Your City, Your Call

Mayor Sutcliffe is calling on the federal and provincial governments to give the City of Ottawa a handout. He knows that’s not going to happen, but it helps deflect the blame from the City’s poor management of your tax dollars.

Instead, Sutcliffe could take responsibility for City spending. He says we can’t pay for transit. But we have $493 million to renovate Lansdowne? Or $596 million to help developers create a new sub-division called Tewin?

Sutcliffe has asked you to sign a petition calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Ford to bail out the City of Ottawa.

Here's a better idea. Sign this petition calling for a binding referendum to let Ottawa taxpayers decide if they want to renovate Lansdowne.

Council will make its final decision on Lansdowne in late 2025. This is far from being a done deal.

Sutcliffe says that you, the people of Ottawa, want to spend on Lansdowne. Given it will cost us $20 million a year, equal to a 1% property tax increase, many don't believe that.

Prove us wrong, Mr Mayor. Put $493m for Lansdowne to a binding referendum.

I'm Neil. I'm part of the ragtag group of the community volunteers working to hold City Hall to account. I'm a director at CitySHAPES, where we build better cities. You can follow me on two weekly Substacks. Fix Your City, co-authored with Catherine McKenney, and the 613.

I spent a career in public finance, at the Department of Finance Canada and as the G20's Chief Economist for infrastructure. Now I'm focused on building a better Ottawa.

(I'm not the person who posts on X as A Better Ottawa. They're great.)

Lansdowne and Tewin are sweetheart deals for some of the wealthiest developers in Ottawa. People who got Mark elected. The Money.

We are the Many. Our superpower is strength in numbers.

The Many can defeat the Money.

Sign the Lansdowne petition, because your voice deserves to be heard.

That's how we start to fix this city.