Ottawa Budget 2024

A city’s budget is a tangible representation of its priorities. How much money is allocated where and what is being left out are of equal importance. The budget is crucial to the lives of constituents, and municipal governments usually have the most interactions with a community’s day-to-day activities. In a time of concurrent crises, real investments must be made to protect our environment and our community.

This fall, Ottawa City Council will be determining the budget for 2024. The budget process has begun by setting out budget directions, which were set by the Finance and Corporate Services Committee and approved by Council on September 13. Already, Budget 2024 is looking to be unambitious when it comes to the key climate priorities and real investments into our environment.

Ottawa City Council must get Budget 2024 right. Community members are key in making this happen.

We’ve prepared several points we’d like to see in Budget 2024 below. We encourage you to contact your councillor about these points by email or speaking with them over the next month. In addition to contacting your city councillor, many councillors will be hosting budget consultation sessions leading up to the debate and adoption of Budget 2024. Public feedback can be given from September 13 to October 27, a great way to make sure your voice is heard before the Council tables the draft Budget on November 8th and approves it on December 6.

Fully fund the implementation of the Climate Change Master Plan (CCMP)

At their last check-in (April 2023), only two of the CCMP’s eight priorities were on track. The 2023 Update cites a lack of resources for not achieving these goals. Given the climate emergency we’re in—which City Council declared in 2019—we should be accelerating the CCMP’s implementation.

Accelerate implementation of the Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP)

Trees are critical to our city, whether for sequestering carbon, filtering the air, providing habitat, mitigating the heat island effect, soaking up water, providing shade, or improving people’s mental health. The UFMP update earlier this year repeatedly mentioned a lack of resources as an obstacle to the Plan’s rollout.

Reverse cuts to public transit, and instead invest

Public transit is a critical part of meeting our climate and emissions goals and offers mobility to a wide variety of people. Budget 2023 saw cuts of $47 million plus a hole of $39 million that was left unfilled. Transit needs to be incentivized for riders and routes need to be expanded and reliable to make transit in Ottawa accessible. Transit service is declining, which means forced car dependency for some and cancelled activities for others. Underfunding transit risks a “death spiral” of this essential service.

Accelerate implementation of active transportation infrastructure in the Transportation Master Plan

Active transportation (walking, rolling, and biking) is a critical part of meeting our climate and emissions goals and offers mobility to a wide variety of people. Among transportation modes, active transportation has the highest return on investment for municipalities and costs the least to users, but also produces the lowest emissions.

Implement a bike-share system, and create subsidies for electric-assist bicycles

Bikeshare and electric-assist bicycles have the potential to revolutionize transportation in car-centric cities like Ottawa. Bikeshare allows people to bike to their destinations without worrying about maintenance or security. Subsidies along these lines should include incentives for businesses to adopt electric cargo bikes for deliveries.

This is just a start. Do you have any other ideas you want to share on Budget 2024? If so, please contact your city councillor - and Ecology Ottawa while you’re at it! Community action is essential in shaping our city, and your voice has a large impact. Stay tuned for further updates on the progress of Budget 2024.

William van Geest is a Living Cities Program Coordinator at Ecology Ottawa. Gemma Patey is a Community Organizer on Ecology Ottawa’s Breathe Easy campaign.