From speeding to Tewin, these are the issues on the minds of Osgoode voters

CBC

2 days ago

From speeding on rural roads to the future development of Tewin to lobbying for their rural way of life, voters in Osgoode ward have a lot on their minds as they head to the polls in a June 16 byelection.
Eleven candidates are on the ballot to replace George Darouze, who gave up his seat in February to represent the provincial riding of Carleton at Queen's Park.
Darouze had represented a rural area of 32,000 people that includes the villages of Greely, Osgoode and Metcalfe since 2014. He took on an even larger constituency in 2022 when the municipal electoral map was redrawn to take in Vars to the east.
Darouze might not have contributed comments and questions during council and committee discussions quite as often as some other members of council, but across the ward, residents describe a councillor who paid close attention to community needs in the city's rural southeast.
"He was reliable, he was quick and he always addressed what we had as issues," said Lucie Régimbald, vice-president of the Carlsbad Springs Community Association. "So whoever's going to come in has big shoes to fill."
Signs for candidates running to replace Darouze dot Osgoode ward. They're placed at rural crossroads that can be a half-hour's drive from one another given the size of the ward. The winner will represent Osgoode through to the next municipal election on Oct. 26, 2026.
Candidates have taken part in debates and community meetings in most of the ward's rural villages. Osgoode village set out 250 seats and still had standing room only. Most of the candidates have also filled out surveys for CBC News to explain their priorities and experience.
Doug Thompson, Darouze's predecessor and a former mayor of Osgoode Township before amalgamation, has name recognition. But Régimbald said several others are also active community members, know the issues and could get out the vote.
"People know them, they know the name. So that's why I'm saying it's going to be a close three- to four-person race," she predicted.
Speeding and bumps on rural roads
Régimbald has lived in the Carlsbad Springs area her whole life, as did her parents and grandparents before her. She challenges visitors to try to hold a coffee cup while driving down bumpy Thunder Road, but noted it's in line for resurfacing soon.
She credits Darouze with many long-awaited repairs to country roads, but said that came with a downside.
"With nice roads, then you have speeding," said Régimbald. "They become raceways. The speeding is really a big issue."
Some 15 kilometres away in Vars, speeding on Rockdale Road through the village and past the school is a big concern. The posted speed limit is 50 km/h, but because that road connects Highway 174 to the north with Highway 417 to the south, some motorists race through at nearly double the limit, residents say.
As towns surrounding Ottawa grow quickly into satellite communities, concerns have indeed been raised at city hall about the pressure that places on the city's rural roads.
Meanwhile, other roads remain in sore shape, residents say. Unlike a downtown ward, Osgoode has hundreds of kilometres of roadway to maintain.
Coryl Addy often walks along Meadow Drive to the public library in the village of Greely, and has turned an ankle in one of its potholes. When driving, Addy's roommate has started to nickname it "Moon Bounce Meadow."
Rural transit and recreation
Addy doesn't own a vehicle but has been making use of the new Line 2 station at Bowesville to take the train to the core of the city. Having a bus shuttle there is at the top of their list.
Rural residents don't get the same transit service as elsewhere in Ottawa. A bus route might have three runs to downtown in the early hours of the morning, and another few home on the evening commute.
OC Tranpso Route 304 comes by just once a week — on Thursdays — and snakes through Osgoode, Metcalfe and Greely villages, carrying residents to Billings Bridge for free.
"If we wanted to go do shopping we could take the free shuttle once a week, but it's just not convenient," said Addy. "Public transit should be convenient."
But other rural residents would reject any candidate who suggests OC Transpo — or its costs — should expand to rural areas, said Rob McLellan, president of the Osgoode Village Community Association.
He does want to see better response times for paramedics and emergency services. As for other city services, villages tend to have a community centre or library. But many Osgoode residents need to head to Orléans or Barrhaven to give their children access to a pool and swimming lessons.
The next councillor will need to navigate these many wishes. Many people moved to the countryside during the pandemic and are seeking City of Ottawa amenities closer to home, some longtime residents observe. At the same time, rural communities value being self-sufficient and want city hall to understand their particular rural needs.
Rural voices
For example, Greely doesn't have an arena. The vice-president of the Greely Community Association said such a facility could help keep teens active and out of trouble.
But Linda Brayman said community members are happy to create activities for each other — with some city help. Similarly, rural residents have tight communities and a small-town feel, so they know one another and have largely policed themselves, they say.
"We want to be treated as part of the city but as a rural community," explains Brayman, who has lived in Greely for nearly 20 years and is vice-president of the Greely Community Association. "It's a fine line."
Only five of the 25 members of Ottawa city council represent a ward with rural residents. Across Osgoode ward, residents say it matters that whoever takes Darouze's place is able to lobby so decision-makers downtown can understand rural life.
That could mean understanding why they care about ditches, what it's like to have a home on a well and septic system, and how an event in a rural village might not need to follow the same rules as a parade on a downtown street.
"Decisions are very much being made from an urban perspective, and then they're being applied everywhere even though the realities are quite different," said McLellan in Osgoode village.
Big issues ahead
In addition to championing ward issues, the new Osgoode councillor needs to weigh in on some pressing citywide ones.
The future development of Tewin is located in Osgoode ward and could see tens of thousands of homes built, with natural gas and city water arriving near homes that currently get water through a trickle system.
"The community's divided on this issue," said Régimbald. "Some people, they're far away from it. For them it [means] more services."
After the way Tewin was approved at city council, and the clearing of hectares of trees off Piperville Road, others oppose it strongly, Régimbald said. They fear losing their rural way of life.
"How can you stop development? It's kind of hard," she said. Indeed, many candidates offered support for Tewin in CBC's surveys.
The City of Ottawa must also find a solution for its garbage and recycling as the Trail Road landfill fills up fast. Nearly every candidates in the Osgoode byelection said in their surveys that they support the City of Ottawa building an incinerator.
Régimbald also wonders if the long-dormant issue of the Taggart-Miller landfill on Boundary Road might resurface.
The new councillor will also have to vote on the Lansdowne 2.0 redevelopment this fall. In their surveys from CBC News, most candidates answered they either didn't support it or weren't sure.
The winner will be known June 16. Already, 1,412 electors voted during the advance voting day on June 6, according to the City of Ottawa's elections office.
Addy will again visit the library in Greely to vote, but admits being "a little burnt out on elections."
This will be their third in recent months. Residents have already cast votes provincially in February, and again in April in the dramatic federal race that saw an extra-long ballot when Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre lost his Carleton seat.
Addy will be reading candidates' election materials and wants to choose someone who can represent everyone from farmers and small business owners to seniors and renters.
" It's important to consider all of the variety of needs here," they said.