Heart Institute adjacent to Mayor Watson along with the Federal National Capital the current campus on Ruskin Street (which plans to Region Government Caucus and the Ottawa Provincial remain where it is), thereby delaying services in times Government Caucus decided as a collective to ignore the of emergency. NCC’s recommendation and instead recommend the former Sir John Carling Building site as the preferred I agree with these concerns and as such, am not in location for the new Civic Campus. approval of the proposed location. This is great news not just for today but for the residents The City’s Emergency and Protective Services staff of Ottawa the next one hundred years who will benefit reassures residents that all of the twelve prospective from a better Civic Campus built in the best location for locations would be able to transport emergency an ever expanding City. patients to a Trauma Centre within the target time (30 minutes) as established by the Ministry of Health’s Field I hope that residents will be pleased with this news as I Trauma Triage Guide (FTTG) 90% of the time. And certainly am. With these steps in motion, I look forward although Tunney’s Pasture is among those locations, I to seeing the next phase of this process which will do believe that in an effort to ease concerns and ensure include presenting this decision to the Federal that access is as efficient as possible, that other government for approval. Until then, please do not locations be reconsidered in this decision. hesitate to share your thoughts with me at [email protected]. As Councillor for the Stittsville area, I believe it is -Shad imperative that our residents have ease of access to any Page 2 Keeping You Informed If you know a Stittsville resident of Ward 6 that would like to be added to my weekly electronic outreach list, please have them contact my office to ensure they receive pertinent information concerning our community. Further information about any of these articles can be found on my website or you can contact my office to obtain details. TO UNSUBSCRIBE PLEASE REQUEST TO BE REMOVED FROM MAILING LIST via [email protected] Is there something you like to see in a newsletter? If you have/know of any stories of interest in relation to Stittsville, I would love to hear them. Please share with me at [email protected]. Keeping You Informed Page 3 Councillor’s Annual Cookie Decorating and Visit with Santa! I am happy to invite all residents to my office’s annual Cookie Decorating and Santa Visit at the Goulbourn Recreation Complex (GRC) this upcoming Saturday, December 3rd between 9:00 and 11:00 AM. Word on the street is that Santa will be making a special appearance around 10:10 AM so make sure to arrive early. As is customary each year, Gingerbread cookies will be decorated and photographs will be taken with Santa Claus. This is one of my favourite events of the year as it celebrates the family togetherness which the holiday season always tends to bring out. The Gingerbread Cookie Decorating and Photo with Santa is an event my office and I host every year in December, giving residents and their families the opportunity to gather together and get into the Holiday spirit. The GRC will have a booth set up to provide free face painting and crafts during this morning event. I will also be taking this opportunity to announce the winners of my annual Christmas Card Contest where the work of four young artists will be sent to my mailing list. I hope many residents get a chance to visit with their children and enjoy this once a year event! Kindness Cards At tomorrow’s event, “Cookies with Santa”, Santa will be handing out Kindness Card to members of the community (in limited quantity). Kindness cards are an excellent way to acknowledge acts of kindness and encourage folks to pass kindness onto others. For example, you might decide to pick up the coffee tab for the car behind you in the drive through and leave the kindness card with the clerk to give to the person when they make their way to the window. The card acknowledges your act of kindness and asks the recipient to pay-it-forward. The exciting nature of the card is that it allows recipients to track the card’s acts of kindness. Once an individual receives the card along with an act of kindness, they can visit the website on the back of the card and enter their card’s unique UPC code; this allows them to view the previous acts of kindness passed on using their card as well as gives them an opportunity to enter the act of kindness they just received. Page 4 Keeping You Informed The Christmas season is all about giving and receiving, and the kindness card is an excellent way to spread that notion throughout the Stittsville community. For more information on the Kindness Card program, please visit http://www.kindcanada.org/kindness-cards Redblacks Celebration! I would like to take a quick opportunity to congratulate our Ottawa Redblacks, the newly crowned CFL champions on their Grey Cup victory! The team successfully defeated the Calgary Stampeders this past Sunday after a nail-biting game ending with a score of 39-33. I was fortunate enough to join Mayor Watson and my Councillor colleagues on a float at the Redblacks Celebratory Parade this past Tuesday. Over 40,000 people attended the celebration in high spirits. Congratulations to the team, the management and owners at OSEG (Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group), and everyone who helped to support our team to take home the cup in their third active year. We are all proud of you! Photo Credit: Wayne Cuddington/Postmedia Network) I would also like to thank the Ottawa Senators for recognizing the victory of the Redblacks in their pregame ceremony last evening at Canadian Tire Centre. The puck was dropped from the Grey Cup itself by Henry Burris and Brad Sinopoli for the opening faceoff. What a unique way to start a game! Keeping You Informed Page 5 Season Opening of Rink of Dreams This week, I had the great pleasure of joining Mayor Watson and my Councillor colleagues in attending the official season opening for the Ottawa Senators’ Rink of Dreams in front of Ottawa’s City Hall. Since its first opening on January 25th, 2012, the Rink of Dreams has provided an excellent skating opportunity for residents of the City of Ottawa each winter. The ice, which is maintained through a state-of-the-art refrigeration system, is a 12,500 square foot oval surface that can be enjoyed even when the Rideau Canal may be closed. Now is a great time to sharpen those skates and get some ice-time in before the Canal freezes over and opens up for the winter. It’s a great way to get some exercise and enjoy the beautiful lights that come alive at night. The season opening featured Ottawa Senators, Cyril Leeder, as well as former defenceman, Chris Phillips, former forward, Laurie Bauchman and of course, Spartacat. There was also a special performance by National skater, Chloe Bondar. I would like to congratulate the Senators on taking part in their 25th season here in Ottawa. Particularly following the Champion performance from our Ottawa Redblacks within the CFL football, it’s a great time to be a sports fan here in Ottawa and I look forward to cheering on more Ottawa teams as our players push themselves each and every game to be the best they can be and represent our community. Mayor’s 16th Annual Christmas Celebration If you’re looking for a Christmas Celebration downtown on December 3rd, residents are invited to Mayor Jim Watson’s annual Christmas party. Page 6 Keeping You Informed From 2:00-6:00 PM, join Ottawa City Hall to celebrate the winter fun before the weather gets too cold.