Ask Your Councillor for a Spring Budget Consultation!

This is a reprint of an article published May 14, 2025 by Ecology Ottawa, an Ottawa-based organization that works to create a mobilized constituency of Ottawans who demand action and leadership on the environment. (see original post here). It is reprinted in the PEN with the permission of the organization. You can learn more about Ecology Ottawa—and sign up for their newsletter—at their website, here.

Did you know that councillors can now hold consultations on the City’s 2026 budget in the spring?

At the Council discussions for the 2025 budget last December, Councillor Shawn Menard presented a direction to staff asking for this:

Direction to staff (Councillor S. Menard)

That, as part of Staff’s planned 2026 Budget workplan and continued implementation of budget enhancements including enhanced public consultation and public engagement, staff be directed to report back in Q1 of 2025 with an outline of the 2026 Public Consultation process including options for:

1. Councillor-lead spring budget public consultation sessions or other means as determined by the individual Councillor; and

2. Engaging residents earlier on the development of the City budget in consultation with members of council for the next city budget.”

We and many others in the advocacy community were pleased to see this Direction; in fact, many of us have for years been asking for earlier budget consultations.

For example, the Peoples Official Plan coalition, a broad-based group of around 25 Ottawa organizations, wrote Mayor Mark Sutcliffe in April 2023 asking that he “make the 2024 budget process meaningful, transparent, participatory, and productive.” The coalition goes on to observe that “As of right now, much of the budget process is kept behind closed doors, and by the time consultations take place the budget has been decided.”

Indeed, once the budget comes to Council in the fall, there’s little opportunity for even councillors to change aspects, to say nothing of the public’s ability. Many of the details of the budget are hammered out during the summer, so that the Budget Directions can be presented to Council first thing in September.

It’s worth zooming out here to observe that a city’s priorities are in its budget; as the saying goes, “Put your money where your mouth is.”

So if we the public can weigh in before the budget is set in stone, that’s a huge opportunity.

How to take advantage of this opportunity? It starts with asking. Contact your councillor and ask for a budget consultation. 

Be warned that this is a new part of the budget process, so you may need to share with them the information in this post, and the request may need to come from multiple people—or even a Community Association or two.

Also be warned that you should act soon: it takes time to set up a public meeting, and before long, City Hall will be entering summer mode.

But do take advantage of the opportunity! Apart from ensuring that we get a budget that prioritizes sustainability and the services that we need rather than counterproductive measures like road widening and sprawl, it shows the City that we’re interested and invested in what goes on at City Hall.

Please let us know how it goes! We’d love to hear if your councillor holds a session, and if you found it productive.

Ecology Ottawa is an Ottawa-based organization that works to create a mobilized constituency of Ottawans who demand action and leadership on the environment.