{"id":719019,"date":"2026-06-06T13:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/719019\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T13:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:05:16","slug":"ottawa-needs-so-much-money-for-its-infrastructure-backlog-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/719019\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa needs so much money for its infrastructure backlog | Opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2003, I published a book on public infrastructure in Canada, called Down the Road Never Travelled. It warned against infrastructure deficits<\/a> and how much more money we\u2019d have to spend<\/a> rebuilding roads, sewers and bridges if we didn\u2019t devote enough resources to their upkeep. I\u2019m finding myself at the public park with beer in my hand and a bad case of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n

Did you see that the Alcohol in Parks<\/a> pilot will continue this year? We can drink adult beverages in designated areas in designated parks at designated hours and only if we behave, and nowhere near beaches, rinks, playgrounds, or parking lots, but still. We\u2019re sort of mostly allowed to chug a brewski and ponder the state of what\u2019s under our feet.<\/p>\n

We have a public infrastructure deficit in Ottawa of about $3.8 billion dollars. That\u2019s the amount we\u2019d need to spend to bring our stuff (roads, parks, sidewalks \u2014 but not water and sewer infrastructure, which is funded separately) up to acceptable standards from their current sorry state. Not build new stuff. Just making sure what we already have doesn\u2019t fall apart, either comically or catastrophically.<\/p>\n

The problem? We\u2019re only planning to spend $1.2 billion, which means the deficit will continue to grow.<\/p>\n

As I explained in my book, the difficulty with infrastructure is that a lot of it is hidden and suffers from that terrible affliction known, in technical terms, as \u201cbeing boring.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a politician trolling for votes, do you want to point to a shiny new recreation centre or lovely new bridge as some of the best achievements of your past term, or the sewer you can\u2019t see that isn\u2019t causing leaks you also have no idea about? Which one makes for a more interesting photo backdrop?<\/p>\n

Among the possibilities to fund repairs to unsexy but necessary infrastructure, municipal leaders are currently debating a 1 per cent levy that would add less than $50 a year to the average tax bill. Opinions are mixed on this because it\u2019s a new tax no matter how you slice it, and others like Capital Coun. Shawn Menard worry that \u201cthe way the city is going, we would fund something like a \u2018really nice to have\u2019 like a Lansdowne development or more expansion driven boundary.\u201d I wonder if Menard has read my book?<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the \u201cwhere.\u201d Everyone pays, and everyone wants to benefit, but by definition the older infrastructure is in the older parts of the city and you get into a problem with suburbanites not being overly keen to see their tax dollars going to fix areas they rarely visit. Which is understandable, but doesn\u2019t help us fix our problems.<\/p>\n

We could, I suppose, trap tourists in an impenetrable maze and force them to gamble all their cash in our casino before letting them out? That might work. Or better yet, we could become stock market geniuses and grow our pot of money by picking an amazing portfolio. Don\u2019t laugh; the city has, after years of dawdling, started investing its long-term reserve funds into the stock markets but since it waited so long, it missed out on the 25 per cent increase that has made a whole bunch of people rich but not us. \u201cA day late and a dollar short\u201d should be our new slogan from now on. It\u2019s a lot more accurate than \u201cTechnically beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lesson from my book was that badly needed repairs tend not to get done because everyone focuses on building new things at the expense of fixing boring old ones. And today that deficit is even bigger. We need to bite the bullet instead of deferring maintenance until it falls apart on our kids\u2019 heads at the splash pad while we sip from a can of Dominion City beer.<\/p>\n

Brigitte Pellerin\u00a0(they\/them) is an Ottawa writer.<\/p>\n

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