General Meeting – March 16, 2026 – Greenspace Alliance of Canada's Capital

Members present: Paul Johanis (chair), Nicole DesRoches, J.P. Unger, Iola Price, Erwin Dreessen, Arto Keklikian, Judie Garbo, Sofie Waters (guest)

1. Adoption of the agenda

The agenda was adopted, moved by Nicole, seconded by Erwin.

2. Administrative items

a. Minutes of February 16, 2026 (for approval)

Moved by Erwin, seconded by Nicole. Approved.

b. Association reports

It was suggested to enlist support of partner organizations to urge the City to re-instate the listing of agenda items in the round-up of City meetings, consistently provide timely notice of meetings and restore the practice of publishing minutes of committee meetings.

Action: Chair to follow up with FCA and other POP partners

c. Invitations

NCC Greenbelt Master Plan Public Advisory Group: After some discussion it was agreed that the Chair would accept to sit on the advisory group on Behalf of the GA, with JP as second representative.

d. Fundraising

The Friends of the Farm plant sale occur on May 10 this year. Member Janice Selene has once again agreed to take the lead. The Greenspace Alliance has secured a table at the sale and is looking for volunteers and donations of perennial planting stock. It was noted that member Albert Dugal has stopped gardening; for may years he was a major supplier of plants for the sale. Post-meeting note: Nicole has offered to supply perennials.

e. Treasurer’s report The Chair reported on the contract entered into with a software firm to redevelop the Poets’ Pathway website, in fulfillment of the City grant the GA received for this purpose. The first installment is currently due. A motion was also passed to pay the $40 FCA membership renewal fee, moved by Arto, seconded by Iola.

Official Plan 2026
The Chair delegated to the Joint Meeting of Housing and Planning and ARAC on February 18. While not contesting the population projections, he cast doubt on the validity of the assumptions underlying their conversion to household counts and dwelling types. His delegation, and a similar one by the Federation of Citizens’ Associations, seemed to resonate with several committee members and led to a motion co-sponsored by Councillors Gower and Kitts that was passed to submit the household and dwelling projections to further tests and alternative scenarios during the next phase of the process, including a no-expansion scenario. The Committee report was heard at full Council at its meeting of February 25, including the Gower-Kitts motion, where it was carried by a large majority.
New urban expansion policy
At least two applications have now been received by proponents to add specific parcels of rural land to the urban area. The latest one was for a parcel adjacent to the Goulbourn Provincially Significant Wetlands south of Stittsville. Both were rejected by the City on the basis that no new expansion is required at this time to accommodate the 2022 Official Plan’s growth strategy. The proper forum for such consideration is the 2026 Official Plan process that was recently launched.
Tree Protection By-Law
Councillor Lo, representing Barrhaven East, tabled a notice of motion at the Environment and Climate Change Committee of February 25 that would essentially invalidate the Tree Protection Bylaw by giving homeowners the right to remove trees of any size or condition from their properties. Should this motion ever make it to Committee, the Greenspace Alliance will strongly oppose it, along with its many tree-loving partners and allies. The next meeting of the ECCC is on April 21 2026.
Mayor's Roundtable on the Environment
The Chair attended the Mayor’s Roundtable on the Environment on behalf of the Greenspace Alliance on March 9, which was a first for the GA. Other participants were Ecology Ottawa, CAFES and Ottawa Riverkeeper. The agenda, which was proposed by the environmental groups, led to open and informative discussions and will give rise to several follow-ups. It provided an opportunity for the GA to highlight the Poets’ Pathway, with which the mayor was not at all familiar. It is expected that at least one more such meeting will be held before the municipal elections in the fall.
Greenbelt Master Plan
Members discussed how to engage in the development of the Greenspace Masterplan. In addition to a seat on the Public Advisory Group, the GA has the benefit of the insight of member Arto Keklikian, former senior planner at the NCC, who is also working closely with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society on its Greenbelt protection strategy. The FCA is also keenly interested, and, through POP, it should be possible to assemble a Greenbelt coalition as wide as the 2013 one, which was quite impressive. It was suggested that the Position Paper developed in 2013 be used as starting point for a similar paper for this round. A cursory review indicates that many of its recommendations are still valid. Assessing the extent to which the NCC has fulfilled the Implementation Plan for the Greenbelt MP could also be instructive. It was agreed to follow this approach and to assemble a working group to move the project along.

Threats and Opportunities

RURAL
Alto High Speed Train project
A GA Member brought up the issue of the location of the corridor for the ALTO high-speed train project, which presents many challenges for rural communities and rural greenspace.
Bill C-15, the Budget Implementation bill, introduces the High-Speed Rail Network Act to facilitate rail projects between Quebec and Ontario, including provisions for land expropriation. It received Royal Assent on March 26. A Petition to the House of Commons (E-7203) calls upon the House to decline to approve or advance provisions in Bill C-15 that grant extraordinary powers to expedite rail corridor approvals. With the passing of the Bill, other means of communicating our concerns regarding the loss of greenspace and connectivity will need to be established. Fundamentally, we ask that any new high-speed train service use existing road or rail corridors.
Conservation Authority lands
The provincial government has announced that it intends to reduce the number conservation authorities in Ontario from 36 to 9. This would mean that one single Conservation Authority would cover all Eastern Ontario. We believe this is just another centralizing power grab meant to further reduce local autonomy and expedite the destruction of wetlands and habitat in the name of increasing housing supply. The government has already decided on the boundaries for Ontario’s new regional conservation authorities. It intends to introduce legislative amendments to the Conservation Authorities Act (CAA) this spring. Nine regional CAs could be in place by early 2027. It must be resisted.
Action: Chair to research avenues and partners for resisting this proposed change.
MAJOR URBAN
Federal Greenspace Conservation and Protection
As part of the approval of the new Zoning By-law, the City passed a motion to establish a more transparent process for the identification of potential housing development sites on NCC lands. Staff were to return to the Joint Committee on March 25 with a report identifying these parcels and proposing methods of streamlining the approval process to expedite their development. We have learned that conversations with the NCC have taken more time than expected and that the report on the form and content of a City-NCC accord will be delayed. However, a meeting of the Joint Committee will be held on April 10, at which time a similar accord with Build Canada Homes is expected to be tabled.

In the absence of the Framework Agreement’s list of NCC lands identified for development, a local resident has compiled a list from various public sources of NCC – Lands for Homes, which has been shared with members of the informal coalition opposing the development of the McCarthy Woods corridor.
Central Experimental Farm
The City received the site plan control revision application for The Ottawa Hospital new campus development as part of the detailed design development planning process. The overall building placement and approved master plan remain unchanged; the updates reflect refinements resulting from the final detailed design. Feedback is accepted at this stage, in conformity with Section 41 of the Planning Act, which includes comments on environmental preservation and landscaping and trees. Several graphics illustrating the Tree Conservation report, the tree planning plan, and the understory planting plan are included in the reports accompanying the application. These are very detailed and will be difficult to verify but it may be possible to get the views of the Natural Systems staff as to how well they confirm to the commitments made in the approved master plan.
NCC Sussex Drive development
Members agreed that an op-ed or open letter stating our concerns regarding this development is still worth doing.

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