Bridge urban-rural rift, Ottawa council told

The city of Ottawa must come up with ways of governing that recognize the different needs of rural and urban dwellers, local residents and politicians say.

The detailed results of the Nov. 13 municipal election show a clear rift between rural and urban residents.

'I think it's … astonishingly clear, vividly clear that the rural and the urban are on different wavelengths.' —Prof. Ian Lee

Mayor-elect Larry O'Brien was the first choice for voters in almost all rural and suburban wards. But Alex Munterwas the first choice in the five downtown wards of Rideau-Vanier, Rideau-Rockcliffe, Somerset, Kitchissippi and Capital.

The urban region of Ottawa-Carleton was amalgamated with surrounding municipalities into the city of Ottawa in December 1999.

Ian Lee, a public policy researcher at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, said the election results show that amalgamation has not united all parts of the city.

"I think it's … astonishingly clear, vividly clear that the rural and the urban are on different wavelengths," Lee said, adding that suburban residents share more views with rural than urban residents.

Taxes a bigger issue for rural voters

Lee said he has spent a third of his life each living in rural, suburban and urban environments.

He suggested that O'Brien's promise of a tax freeze resonated with rural and suburban homeowners because property taxes typically consume a bigger portion of theirincomes than they do among renters and wealthier property owners.

He said suburban and rural residents also typically don't value things such as parks and festivals as much as urban dwellers do.

Bev Millar, a former downtown resident who now works as an information technology specialist in the village of North Gower in Ottawa's far south end, agreed that rural and urban residents have different concerns, and said it is a waste of time for councillors to work on everything together.

"I don't think downtown councillors should be spending months arguing about pigs in Sarsfield," said Millar, who has been involved in municipal politics through a city task forced aimed at reducing the burden of regulation on small business.

'I don't think downtown councillors should be spending months arguing about pigs in Sarsfield.' —Bev Millar, rural resident

She said she doesn't think deamalgamation is the answer, and she supports partnering among different parts of the city to save money through economies of scale.

But she said she thinks there's room for building a more local governance model within the amalgamated framework.

Most people seem to agree that policies pertaining to issues such as transit and small business regulations affect urban and rural residents differently.

Lee said the answer for the city might be to have two sets of policies.

"They may end up with some kind of a dual set of policies where there's one set of policies ruling the core area and a different set of policies ruling the suburban and the rural."

Mayor must foster urban-rural understanding: councillor

City councillor Rainer Bloess, whorepresents suburban Innes ward in Ottawa's east end, said urban and rural residents must make the effort to know each other's issues better.

"There's an onus on all of us to ensure there's a better understanding — that we're all part of the same city and it works better together than pulling each other apart."

Coun. Alex Cullen, who represents suburban Bay ward in the city's west end, agreed.

"It literally takes leadership on the mayor's part to take us out to see the other worlds that make up Ottawa," Cullen said.

He also cautioned that O'Brien needs to do more than freeze property taxes in order to succeed as mayor.

"Anyone who's elected from an ideological position in order to lead this city has to broaden their base to include others," he said. "How well they do that will be the test of the new administration, but that's the challenge."