Play Video
Rather, he explained in an interview this week, he wants to help his fellow members — a mix of new and veteran councillors, suburban and rural — get the information they need to engage independently with the work of the committee on policy and development applications, and thoughtfully exercise their individual votes. Those start today, when the committee meets for the first time this term.You are the first chair of the newly named planning and housing committee.
One of the things we’re starting to see now, and we’ve said this for a long time, is that intensification is going to occur right across the city. The province has now weighed in with Bill 23, with a very clear mandate to have significant new intensification right across Ottawa. I think it is an exciting opportunity to work at a city scale in terms of up-zonings, in terms of intensification; approving developments that are significantly denser, significantly taller right across the city.
There is no mandate from the mayor with respect to how to be a chair. I think there’s a lot of latitude in terms of how the chair approaches the job. Planning is a committee where members are asked to make decisions that interest groups often care deeply about. Developers, obviously, but also community associations in members’ wards. You’ve mentioned this is almost certainly your last term on council and that you don’t think at this point you will run for a fourth term.