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The federal Liberal cabinet should quash a decision by a regulator compelling the City of Ottawa to fix the Prince of Wales Bridge, Mayor Jim Watson says.
The city is taking a double-barrelled approach in its fight against a Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) order. On top of asking for help from cabinet, the city is also asking the Federal Court of Appeal to consider hearing an appeal.
The CTA order, sent to the city last month, orders the city to restore the rail line north of Bayview station, including the Prince of Wales Bridge, so that it would be operable within 12 months of the agency giving running rights to another rail company, or to discontinue the line altogether.
The order follows a 2016 complaint by the Moose Consortium, which raised concerns about the city removing tracks while building the joint Confederation Line-Trillium Line station. Moose (Mobility Ottawa-Outaouais: Systems and Enterprises) wants to run a privately financed regional rail system and has eyed the Prince of Wales Bridge as an interprovincial link.
In a letter sent Tuesday to federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau, Watson wrote that the CTA made the order without considering ongoing discussions between the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, including local MPs, about connecting the OC Transpo and STO transit networks using the bridge.
“You can certainly appreciate the city’s surprise and disappointment in being asked to make this unfortunate ‘either or’ determination at this point in time,” Watson wrote.
Watson also said he doesn’t believe there are viable rail operators that could use the railway.
The Canada Transportation Act allows appeals directly to cabinet.
A spokesperson for Garneau confirmed his office has received Watson’s letter and “will follow due process,” but wouldn’t comment further.
At city hall, Watson said it doesn’t make sense for the city to spend millions now to upgrade the bridge when it’s not ready to run trains to Gatineau, especially when the city’s third phase of LRT is projected to be to Kanata.
As Watson described it, “Phase 3A” would be to Kanata and “Phase 3B” would be to Gatineau.
The city doesn’t have money to fix the bridge. It doesn’t even have money yet to build LRT to Kanata.
With no work planned, the city contends that the CTA’s order simply isn’t doable under current funding constraints.
“We don’t believe that the decision is fair for the City of Ottawa and for our taxpayers,” Watson said. “We have every intention, as I’ve said on many occasions, of using that bridge. We want to have the O-Train go over to Taché Boulevard Rapibus station so we have a more seamless transition between people who work in Gatineau and live in Ottawa, and vice versa.”
Watson still thinks a cycling and walking path across the bridge is out of the question.
“I believe that would be a complete waste of tax dollars to do something like that for $10 million and a few years down the road we have to rip it up and put rail in for the rail system,” Watson said, adding that the city has an obligation to seal up the bridge and keep people off until it’s ready for trains.
Aileen Duncan, a Centretown resident who started a petition in 2016 to keep the bridge open, said people just want to know the city’s intentions for the crossing. The city had to block the bridge to pedestrians to protect its liability, but the fences keep getting cut.
Duncan acknowledged the difficulty with the bridge having an active railway designation and she sees positive signs in the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau talking about its future, but she predicted the “landmark” bridge will again become a flashpoint as the warmer months approach.
“It’s my impression that the public wants clarity on what the city intends to do with this bridge,” Duncan said.
“This bridge isn’t going away.”
jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling
查看原文...
The city is taking a double-barrelled approach in its fight against a Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) order. On top of asking for help from cabinet, the city is also asking the Federal Court of Appeal to consider hearing an appeal.
The CTA order, sent to the city last month, orders the city to restore the rail line north of Bayview station, including the Prince of Wales Bridge, so that it would be operable within 12 months of the agency giving running rights to another rail company, or to discontinue the line altogether.
The order follows a 2016 complaint by the Moose Consortium, which raised concerns about the city removing tracks while building the joint Confederation Line-Trillium Line station. Moose (Mobility Ottawa-Outaouais: Systems and Enterprises) wants to run a privately financed regional rail system and has eyed the Prince of Wales Bridge as an interprovincial link.
In a letter sent Tuesday to federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau, Watson wrote that the CTA made the order without considering ongoing discussions between the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, including local MPs, about connecting the OC Transpo and STO transit networks using the bridge.
“You can certainly appreciate the city’s surprise and disappointment in being asked to make this unfortunate ‘either or’ determination at this point in time,” Watson wrote.
Watson also said he doesn’t believe there are viable rail operators that could use the railway.
The Canada Transportation Act allows appeals directly to cabinet.
A spokesperson for Garneau confirmed his office has received Watson’s letter and “will follow due process,” but wouldn’t comment further.
At city hall, Watson said it doesn’t make sense for the city to spend millions now to upgrade the bridge when it’s not ready to run trains to Gatineau, especially when the city’s third phase of LRT is projected to be to Kanata.
As Watson described it, “Phase 3A” would be to Kanata and “Phase 3B” would be to Gatineau.
The city doesn’t have money to fix the bridge. It doesn’t even have money yet to build LRT to Kanata.
With no work planned, the city contends that the CTA’s order simply isn’t doable under current funding constraints.
“We don’t believe that the decision is fair for the City of Ottawa and for our taxpayers,” Watson said. “We have every intention, as I’ve said on many occasions, of using that bridge. We want to have the O-Train go over to Taché Boulevard Rapibus station so we have a more seamless transition between people who work in Gatineau and live in Ottawa, and vice versa.”
Watson still thinks a cycling and walking path across the bridge is out of the question.
“I believe that would be a complete waste of tax dollars to do something like that for $10 million and a few years down the road we have to rip it up and put rail in for the rail system,” Watson said, adding that the city has an obligation to seal up the bridge and keep people off until it’s ready for trains.
Aileen Duncan, a Centretown resident who started a petition in 2016 to keep the bridge open, said people just want to know the city’s intentions for the crossing. The city had to block the bridge to pedestrians to protect its liability, but the fences keep getting cut.
Duncan acknowledged the difficulty with the bridge having an active railway designation and she sees positive signs in the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau talking about its future, but she predicted the “landmark” bridge will again become a flashpoint as the warmer months approach.
“It’s my impression that the public wants clarity on what the city intends to do with this bridge,” Duncan said.
“This bridge isn’t going away.”
jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling
查看原文...
