'State of the city' offers a few new ideas

Posted Feb 2, 2012 By Laura Mueller

EMC News - A summit for youth, plans for Canada's 150th birthday celebrations and a new award, the Order of Ottawa, are a few of the new ideas Mayor Jim Watson highlighted in his first-ever state of the city address.

Delivered to city council the morning after United States President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, Watson's speech was no barnburner, but he did reveal a few plans of interest for 2012.

Building on the momentum of other council-led summits, Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury, the youngest councillor at 26 years old, will lead a summit for youth. The event will be aimed at listening to young people's advice on a wide range of issues, from transportation to art to eliminating bullying.

"For me, this is a great fit," said Fleury, adding that he's the "de facto" representative of the young urban professional at the council table.

He wants to consider what all youth have to say, whether they are already very involved in the community and school or if they have suggestions for how the city can reach unengaged teens like them.

"We want to understand what they want from their city," Fleury said. "What are the barriers to participation?"

The summit could take place in the fall, but in the meantime, the mayor highlighted other initiatives that will get underway in 2012.

Canada's 150th birthday isn't until 2017, but now is the time to start planning, Watson said. He put Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess and Kitchissippi Coun. Katherine Hobbs in charge of that initiative.

"It's never too early to start planning how you want to celebrate the country's birthday and recognize the capital's role in that celebration," Bloess said.

The anniversary will be a tourism draw, but Bloess wants to make it a longer-term economic development strategy by using the anniversary as a hook to attract large organizations and associations to host their conventions and meetings in Ottawa before - and hopefully after - the celebration.

"We really look at this as an opportunity for economic development," Bloess said. "You don't just want that one-time bang. You want to create more of an ongoing momentum here. We need to create a buzz around the city."

Watson also wants to consolidate and refresh the 15 categories of Ottawa's civic appreciation awards into a more streamlined Order of Ottawa, to be handed out to a small group of individuals once a year. He drafted deputy mayors Eli El-Chantiry (West Carleton-March) and Steve Desroches (South Nepean) to tackle that project.

Watson also announced a new breakfast speakers' series in partnership with francophone economic development group Regroupement des gens d'affaires. The first event will take place on Feb. 16 at city hall and feature Denis Lebel, minister of transport, infrastructure and communities and minister of the economic development agency of Canada for the regions of Quebec.

The mayor also announced plans for the soon-to-be-vacant room on the first floor of city hall. The city handed an eviction notice to the EnviroCentre, which will move to a building on Rideau Street.

In its place, Watson plans to showcase the historic memorabilia, costumes and medals recently donated to the city by Barbara Ann Scott, gold-medal figure skater and "Canada's Olympic Sweetheart."

Watson used much of the speech to reflect on council decisions he saw as achievements in 2011: progress on light rail, the Lansdowne redevelopment, limiting budget increases and more.

Invest Ottawa will officially launch next month and aims to attract investment and innovation to the city - particularly important in light of looming cuts to the federal public service that could impact the area's economy, Watson said.