Ottawa | From truck convoy… to pedestrianization

Nearly six months after the end of the convoy of trucks, Wellington Street, in front of the parliament, is still closed to car traffic. And that’s fine, according to many elected officials and citizens’ groups. The blocking of the city center revived the idea of ​​making this artery a pedestrian space to which the future Gatineau tramway could be added.

Mylene Crete
The Press

(Ottawa) “A tremendous opportunity”

The visit of the 500 meters which include the office of the Prime Minister and the main parliamentary buildings is now done on foot or by bicycle. Large concrete planters installed on Wellington Street invite vehicles to turn back at both ends. Drivers who dare to venture there receive hefty fines.

Discussions are underway to make this temporary closure between Elgin and Bank streets permanent. The safety issues raised by the convoy of trucks, the renovation of the Center Block, the planned construction of a new complex on the south block across the street and the tramway project to link Gatineau to the downtown Ottawa create favorable conditions.

“It’s a great opportunity to animate this space so that Ottawa residents and tourists can admire the parliament buildings and participate in the democratic process peacefully if they want to demonstrate,” summarizes the Liberal MP for Ottawa in an interview. Center, Yasir Naqvi.

The idea of ​​closing this section of Wellington Street is not new, but the convoy of trucks gave it a second wind.

A parliamentary committee has heard from around 30 witnesses since April to discuss safety on this street. Permanent closure to car traffic is one of the options being considered.

Its temporary closure allows the City to assess the impact on traffic. Nearly 20,000 motorists have to take another route every day.

For Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, blocking the street to vehicles permanently is therefore not easy, especially if federal civil servants eventually return to work downtown.

“For the moment, I support the barricades on Wellington because there is always a risk of demonstration, affirms the one whose mandate ends in October. But I hope that we will find a solution that is acceptable to the community in order to respect security, but also at the same time respect our need to have access to Parliament Hill. »

Security Question

“Parliament should be responsible for Wellington Street,” says city councilor^⁠1 Catherine McKenney, who passed a motion in February to entrust the security of this artery to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS) responsible for the security of federal MPs. The Ottawa Police Service currently provides security on this street.

Seeing that the municipal police were quickly overwhelmed by the scale of the “freedom convoy”, Catherine McKenney also wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the RCMP to demand that they take control of this portion of the Parliamentary Precinct. .

“There was a lot of intimidation of residents, harassment, people being attacked, arson attempts, people couldn’t go to the grocery store without being harassed, some were scared and we didn’t we didn’t get a response from the police because his officers were all on Wellington Street, ”adds the councilwoman, who aspires to become mayor of the city.

Many partners

The transfer of responsibility for Wellington Street to the federal government for security reasons has already been raised a few times over the decades. First in 1989, after an armed attack in front of the parliament committed by Charles Yacoub. Then in 2014, after the one perpetrated by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who had managed to enter armed inside the Center Block. However, this closure never saw the light of day because of the hesitation of the City of Ottawa, recalled Catherine McKenney in the parliamentary committee.

Members of Parliament who sit on this committee discuss their recommendations. The safety of elected officials is their main concern, according to Bloc Québécois MP Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, one of the vice-presidents of the committee. “We mustn’t let such a thing happen again,” she added, referring to the convoy of trucks that paralyzed the city center of the federal capital.

The actors are numerous. In addition to the City of Ottawa, the decision to close Wellington Street affects the National Capital Commission, the Department of Public Services and Supply, in addition to the six police forces that take part in the protection of the entire Parliamentary precinct, including elected officials. In addition to the Ottawa Police, the RCMP and the PPS, there are also the Ontario Provincial Police, the Gatineau Police Service and the Sûreté du Québec.

During her testimony before the parliamentary committee, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Filomena Tassi, did not indicate which option she preferred.

One tram, two provinces

The closure of Wellington Street came at just the right time for the Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO). Its tramway project linking Gatineau to Ottawa could pass on this artery. But the federal government is delaying in approving funding for the impact study, which risks inflating the bill, in addition to delaying the schedule.

From 3.5 to 4.5 billion

The Gatineau-Ottawa tramway route would extend over 24 kilometres, including 1.8 in the federal capital. Two options are under consideration and a billion separates them: to install surface rails in Wellington Street or in a tunnel under Sparks Street, which is just to the south.

The City of Ottawa prefers the construction of an underground tramway, which would better integrate with the Confederation line of the O-Train, its light rail system. However, at 4.5 billion, this option is by far the most expensive. A streetcar on Wellington Street would cost 3.5 billion. This is the option preferred by the National Capital Commission (NCC), responsible for planning the federal capital, which manages the project office for the Ottawa portion of the tramway. This route would facilitate the addition of a second phase to complete a loop between the two cities. Councilor Catherine McKenney and MP Yasir Naqvi, who represent the citizens of downtown Ottawa, also favor the surface option.

The starting point for phase 1 of the project would be in the west of Gatineau, in the Aylmer district. The streetcar would travel to Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa from the Portage Bridge via Wellington Street. “The tram is energizing the vision of making the street safer and partially pedestrian,” underlines the director of the STO project office, Alain Tremblay. All the development associated with that is quite an interesting opportunity that we can’t pass up. A potential second phase would connect this last station via the Alexandra Bridge to Laurier Street in downtown Gatineau, where the Canadian Museum of History is located.

Sure ?

Views differ on how to ensure safety on Wellington Street. The Parliamentary Protective Service, responsible for the security of MPs on Parliament Hill, believes that it should be left closed to all traffic, as has been the case since the end of the “freedom convoy”.

The Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 was cited several times in parliamentary committee. A truck loaded with explosives ripped open a federal building, killing 168 people. “Many people will argue that this disaster took place in the United States, which is true, but the plans of some groups like the Toronto 18 in 2006 were similar,” said Senator Vernon White, former leader of the Ottawa Police Service, alluding to the group plotting an attack on parliament.

“However, the issue the government is looking at is much broader than that of security,” said Gatineau Mayor France Bélisle during her testimony. The STO believes that a tram would be safer than letting thousands of vehicles pass the Prime Minister’s Office and Parliament every day. Urban design could include pedestrian and cycle spaces.

Unique complexity

“We are separated by a river and we are married,” reminded France Bélisle to federal elected officials. Civil servants, entrepreneurs, tourists: many people move from one city to another. The Mayor of Gatineau pointed out that the greater federal capital region now has 1.4 million inhabitants on both sides of the Ottawa River, three times more than in 1970. “However, no interprovincial transport capacity has not been added for 50 years,” she pointed out.

Building a streetcar in an area made up of two cities straddling two provinces with bridges run by the federal government has its share of complexity. There are many stakeholders: the municipal councils of Gatineau and Ottawa, the STO, the NCC, the Quebec government and the federal government. At this point, the Ontario government’s financial participation is not part of the equation.

The tramway already has the support of the Government of Quebec, which has allocated 16 million to the project office and authorized 55 million to carry out the impact study and the environmental study. Developers are still waiting for a total sum of $85 million from the federal government to move forward. “Considering that the project spans many jurisdictions, there is still work to be done before we can start the planning phase,” the Ministry of Infrastructure replied to The Press. The difficulty is finding a way to finance the portion of the tramway on the Portage Bridge, which is entirely federal, which is off the beaten track.

1. Catherine McKenney identifies as transgender and non-binary. She uses pronouns they and them in English that are neither masculine nor feminine. In French, the equivalents could be hey and they.