Doug Ford said Queen’s Park would send $48 million over three years to the city for security and $40 million for Ottawa’s emergency shelter system.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s plea for more money from the province was partially answered Tuesday when Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced new funding for transit, policing and social services in the city.
Speaking to the Economic Club of Canada at the Fairmont Château Laurier, Ford said Queen’s Park would send $48 million over three years to the city for security, including a beefed-up police presence in the ByWard Market, more OC Transpo special constables and “community-based initiatives including outreach and alternative mental health supports.”
Acknowledging the pressure the city’s social service programs were under pressure from asylum seekers, Ford also announced $40 million for Ottawa’s emergency shelter system.
The funding announced Tuesday was part of $543 million announced earlier this year in what Ford and Sutcliffe touted as “a new deal for Ottawa.” That money was earmarked for transportation, including a new Highway 416 interchange at Barnsdale Road, the possibility of uploading the cost of Ottawa’s Regional Road 174 to the province and money to revitalize the city’s downtown core.
“Our great partnership with Mayor Sutcliffe are a clear demonstration of our government’s commitment to Ottawa’s success,” Ford said.
Ford and Sutcliffe took centre stage at Tuesday’s luncheon with a folksy and wide ranging “fireside chat” that touched on everything from the United States presidential election to the province’s decision to close 10 supervised consumptions sites, including Ottawa’s Somerset Street West site. The province intends to replace them with new health hubs offering addiction treatment.
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“You can’t give people drugs when they’re an addict,” said Ford, whose brother, Rob, famously dealt with a crack cocaine addiction when he was mayor of Toronto. “It’s like giving a gambling addict a handful of poker chips and dropping them off at the casino.
“We don’t need safe supply … We want to give people an opportunity to get back on their feet, get gainful employment and feel good about themselves.”
Ford also referenced Tuesday’s U.S. election, vowing to work with whoever won, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, to build a strong partnership.
“I’ll work with anyone. It’s all about relationships,” Ford said, recalling tossing a football with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a former football coach and Harris’s vice-presidential running mate.
Ontario, Ford said, does $500 billion of trade with the U.S. and is the No. 1 trading partner of 17 American states.
“It’s not an overstatement to say that this election and the upcoming review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement is more consequential than anything else on the horizon to our economy,” Ford said.
“I believe in free trade, but fair trade. No matter who it is, we’ll be down there in full force.”
Before Ford spoke, dozens of chanting, bell-ringing bicyclists gathered outside the Château Laurier’s main entrance to protest the Ford government’s decision to limit bike lane construction, even ripping out existing bike lanes in Toronto in what the premier has called a battle against gridlock.
Ford made no mention of the policy in his speech and Sutcliffe did not ask about it in their on-stage talk.
Speaking to reporters after the event, Sutcliffe said the subject had not come up in his talks with Ford.
“I’ve not heard any indication from the province that they’re going to remove any existing bike lanes in Ottawa,” Sutcliffe said. “We will continue to have bike lanes as part of the transportation infrastructure in our city. We’ve invested a lot in bike lanes already, we will continue to invest in them in the future, and, if we need to work with the province to figure out solutions that will work within the new rules, we will do that.”
Sutcliffe did press the premier, however, on the government’s safe consumption site policy and said he had also spoken to Health Minister and Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones about it.
“I’m very concerned that we’re continuing to look after the most vulnerable in our community,” Sutcliffe told reporters. “I understand the direction that the health minister is going. I just want to ensure that, if we are advancing new ways of supporting the most vulnerable, that nobody slips through the cracks. If we’re transitioning away from a supervised consumpotion site, that we do that in a way that there’s no gap period where nobody is able to access services.”
The funding announced Tuesday, while welcome, is just a fraction of what the mayor has been demanding from the Ontario and federal governments in his “Fairness for Ottawa” campaign. Public transit remains a crippling burden on Ottawa’s budget, both from OC Transpo’s operating costs and the soaring cost of LRT construction. While Queen’s Park is paying the full cost of new a new subway line in Toronto, Ottawa has been left holding the bag for COVID-19 pandemic-related cost overruns on the O-Train.
Sutcliffe said he remained optimistic.
“The premier understands the situation that the City of Ottawa is in. He understands our concerns and we’re working on a number of things that could be very positive for the city in the future. We don’t have anything to announce yet, but our conversations are continuing,” Sutcliffe said.
The mayor has warned that residents will feel the pain from that shortfall when Ottawa prepares to set its budget later this month, but said Tuesday that his lobbying campaign was a long game.
“I know the focus has been on the 2025 budget. It’s not about one budget,” Sutcliffe said.”We have a $140-million hole in our transit budget for the foreseeable future. That number could get even bigger in the years ahead. We’ll find solutions for the 2025 budget no matter what, but we’ll be working on this fairness campaign for many months to come, maybe even years to come.”
