Re: Build the bridge — now
Submitted to the Ottawa Citizen:
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No construction jobs before late 2011
Re: Build the bridge – now
The only jobs that will benefit from the next phase of the Interprovincial Crossings project are those of the consultants conducting the environmental assessment. The vast majority of the work – the actual construction – would not start for at least two and a half years, only after the environmental assessment has been completed and contracts have been awarded.
Not one construction job would be created by this project before late 2011. And who knows what the economy has in store for us then.
But one thing is certain. The next phase of the project, regardless of which options are taken forward, will do little to bolster our current economic state.
So stop pinning your hopes for an economic recovery on a quick bridge decision. It’s not the miracle cure that you portray it to be.
Christophe Credico
Ottawa
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February 9th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Dear Christophe,
You’ve hit dead on and I agree with your comment 100%. It is so ridiculous and I would say even irresponsible for The Citizen to try to make its readers believe that a quick decision equates instant job creation. It is such short term thinking. At the rate the city is growing, we need a bridge for tomorrow’s expanded Ottawa and so we must look further eastward.
In any event, no matter where the bridge is built, it will have the same impact on job creation. In fact, perhaps tying the bridge in to an industrial sector (such as Canotek) would have an even greater and lasting economic impact.
I don’t understand why The Citizen is backing so strongly the Kettle Island option. I’d like to know who signs their position paper and if they have some sort of vested interest in seeing the bridge built there.
Jack Aquilina
February 9th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
The main editorial writer is Ken Gray, who has commented extensively about the bridge. Interestingly, the former publisher of the Citizen is Russell Mills, currently NCC chairman. Below is a column by Mr Gray, from October 25, 2007, “The making of modern Ottawa: The capital created by the planners of the ’40s and ’50s represents a triumph of the car, and a failure of sustainable development” (http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=8a748cd9-7bd5-428d-a510-ec9f7e3de77c)
February 9th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Christophe is dead on in debunking the Citizen`s notion that the construction of this bridge is going to occur in time to contribute to the economic recovery in the short run. The environmental assessment process will ensure that no spades will be in the ground for a few years even if Kettle Island goes ahead.
The provinces of Ontario and Quebec quite rightly smell a rat with the Kettle Island option and are reasonably asking that the three top options be considered with proper weighting being given to communities, economic development and public transit. Kettle Island fails on all three.
The bridge issue has been around for many years. If the NCC had acted sooner, we would probably by now have had a bridge a Petrie Island – the first choice in an earlier study. Another few months to get it right this time around is worth the wait. It makes no sense to throw $500 million at a solution that simply shifts the King Edward truck problem into another residential neighbourhood only a few blocks away, still leaves 40% of the trucks on King Edward and diverts Gatineau commuter traffic onto an already gridlocked 417. Oh yes, and no link to public transit.
One wonders if Russell Mills is still writing the editorials on this one at the Citizen.