Category: Government

Messages from various levels of government.

Alcohol in Champlain Park: Have Your Say

Ottawa City Council unanimously approved a pilot project to allow personal consumption of alcohol in public parks at its meeting of June 11, 2025. Drinking in parks – with some restrictions – has been allowed for a number of years in some other cities, such as Vancouver and Toronto, and Council has agreed to try it in Ottawa for a few months this summer and fall.

[AI generated picture of beer in a plastic cup (no broken glass) on the grass in a park from DreamStudio.ai]

It’s up to councillors to nominate parks in their wards to participate in this pilot project. In his most recent newsletter, Kitchissippi ward Councillor Jeff Leiper wrote that, while he’s “not invested in making this happen,” he would like to choose at least one park in the ward to participate in the pilot project. One of his suggestions was Champlain Park.

The Champlain Park Community Association is not taking an official position on this issue — nor was it asked to by the City — but Coun. Leiper has asked for feedback on this idea. You can send him your thoughts at jeff.leiper@ottawa.ca

Here are the details of the pilot project:

Duration: July 1 to October 31, 2025

Permitted hours: Between 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Prohibited areas: Within 5 metres of a playground, wading pool, baseball diamond and sports field (Note that the greenspace at Champlain Park is not considered an official sports field by the City)

Other information to note:

  • The pilot only allows for personal consumption of alcohol (i.e. a beverage you bring for yourself). It does not allow serving or selling alcohol at the park, which continues to be prohibited without a permit issued by the city and the approval of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
  • Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs says the Ottawa Police Service does not support this initiative. You can read his letter to the city’s general manager of recreation, cultural and facility services here: OPS Chief Letter
  • Ottawa Public Health cautioned against the risks of “normalizing drinking in public spaces”, particularly for youth and young adults. You can read the OPH submission here: OPH Submission
  • The City of Toronto held its own pilot project in 27 parks in 2023. The program was made permanent last year in 45 parks, and another nine were added this year, for a total of 54. Toronto’s city staff reports few issues with its program so far. You can read a recent Toronto staff report on its program here: Monitoring Update: Alcohol in Parks

Ward Forum – June 4

From our city councillor Jeff Leiper’s office…

Ward Forum June 4!

The Kitchissippi Ward Forum is returning for a spring edition on Wednesday June 4, again at Bayview Yards. We are delighted to announce that the keynote speaker will be the City’s General Manager of Transit Services, Renée Amilcar.

Doors will open at 6:30 pm, followed by a presentation and Q and A with Ms. Amilcar beginning at 7pm.

Local community association leaders will be invited to provide updates from their respective neighbourhoods. Other community organizations and City staff – and Councillor Leiper – will also be on hand to answer any questions you might have.

City Zoning By-Law Draft 2 Feedback Sessions

via Heather, via city councillor Jeff Leiper’s Kitchissippi newsletter…

The City of Ottawa is inviting residents to review and provide feedback on the Draft 2 of the new Zoning By-law. Residents are encouraged to review and comment on Draft 2 of Ottawa’s new Zoning By-law by visiting the project’s EngageOttawa page and to attend online and at virtual and in-person open-house events.

How to Participate
Residents can explore Draft 2 online and attend one of the upcoming open houses:
Continue reading “City Zoning By-Law Draft 2 Feedback Sessions” →

Ottawa Centre All Candidates Debate – April 15

Via Robert B…

A candidates’ debate will be held April 15 featuring the prime candidates contesting the federal seat of Ottawa Centre. The event is being organized by a quartet of community associations (Glebe, Centretown, Old Ottawa East and Old Ottawa South).

Residents of Champlain Park are invited to attend, watch on cable TV, stream on YouTube and to submit their questions for candidates. Details are in the poster attached, which you may wish to circulate in your community.

[Admin stuff – Funding, Contact info, etc.]

[Poster for the debate]
FederalAllCandidatesDebatePoster250415.pdf

See Elections Canada https://www.elections.ca/ to find out more about voting procedures and the Monday April 28th 2025 federal election.
[Elections Canada web site screen shot April 8, 2025]

Growing Things next to the Road?

Just Food have a campaign to allow food growing on city boulevards.

It would allow food plants to be grown on right-of-way boulevards. These areas are the city-owned strips of land that encroach on most city residential front lawns (near a curb or sidewalk) it also includes verge gardens between the sidewalk and the road.

[Illustration of road and houses, showing where the boulevard goes]

Last Thursday the city’s public works and infrastructure committee voted in favour of changing the bylaw to allow growing food on these pieces of land.

A final vote on the bylaw will go to full council next month.

The city’s take on it can be found here: https://engage.ottawa.ca/residential-boulevard-gardening. Just Food have a few changes they’d like to see: https://justfood.ca/bylawupdates – Just Food wants a greater variety of plants while still keeping visibility for road users.

If you either support or oppose the bylaw you can contact Jeff Leiper as soon as possible before the vote goes goes before city council.

NCC Bike Days revised hours along Kichi Zībī Mīkan

The National Capital Commission has announced the NCC Weekend Bike Days for 2025. The Champlain Park Traffic Safety Committee is pleased to say that the bike days along the Kichi Zībī Mīkan will be on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 8:00 to noon, As per the announcement below, the bike days start on May 10th this year and continue to October 13.

https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/news/plan-your-summer-staycation-ncc-weekend-bikedays-begin

We hope that by the bikedays ending at noon as opposed to 5:00 pm, we will avoid the congestion problems we have seen over the past couple of years. The Traffic Safety Committee will monitor the situation and report any issues to the NCC, the City or Police as we deem necessary.

As always, traffic safety is the concern of all of us, so if you see something the police need to be aware of, please use the following link to submit a report to the Ottawa Police Service, in the Traffic Complaint category. https://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/reports-and-requests/file-a-report.aspx

Champlain Park Traffic Safety Committee

Snow and Sidewalks

For a bit of winter amusement, here are pictures of Daniel Avenue after the recent 60cm snowfall, one part of the avenue has sidewalks, and one doesn’t. Notice how the sidewalk road is hemmed in by snow banks, because the sidewalks prevent the snow from being pushed onto lawns.

[Daniel Avenue South with less Road Space due to Sidewalks]
Southern end of Daniel Avenue, with sidewalks and not much road remaining.
[Daniel Avenue North with more Road Space]
Northern end of Daniel Avenue, with more road space. Cars can even pass here!

And finally, I can hear you complaining to the city that the snow needs to be removed, and a day later we see this:

[Daniel Avenue North with Snow Removal Signs]
Snow Removal Signs Sprouting on Daniel Avenue.

And that’s what winter snow looks like on the streets in our neighbourhood in 2025.

Ottawa Centre All Candidates Debate – February 20

An all candidates debate for the provincial riding of Ottawa Centre is scheduled for Thursday February 20, at the Glebe Community Centre. It’s located at 175 Third Avenue (at Lyon Street South). Doors open at 6:30 pm with the debate starting promptly at 7:00 pm. It’s also being streamed on Rogers and YouTube.

[Poster for All Candidates Debate]
2025 Ontario Provincial Election Ottawa Centre All Canidates Debate.pdf

The event is organized by Glebe Community Association, Centretown Community Association, Old Ottawa South Community Association and Old Ottawa East Community Association.

Election Day is Thursday February 27th

[Cardboard ballot box for an Ontario provincial election]
Photo from Elections Ontario, which has more information about the election, including when and where to vote and examples of accepted ID. See https://www.elections.on.ca/.