Councillor candidates weigh in on how Ottawa can upgrade, finance stormwater infrastructure

Here's where each councillor candidate in wards 7, 8 and 9 stand on whether they'd consider tax increases or levies to support infrastructure upgrades after Ottawa's wettest summer on record.

A resident of a McEwen Avenue apartment building treads through water as they evacuate with their belongings following severe flooding and thunderstorms on July 1. Photo by Spencer Colby /Postmedia

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After Ottawa’s wettest summer on record turned streets into rivers and flooded thousands of basements across the city, many residents have been left with questions about how the city and its infrastructure can become more flood resilient.

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And in a municipal election year, the issue is up there alongside transit, affordability and housing as one of the most prominent platform points for councillor candidates running in wards most heavily impacted by the summer storms.

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City reports say that Bay, College and Knoxdale-Merivale wards have been repeatedly hit hardest by the storms, with these three wards filing the most flood-related service requests of any area in the city.

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And with nine candidates running for council seats across these three wards, there are lots of ideas on how the city could improve its aging critical infrastructure.

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So, the Ottawa Citizen reached out to all nine candidates seeking election in wards 7, 8 and 9 with questions on how they’d handle stormwater infrastructure upgrades and how they propose the city should finance it.

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Ward 7

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Coun. Theresa Kavanagh will seek re-election in Bay ward after serving as the area councillor since 2018. Her challengers include Spencer Radford, who volunteered in long-term care, drove school buses and served for three years as president of the Kiwanis Club of Kanata-Stittsville; and Butch Moore, a retired firefighter and children’s author who ran as an independent in federal politics in 2019.

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Theresa Kavanagh

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Kavanagh said she’s been aware since she was first elected in 2018 that Bay ward’s aging critical infrastructure was ill-equipped to handle severe weather events. Her own home was impacted by the July 1 storm, when nearly 64 centimetres of water flooded her basement.

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She described stormwater infrastructure upgrades as a “key priority” over her two terms in office, adding she has brought recent motions to council asking that the city provide a detailed review of storm mitigation efforts.

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Asked if she’d support a municipal tax increase to support stormwater infrastructure upgrades, she said, “Years of capping municipal tax increases to no greater than the rate of inflation has exacerbated an infrastructure deficit.

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“It hampers the city’s ability to upgrade and replace critical infrastructure to withstand these ever-increasing severe storms.”

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However, she said raising municipal taxes alone will not solve the structural funding issue, adding the city needs “to backfill support from both the federal and provincial governments” to pay for critical infrastructure in aging communities.

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She said a special stormwater infrastructure levy should be considered “a last resort given that municipal property taxes are inherently equitable.”

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After working with residents as councillor, Kavanagh said she brings experience working with city engineers and securing funding for stormwater drainage maintenance.

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Spencer Radford

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Radford said he didn’t realize how bad the impacts of the July 1 storm were until residents encouraged him to walk the streets. He said it left him devastated.

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If elected, he said stormwater infrastructure upgrades would be a “huge priority.”

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“Major rainfall events are going to continue putting pressure on an aging system, and we need to make sure the infrastructure underneath our streets can handle what we are increasingly asking of it,” he said.

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Radford said he would support a “reasonable” property tax increase, but added he doesn’t believe property taxes should carry every new municipal cost. He added he’d also advocate for municipalities to receive a share of income tax revenue.

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While tax increases may be in the cards, he added he does not support a designated stormwater infrastructure levy.

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“Residents have been raising concerns about flooding and sewer capacity for years, and many have now spent thousands of dollars recovering from flooding,” he said. “I don’t believe those residents should then be asked to pay a separate levy to address infrastructure they were already asking the city to deal with.”

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Right now, he said residents aren’t always aware of the infrastructure upgrades happening around them. If elected, he said residents should be part of “building the case for improvements.”

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Butch Moore

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After his relatives in Crystal Beach were impacted by the July 1 storm, Moore said he’s seen the devastation in the community firsthand and the complications that have come about due to insurance confusion and contractor availability.

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He said he is “100 per cent in favour of fixing the immediate problems with the sewer system and drainage problems of the affected areas.

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“This is a given,” he wrote. “I am certain that the legal ramifications of not proceeding with repairs would far exceed any cost of the immediate repairs.”

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Asked if he’d support a municipal tax increase to upgrade stormwater infrastructure or a special stormwater infrastructure levy, he responded emphatically, “My answer is no!”

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He said he believes there are other measures the city should take before increasing municipal taxes, instead pointing to efforts like cancelling Lansdowne 2.0, running OC Transpo at one-fifth of the city’s budget and building a world record-size flower garden to bring in more tourism revenue.

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Ward 8

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Coun. Laine Johnson, who was first elected as College ward councillor in 2022, will face challenger Abakar Malloum, a part-time professor in political studies at the University of Ottawa, after he submitted his papers just ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline.

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Laine Johnson

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Johnson said College ward is made up of mature neighbourhoods that have gone decades without improvements as well as neighbourhoods where critical infrastructure is situated on both private and public property.

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She described stormwater infrastructure upgrades as her “No. 1 priority” heading into the election, adding she’s been in touch with federal and provincial partners to ensure that when the city’s recommendations come forward, funding opportunities will be there to support residents.

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She said it would be “premature” to talk about funding sources like tax increases or infrastructure levies before the city knows what needs to be done and whether it can count on provincial or federal support.

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But she added that when the city used an infrastructure levy in the past, “it has helped us to catch up.”

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“Affordability is top of mind for all neighbours, so additional levies and taxes are likely an uncomfortable discussion, but local infrastructure is a core purpose of a municipality and we either pay now or pay more later,” she said.

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Johnson said her focus is on the need for local investments to bring all neighbourhoods to an equal level of service, which, she said, “could be marginally approached by a levy,” as well as from provincial and federal funding.

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Abakar Malloum

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Throughout the summer, Malloum said he’s observed many residents bearing the emotional and financial costs of flooded basements. When talking with residents during his campaign, he said stormwater infrastructure has been an issue that often comes up unprompted.

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If elected, he said stormwater upgrades would be his “first priority in infrastructure,” adding he’d like to see changes residents can see within a year, rather than just studies.

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He said he would not support a municipal tax increase or any additional stormwater infrastructure levies, stating that Ottawa residents already pay a stormwater charge on their utility bills, with 56 per cent allocated to infrastructure renewal.

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However, he said, the city should publish where that renewal money is spent by watershed and where College ward’s needs sit in the queue.

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“Right now, residents are funding a queue they aren’t allowed to see,” he said. “Residents have paid a dedicated charge since 2019 and cannot find out what it has built near them.”

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Malloum said his stormwater infrastructure priorities include transparency on where money is going, growth that doesn’t offload costs onto taxpayers, specific funding asks to the Ontario and federal governments, and asset management discipline to ensure below-ground projects are prioritized.

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Ward 9

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Coun. Sean Devine was first elected to council in 2022 after running as a federal NDP candidate in 2015 and 2021. His three challengers are Cole Fraser Jones, a former framing carpenter, Canadian Forces veteran and federal public servant; Brandon Ly, a parliamentary assistant to Conservative MP Mike Dawson; and Anna Ielo-Tal, a federal public servant and community volunteer.

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Sean Devine

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Devine said this summer has reinforced an issue of which he and many residents were already aware: that stormwater infrastructure in ward 9 requires critical upgrades.

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He said his top two priorities for the next term of council are to increase investment in infrastructure and to better prepare against extreme weather.

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Devine said he wants to see greater investment in stormwater infrastructure, “whether it’s an increase in taxes or a levy.

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“And I think residents are ready to support that,” he said, adding if the city had increased property taxes by one per cent more each year over the last term, it would have $100 million more per year in revenue.

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He said he’d also like to see the city spend its money from federal partnerships on stormwater infrastructure upgrades, rather than on projects that support population growth.

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Asked how his platform differs from other candidates, he said he brings innovation and experience to the stormwater infrastructure file. As he said the city is short $125 million to maintain and renew critical infrastructure, he said finding that money through savings or without increasing investment is “wishful thinking.”

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“And I don’t mean disrespect to any of them, but when I hear them saying things like they’re not interested in supporting innovative pilot projects, it makes me wonder if they think that the status quo is working well. Because it’s not. Or when I hear them say that they want to upgrade our infrastructure, while also wanting to cut taxes, or pay for the upgrades by finding savings elsewhere, it speaks to their inexperience,” Devine said.

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Cole Fraser Jones

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Fraser Jones said his own home experienced minor flooding on July 1 as he witnessed the further densification of the area, without meaningful upgrades to the infrastructure already in place.

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If elected, he said upgrading stormwater infrastructure would be a “very high priority,” adding he would ask the city to investigate where the July 1 failures happened and develop public, dated schedules for drainage and sewer work.

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He said he would not support a tax increase or a special levy, stating he believes that the money already allocated to infrastructure upgrades is going into “outdated requirements and line items nobody’s seriously re-examined in 20 years.”

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He said he would call for a full program review of city spending: “The kind the federal Liberal government under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin ran in the 1990s, going through every program and asking whether it still earns its place.

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“The answer to budget shortfalls cannot perpetually be more taxation,” he said. “Rewarding mismanagement with more funding is a recipe for disaster, the one we seem to be living through right now.”

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He said he’d aim to reallocate money tied up in “outdated requirements and processes” toward the upgrades needed in ward 9 needs and prioritize them within the existing budget.

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“A real program review, done properly, gets that money moving on the specific projects ward 9 needs instead of either raising taxes on residents or gutting services people actually rely on,” he said.

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Brandon Ly

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After also experiencing basement flooding, which he was able to catch early, Ly said the summer storms show how much the stormwater systems need to be upgraded and adapted.

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He said stormwater infrastructure upgrades would be “a top priority” if elected as Knoxdale-Merivale councillor, as he plans to push for further collaboration with the federal and provincial governments to make it possible.

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Ly said he would not support a large tax increase or an infrastructure levy to support stormwater infrastructure upgrades, stating that any increase for taxpayers in his ward “would be another punch in the gut” after being hit hard by the summer storms.

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Instead, he said he’d look at where the city could cut costs as a means of paying for stormwater infrastructure upgrades.

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“And if that means prioritizing and potentially postponing other large projects, then so be it,” he said. “The city needs to manage its resources and allocate funding based on the situation of the day, within its means.”

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Asked how his position on stormwater separates him from other candidates, Ly said he instead hopes his position is aligned with his opposition.

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“Given how badly Knoxdale–Merivale continues to be hit by storm after storm, I hope all candidates share this as a key priority: let’s upgrade our infrastructure as soon as possible, so residents won’t have to face the costs and impacts we’ve seen again,” he said.

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Anna Ielo-Tal

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Ielo-Tal said she’s aware residents are now anxious every time it rains, leaving people with questions about whether catch basins and culverts were properly cleaned and if local creeks were properly maintained.

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She also described stormwater infrastructure upgrades as a “top priority” if elected and would protect existing homes ahead of new expansion. She said she would pursue a comprehensive evaluation of the July 1 storm and would advocate for a targeted plan to address infrastructure failures.

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“Priority, for me, is about the order of work, not a blank cheque,” she said.

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Ielo-Tal said she would not support a tax increase, nor would she support an infrastructure levy “as a starting point.”

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She said she’d want to see council show how existing stormwater bill charges are going to maintenance and upgrades in flooded neighbourhoods before a levy was considered.

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“A dedicated levy would only be worth discussing after that accounting is done — and only if it were purpose-restricted to a published list of stormwater projects, not a general tax with a new name,” she said.

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She proposes using the tools the city already has, including existing stormwater revenue directed to maintenance and upgrades, capital dollars allocated to flood-risk areas, development charges spent on maintenance and senior-government programs.

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