Stop The Kettle Island Bridge

Rideau-Rockcliffe election candidates offer positions on the bridge

Over the past weeks, the MPCA bridge committee has met with many Rideau-Rockcliffe municipal election candidates to discuss the interprovincial crossings project.  Following these meetings, candidates were invited to formally submit a written position for posting on this website.

Submissions received from  candidates will be posted here, and this posting will be updated as we receive additional feedback.
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Pierre Maheu:
“To summarize our discussion that we had at Bridgehead, I am in support of a tunnel to alleviate the heavy truck traffic downtown. As I stated, it has to be big enough to accommodate “several” lanes of traffic.”
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Corry Burke:
“There is no question that the issue of transport truck volume along the King Edward corridor is a significant one. Averaging in excess of 2000 transport vehicles a day, the residents and businesses in that area are unduly penalized by the lack of an appropriate route for interprovincial crossing. In light of the experience in that corridor, it is abundantly clear that residential communities and heavy truck transport are not meant to coexist. Any proposed solution that does not alleviate this situation 100% should not be considered viable.

The Kettle Island route, so-called Option 5, does nothing to alleviate this issue, all it serves to perform is a movement of the issue 2km east, through numerous established communities, businesses, and environmentally sensitive areas. A $500 million dollar investment in infrastructure should improve the quality of life for all, not for a few, while damaging that same quality of life for others. If the federal and provincial governments are engaged in supporting the best option, not just the most convenient option to them, it is incumbent upon the community to communicate what that should be. We cannot assume they are aware of our perspective, we must make certain they know the breadth of our knowledge and our collective commitment to the issue. Unified in charting a sustainable solution for the communities on both sides of the Ottawa River is how we all win. Stay engaged and stay vigilant.

As a candidate for councillor of Rideau-Rockcliffe ward, I would make the resolution of this issue my number one priority, making the City Hall council office the central hub for all activity related to finding a unified solution. I would accept this as my mandate and my responsibility to fulfill in conjunction with those already engaged in the endeavour.”
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Peter Clark:
“As Regional Chair (1991-97) I never supported or voted on Kettle Island as an interprovincial crossing.

This transportation corridor belongs in a more under-populated area. An area with room for creative and sustainable transport optiona that discourage increased commuter traffic.”
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Richard Cannings:
Ottawa, ON, September 28.2010 —–Richard Cannings, a candidate for City Council, finds Mayor O’Brien’s remark on CFRA that there is nothing much the city can do to stop the bridge, appalling.

“This is just another example of regional interests running rough-shod over well-established communities in the older inner city” Cannings said.

“How is that bridge a remedy? Are the people in the downtown core second-class citizens? Is shuttling cars with one occupant and 18-wheelers back and forth to Quebec more important than quality of life in Manor Park and its neighbors?”

Cannings is fed up with decision-makers going madly off in all directions. “Yes, we have a traffic congestion problem”, he stated. “But no, you don’t clomp all over Manor Park and New Edinburgh with concrete and steel to solve the problem.”

Cannings recalled an editorial by The Citizen’s Ken Gray who wrote that if Ottawa is beautiful in the city core, it’s not because of anything the city has done. Gray’s opinion is that if we carve out the inner city to satisfy the sprawling suburbs with their continuously expanding traffic we might as well be Mississauga-on-the-Rideau.

Looking back at a similar situation in Toronto, in 1971 Premier Bill Davis cancelled the Spadina Expressway and famously stated that “if we are building a transportation system to serve the automobile, the Spadina Expressway would be a good place to start. But if we are building a transportation system to serve people, the Spadina Expressway is a good place to stop”.

A long time resident of Manor Park, Cannings is a candidate in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward. He served on Council from 1991-2000 and has always opposed the Kettle Island site. When the proposal came to the table he mobilized his troops to mount a successful campaign including signs bearing the slogan “Communities Over Bridges”.
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Sheila Perry:
As our City grows, it needs to grow in a smart, sustainable way. Development must be reasonable and respect Heritage, City Zoning. Intensification and Urban Design must respect community values and environment. Transportation and development that is focused along existing major arteries will limit the pressure for urban sprawl. Important issues include: promoting safe pedestrian and cycling networks that link neighbourhoods, resolving transportion issues, including the LRT and the east end bridge challenge. A Kettle Island bridge location and a corridor that disrupts the quality of life of residents in the area is not appropriate. A better solution must be found with all political partners: NCC, Federal, Provincial and Municipal.
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