The Budget Is Brewing, Let's Stir The Pot |
The 2026 budget season has arrived, and the initial budget directions are a cause for serious concern. The Proposed 2026 Budget Directions Report fails to grapple with the serious long-term financial challenges our city faces. A couple months ago, by using Strong Town's Financial Decoder--a customized tool to assess your city's financial health-- we calculated Ottawa's Net Financial Position (total assets minus total liabilities) using financial statements from the last 15 years. We discovered that Ottawa's net financial position has plummeted to a historic low of -$4.1 billion.
This means our city has $4.1 billion more in liabilities (debts, obligations) than it has cash available to pay them. As these bills come due, the money to pay these liabilities will have to come from one place: future surpluses in the operating budget. This isn't speculation; it's a mathematical certainty. It means we have $4.1 billion of future service cuts and tax increases already baked into our system. |
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So, is this a spending problem or a revenue problem? The answer is: neither. The 2025 Asset Management Plan shows a $10.8 billion gap between our infrastructure needs and planned funding. That’s over $1 billion more per year in our operating budget just to maintain what we already have. No amount of cuts or "efficiencies" will be able to conjure up that much money. It's also not a revenue problem we can tax our way out of. The Long-Range Financial Plan estimates it will cost $51.2 billion just to replace our water infrastructure, when you add road maintenance you are now looking at many more billions. Our current tax base simply cant generate that much additional revenue.
The real problem is our development pattern. We have built a city where the cost of maintaining our sprawling infrastructure far exceeds the capacity of our tax base/economy to pay for it. We have a growth model that is fundamentally financially unsustainable.
Today, September 2nd, four of our members will be delegating at the Finance and Corporate Services Committee meeting, addressing these concerns. The message is clear: we can't be supportive of budget directions that ignore this stark financial reality. While today is important, the most critical opportunity for impact is in November. This is when the full draft budget will be tabled and sent to Standing Committees for more detailed public consultation. This is our biggest chance to be heard, especially ahead of the 2026 elections.
These November committee meetings are the perfect venue for you to register as a delegation and make a brief, powerful presentation directly to the councillors who make the key decisions.
Save the Date for November & December: When the draft budget is tabled on Nov 12th, we will send a full alert with details on how to register to delegate.
Important Upcoming Budget Meetings:
City Council Budget Tabling: Nov 12 Planning and Housing Committee: Nov 19 Public Works and Infrastructure Committee: Nov 27 Finance and Corporate Services Committee: Dec 2 City Council Adoption of Budget: Dec 10
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A Simple Fix That Can Save Lives |
Another crash. Another person injured. Another day where seconds of driver convenience is prioritized over community safety. This time, it was a cyclist left "in agony" at the corner of Lisgar and Elgin, an incident witnessed by Councillor Ariel Troster herself. With a road injury or death every other week, we need to act with urgency. That's why we sent a letter to City Council advocating for a simple, proven solution: a pilot to ban right turns on red lights (RTOR) in the downtown core. A blanket ban in the core eliminates confusion and creates a safer, simpler system for everyone. It's worth noting that this issue is gaining momentum. One of our board members, was recently featured in the Ottawa Citizen discussing the growing demand for this change. |
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Our Blueprint for Building Better in Canada |
The federal Build Canada Homes (BCH) program aims to address Canada’s housing crisis by accelerating the amount of housing that is built. But we must build more than just housing units; we must build communities that are financially resilient and actually pay for themselves.
We’ve submitted our official feedback, urging the government to abandon the sprawl-based model that has left our cities with massive infrastructure time bombs. We advocate for incremental growth, leveraging existing infrastructure, and abolishing restrictive zoning to allow for more density. |
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Check Out This Must-Read Blog for Insights From Orleans. |
Did you know that one of our own board members, Rob Attrell, is the mad lad behind the up and coming blog called The New Orleans that's publishing multiple thought-provoking articles every week! We highly recommend you subscribe to get notified when new articles are published. This is definitely a must-read for anyone interested in learning how to make Orleans a more resilient, equitable, and enjoyable place to live, work, and play. |
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Tabling at Orleans Community BBQ |
Date: September 7, 11 AM - 1:30 PM Location: Golden Fries parking lot (6505 Jeanne d’Arc Blvd North)
Join us at the Convent Glen Orleans Wood Community BBQ. We will be tabling there and promoting Strong Towns Ottawa. It's should be a fun time. There's gonna be free food, live music, and some lawn games. Let us know on Discord if you are interested in volunteer to do some tabling! |
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Parking Day Materials Work Party |
Date: September 9, 6 PM - 7:30 PM Location: Maclaren Street Uncommon Space
This is where we are gonna put together the infographs, trivia games, and info about our Bank Street Bus Lane Campaign on display boards for our tabling booth. Interested? Join us on our #parking-day discord channel. |
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Bank Street Postering and Outreach for Bus Lanes |
Date: September 13, 11 AM - 2 PM Location: Begin at 2nd Avenue Garage
With the confirmation of the public open house regarding bus lanes on Bank Street we are taking the opportunity to put up posters and direct people to the public open house later this month. Join us for some walking around, engaging the public, and pushing for a better, safer, and more efficient Bank Street for all! |
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Date: September 19, 11 AM - 7 PM Location: Bank Street in the Glebe (between 1st and 5th Avenue)
We will be "taking over" the east side on-street parking lane and converting it into small parklets with potted plants, benches, and tables, and turning it into community outreach booths! We need your help to gather materials, plan fun programming, and table at the event! |
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Bank Street Transit Priority Feasibility Public Open House #2 |
Date: September 24, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM Location: Blessed Sacrament Parish, 194 Fourth Avenue
We strongly urge you to come out to the open house and try to make your voice heard. We need as many people to show up in support of our proposal to implement a pilot project for 24/7 bus lanes in place of the on-street parking lanes along the section of Bank Street in the Glebe. If you have any questions, feel free to send them in the bank street bus lanes channel on Discord, make a post on Facebook, or send an e-mail to marko@strongtownsottawa.ca. |
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Date: September 26, 7 PM - 9 PM Location: Braumeister Bierhalle, 175 Carruthers Ave
Join us for our monthly social gathering, no need to RSVP, just show up, have some drinks/food, and have a good time! |
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Ottawa Urbanism Book Club |
Date: September 29, 2025 6 PM - 8 PM Location: Sunnyside Library, 1049 Bank St Join us for our September book club, where we’ll be celebrating the two year anniversary of the book club by re-reading Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity by Charles Marohn. |
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Enjoying Seats on Bank Street |
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Last month, over 20 members got together at the new Uncommon Spaces program being run along Bank Street in Centretown. The program freatures three seperate instalations that provide outdoor space for people during the summer. The space at Bank Street and MacLaren allowed us to sit outside, enjoy the sun, chat amongst each other, and enjoy food from local businesses.
Spaces like these are extremely important for our city to build a thriving community that supports each other. We encountered passers-by that asked what we were up to as they were thrilled to see so many people enjoying the outdoor space. With some minor tweaks in upcoming iterations, this space could be made even better. With some picnic benches for eating, a bit more shade provided, and fully closing off the street to car traffic, we could really allow for the space to thrive. The current setup with cars driving by makes it a bit less comfortable for people to enjoy the space than it could otherwise be.
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Our August book club tackling James Wilt's Do Androids Dream of Electric Cars? created one of our most spirited book club discussions yet. The book's controversial take on the root causes of North America's lackluster public transit sparked strong disagreements, but that led to incredibly productive conversations about the future of transportation policy in Canada.
The evening was even more special as we were joined by a reporter from CBC Radio, who recorded our discussion for a future segment. A huge thank you to everyone who attended and brought such thoughtful perspectives to the table. |
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