Ottawa Pushes Alternative to Light Rail

A coalition of transit advocates is using Ottawa's municipal election to push a diesel-electric alternative to the light rail deal signed by the City of Ottawa in July.

David Jeanes, a spokesperson for "Friends of the O-Train" said his group's plan has numerous benefits and will cost $300 million less than the current north-south light rail plan, which is worth close to $800 million.

"You'll reduce the congestion, you'll get better productivity out of the transit system, you'll get better bus service in the suburbs, and you'll get clean air," he said.

Jeanes said the $446 million plan was developed by city staff in consultation with his group, and will address one of the main concerns cited by critics of the current light rail plan — that it will not reduce congestion downtown.

Jeanes said the plan will also preserve the city's north-south diesel O-train line, which would have been out of service for three years under the light rail plan.
* Doubling the frequency of the O-Train.
* Extending the O-train line south to Armstrong Road and building a new park-and-ride there.
* Building a six-kilometre electric rail line through the city's downtown, from Bayview to Hurdman stations.

Jeanes said the plan will eliminate the need for buses in the congested Albert-Slater corridor downtown. He said 10 or 11 light rail trains could replace the 130 buses that clog that corridor at any given time during rush hour and allow for a potential capacity of more than twice the peak number of people that now take transit downtown.

It would also free up existing buses for better suburban transit, he added.

Transit users would transfer from downtown light rail to suburban buses at Bayview and Hurdman stations.
Plan first shopped to council in 2003

Jeanes told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning that his group first tried to sell its plan to city council in 2003, before the federal and provincial governments agreed to put money into Ottawa's transit expansion.

"Unfortunately, our cost-saving ideas became very unpopular with the city once there was $600 million to spend," said Jeanes, who called the current light rail plan "unaffordable."

But he added recent events have given his group another chance.

Federal Treasury Board President John Baird announced in early October that the federal government is withholding its $200-million contribution to the almost $800-million light rail project until Ottawa's new city council is elected and can re-approve the plan.

When Jeanes was asked if it was a problem that his group's plan was not part of the light rail contract already signed by the City of Ottawa, Jeanes said he did not know because the contract remains secret.

The group has generated some interest among municipal candidates, including mayoral hopeful Alex Munter.

Munter said he thought the proposal was interesting and would consider including some of its elements in his own transit plan after a closer examination.

Clean Air Act Revisits Ignored 1980s Law

The Conservative government plans to breathe life into 25-year-old automobile fuel-efficiency legislation that has languished unused in the lawbooks, a key component of their Clean Air Act to be introduced tomorrow.

A senior Conservative insider said the 1981 Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act, along with myriad other existing pieces of environmental legislation, including the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, will be combined with new laws as part of the Tories' green plan.

"It creates new powers and it also punches up the powers we presently have, so it'll be a multi-pronged approach in what is a very heavy regulatory agenda," the source told The Canadian Press.

Consumers waiting for news on what kinds of tax breaks and incentives might be in the green plan will have to wait. They will not be included in tomorrow's announcement.

Environmentalists have been clamouring for years for the feds to impose mandatory standards on the car industry by using the existing Act, tabled by Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government.

But manufacturers persuaded government after government that they would simply abide by U.S. standards voluntarily, avoiding a potentially costly system of regulations. Two weeks ago, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose and colleagues said the government intends to end the current voluntary agreement by 2010.


The Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act contains a number of enforcement measures, such as fines of up to $1 million for companies that contravene fuel consumption standards, and a system of inspectors to make independent checks of the industry -- something Canada's environment commissioner recently complained was sorely lacking.

Oil Prices Fell Monday Ahead of OPEC Meeting

Oil prices fell Monday, reflecting the market's skepticism that OPEC's meeting later this week will produce effective production cuts.

Light sweet crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 10 cents to $58.47 a barrel in electronic trading by midafternoon in Europe.

Since a mid-July high of $78.40 a barrel, the price of crude oil has dropped by more than 25 percent.

The last time OPEC reduced its output — also by 1 million barrels a day — was December 2004 when oil traded slightly above $40 a barrel.

The expected slowdown in the U.S. economy following monetary tightening and the weakening housing sector has added considerable uncertainty to the economic outlook and consequently oil demand.

The outlook for non-OPEC supply has changed dramatically. Supply has picked up in 2006 to 1.1 million barrels a day and is expected to grow next year at 1.8 million barrels a day, the highest rate since 1984, pointing to a clear imbalance between supply and demand.

However, markets also reacted to an early snowstorm that hit the northeastern United States late last week.