Issues at a Glance
Fix the Roads
Ottawa’s roads and sidewalks carry our most precious cargo—our families! By prioritizing road and sidewalk repairs in Ward 9, we will not only keep our streets safe, and vehicles in good condition, but also create jobs and opportunities for commercial growth in our community.
Get LRT Back on Track
Ottawa’s LRT project has been a complete disaster from the outset.
If you remember when city council was voting on Phase 2 of the LRT, Phase 1 was a complete mess. The public was demanding that we talk about the vote. Council ended up pushing the vote through with very little public consultation. As a result, Phase 2 ended up just as problematic as Phase 1.
Well, guess what is coming in January 2023. If you said Phase 3, you are correct. The Provincial and Federal funding is expiring and there will be a lot of pressure for the 50% new council to vote yes in fear of losing this funding.
Let’s not keep making the same mistakes. If we are lucky, Phase 2 will be complete in 2 years. James proposes that we put Phase 3 on hold and that we complete Phase 1 and Phase 2 first.Once we have completed both phases, we do an analysis on the project and learn from our mistakes and then put our best foot forward for Phase 3.
City council needs responsible leadership to provide proper oversight and risk management. The people of Ottawa deserve full transparency when it comes to the LRT project and a clear plan to get it back on track.
Stop the Run-Away-Debt
James vows that any issue that comes to city hall that is adding to our debt will get a NO vote from him.
James needed to go through the Mayor’s office to get this information. Our debt in 2010 was only $700 million and it is now “3 Billion”. In 12 short years it has more than quadrupled. Also, as a result, we are now paying over $240 million a year to service this debt. This is with low interest rates. Every year our debt increases instead of being paid off. If this continues, it is inevitable that our taxes will also skyrocket.
Imagine having only one year with an extra $240 million. How many dream projects could we accomplish?
Stop the Slate
HorizonOttawa.ca has recruited a slate of far left candidates, many of whom are affiliated with the NDP past and present. Also, many NDP MPP’s have been seen knocking on doors with members of this coalition. Regardless of how you vote provincial or federal, I’m sure that you will agree, provincial and federal political parties have no business getting themselves neck deep in city politics. This is an affront to transparency and accountability. If they are playing political games before even getting elected, imagine the damage that they will do if elected.
Among the Horizon Ottawa far left slate are Catherine McKenney and twice NDP candidate Sean Devine.
Council candidates who commit to support a Mayoral candidate now, as part of a slate or coalition of candidates, will vote in lockstep with that Mayor no matter the issue. Forget about meaningful public consultation, transparency, and accountability. As we’ve seen, slate politics is about deception, strong-arming and backroom deals. Some issues that are affiliated with the slate are: defunding the police, removing R1 zoning, free transit for all.
Many people are against the province giving the Mayor more power. Now imagine also having a slate of candidates beholden to them.
There can be no accountability without transparency. Ottawa needs a City Council that will be honest with its residents, consult regularly and in a meaningful way. A Council that is willing to work together to solve our mutual problems.
James is committed to being an independent voice for residents of old-Nepean in Ward 9: Knoxdale-Merivale. He will never join a slate of candidates or vote as part of a block at Council because he believes Councillors should only be beholden to the residents of their ward, and no one else.
Save our R1 Zoning
James has some critical words for Mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney’s platform. R1 Zoning is protecting single family homes. The elimination of the R1 Zone that Catherine McKenney is proposing will harm many of old-Nepean’s beautiful neighborhoods in Ward 9. James grew up here and continues to live here now and he does not want to see developers taking over.
James proclaims support for keeping R1 Zoning to protect old-Nepean’s neighbourhoods from cart blanche development.
By removing the R1 Zoning, the city is giving private builders cart blanche access to all our neighbourhoods. We need to stop allowing developers the ability to decide how the zoning will change. The city needs to follow their short and long term plan and clearly define how neighbourhoods will be rezoned. Also, there are many steps to take between single family homes and high-rise condominiums. We are missing Duplexes, Triplexes, 4-plexes and 6-plexes. It’s time to start some responsible planning.
Mr. Dean supports intensification along the LRT, transit corridors and along major roads like Merivale Road in Ward 9. As the largest municipality in Canada, Ottawa has plenty of space to intensify and add new affordable housing without destroying its mature neighborhoods. He doesn’t think it’s appropriate to build apartment buildings deep inside our neighbourhoods. The City of Ottawa needs a better plan that allows for affordable housing to be built, but which also doesn’t harm our existing neighborhoods.
Housing you can Afford
House prices and rent have become too expensive in Ottawa. As an award-winning Real Estate Agent, I have unique experience and insight into this problem. I will make this a top priority for my term at City Hall.
Freeze Taxes and Respect Taxpayers
Ottawa residents pay enough. Inflation is hitting people hard. We need a council that will rein in spending and hold the line on frivolous spending.
Alternative Transit Solutions
We have eight corridors of existing railways running through the city. These corridors converge at the VIA station just minutes from downtown. Utilizing the existing heavy rail infrastructure with the new LRT is a solution that will last for many years.
Youth in our Community
Our community centres, religious centres, cultural groups, sports teams, and many more organizations all make up smaller communities within the neighbourhood. The advantage of partnering with these existing groups is that the infrastructure and mentors are already in place and require little funding from the tax payer to get a great return on investment. A dollar invested in our youth today will come back to us tenfold in the future in Police budgeting.
Guns and Gangs are a growing issue in Ottawa. When I am elected, I will make it my mission to ensure that the youth have somewhere affordable to go with mentors that they can look up to. We must take responsibility for the future and demonstrate that we value them now, and in their future.
Some Green Initiatives
- Green space is critical for good health.
- Increase our parks with more splash pads and working washrooms.
- Solar powered lights at dog parks
- Solar powered splash pads.
- Plant more trees in neighbourhoods that have lost a lot in recent storms. Pineglen, Trend Arlington, Craig Henry are a few.
- Park and ride lots for bicycles and walking
- Park and ride lots near our LRT stations.
- More Central Park type parks with ponds, trees and walking and running paths.
- Focus on completing our LRT correctly and encourage people to use it.
- A complete transit network that works.
- Multi use pathways. Bicycle and walking park and rides
- waste to energy initiatives. I was sad to see Plasco not end up working. Are there any other alternatives.
- We need to make walking and cycling much safer especially for our school children. They are crossing very busy roads and in some cases don’t even have cross walks are crossing guards.
- Work from home gets cars off the roads.
- Electric vehicle chargers in all paid city parking lots.