South March Highlands - An Open Letter

As well as being posted on my blog, The Fifth Column ( http://the5thc.blogspot.com/ ), this is being sent to:

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson ( Jim.Watson@ottawa.ca )
Ottawa City Councillor Allan Hubley ( Allan.Hubley@ottawa.ca )
Ottawa City Councillor Marianne Wilkinson ( Marianne.Wilkinson@ottawa.ca )
Ottawa City Councillor David Chernushenko ( David.Chernushenko@ottawa.ca )
National Capital Commission CEO Marie Lemay ( Marie.Lemay@ncc-ccn.ca )
National Capital Commission Review of the 1996 Greenbelt Master Plan ( info@ncc-ccn.ca )
Norm Sterling, MPP, Carleton--Mississippi Mills ( norm.sterling@pc.ola.org )
Dalton McGuinty, MPP, Ottawa South, Ontario Premier ( dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org )
Gordon O'Connor, MP, Carleton—Mississippi Mills ( OConnor.G@parl.gc.ca )
Paul Dewar, MP, Ottawa Centre ( Dewar.P@parl.gc.ca )

Note all images in this post may be clicked on to be viewed larger

I am writing to you because we have a short window of opportunity to save much of what is arguably the most important area of environmental importance and cultural heritage within the City of Ottawa. While the South March Highlands is well known for its environmental significance, as home to a great number of species of animal and plant life, many of them endangered, recent research has also discovered that it may be just as important a site of archaeological significance, particularly in relation to our country's first peoples.


The preceding map, from the 2008 Brunton report, shows the boundary of the South March Highlands. The Google Earth view shows the lands that have already been developed and the blocked in green sections indicate the lands that are owned by the City of Ottawa and protected. The rest of the lands are privately owned, and though some are zoned Environment Protection history has taught us that all the privately owned land is at risk of being developed and at risk of environmental and archaeological destruction.

It is not the purpose of this letter to document why the South March Highlands should be saved or to reiterate the broad public support within the Ottawa area and all over Canada for saving these precious lands. That has already been well done and you have likely already seen or received such documentation. I do not wish to repeat all of that here but I will be attaching a document that provides a quick and easy overview of the significance of the South March Highlands. I will also provide links at the end of this submission to further resources on the South March Highlands.

I am writing to all of you together because saving what has not yet been developed in the South March Highlands is going to take political will at all levels of government. The City of Ottawa and the National Capital Commission will be key players, but the province and federal government will also have important roles, especially in regards to funding. This land is important and precious to all residents of Ontario and all citizens of Canada.


Time is of the essence as development plans are already underway for an important section of these lands, known as the Beaver Pond Forest, and the developer is waiting for the first opportunity to clear cut the lands, even as many questions regarding the developers fulfilment of development conditions are unanswered and the legitimacy of the environmental assessment processes followed are uncertain.

The only long term solution to save these lands for posterity is to bring them under public ownership. Fortunately, I understand that the National Capital Commission, during it's Greenbelt Master Plan Review, is considering adding the South March Highlands to the Greenbelt. There is where the federal government needs to step in to assure the NCC that the funds will be available to purchase or expropriate the remaining undeveloped privately held lands in the South March Highlands. This is an imperative part of the solution.

The NCC must also expedite this part of the Greenbelt review process so that as much land as possible can be acquired. The longer the wait the more opportunity there is to "develop the lands", that is to clear-cut the forest, blast the geology and otherwise destroy the land.

Ideally, in the meantime there would be a moratorium on all development in the South March Highlands, supported and legislated by the municipal, provincial and federal governments.

Until such a moratorium can be put in place the City of Ottawa, which controls the development process, must do all that it can to prevent further development from proceeding.

The most important thing that the City of Ottawa can do, is to do what it should be doing anyway, which is to ensure that all environmental measures, including wetland and watershed provisions, and cultural heritage/archeological processes are fully and properly undertaken and that all approvals are properly in place before any development is allowed to take place.

The City must also ensure that all developers have complied with all requirements of subdivision agreements and other approvals before allowing a single tree to be cut, rock to be blasted or land to be bulldozed.

The City can also act to assure the public of their good faith by offering to purchase or expropriate the lands under imminent threat of development. There is where the provincial government needs to step in to assure the City of Ottawa that the funds will be available to purchase or expropriate these threatened lands. This is also an imperative part of the solution.

Of course the first thing the City of Ottawa needs to do is to provide an opportunity for City Councillors to get a firm understanding of all the issues surrounding the South March Highlands, particularly new City Councillors. The best way to do that would be to have the matter referred to committee where public input can be provided, before allowing any further development measures to take place on any South March Highlands lands.

If all levels of government work together and show leadership and political will we can save the South March Highlands. The people that you represent expect no less.

Sincerely,

Richard W. Woodley, Bridlewood, Kanata, Ontario ( richardw.woodley@gmail.com )


Further resources on the South March Highlands
South March Highlands Overview (attached)

Save Ottawa's South March Highlands

Ottawa's Great Forest

I want to save the land North of Beaver Pond Park in Kanata Ontario Facebook Group

The Fifth Column SMH posts

The Fifth Column SMH Management Plan posts

Virtual Nonsense (Paul Renaud) SMH posts

South March Highlands Advocacy

South March Highlands Stewardship Plan


Appendix: South March Highlands Overview

Generation Inspired - Let Capitalism Fail

No comment required.

However, I cannot help but comment as I watch this and think about how we are supposed to react to the international response to the economic crisis and the measures being taken to save capitalism from collapse. What is happening is exactly what Karl Marx predicted except that he did nor foresee the use of a form of socialism for the rich to save capitalism. As governments world wide use austerity measures against workers to bail out the banks and corporations that have exploited them for years we are supposed to sit back and take it because there is no alternative.

But, there is an alternative. Let history happen. Let capitalism fail and build a new society from the ashes of the old.

Has Wikileaks Gone Off Track

If I recall correctly, it seems to me, that the original idea of Wikileaks was to provide an outlet for whistle-blowers who wanted to draw attention to government wrongdoing by releasing the documents that prove it.

Now it seems that the idea is that no information, whether government or corporate, should be confidential and that they will publish anything and everything leaked to them regardless of the motives or consequences.

And many seem to believe that they deserve the unquestioning support of all progressives. I'm not so sure about that.

Blue Wall of Pork Circles The Wagons

As Ottawa Police come under attack for repeated acts of brutality, rather than condemning the perpetrators, the Ottawa Police Association goes after the judges who have condemned the atrocities.

As the Ottawa Citizen reports:

The association is now looking at the possibility of filing a complaint into the comments made by Justice Richard Lajoie, who brought attention to officers’ mistreatment of suspects and prisoners when he dismissed criminal charges against Stacy Bonds, who had been charged with assaulting police.

Lajoie considered video recordings of Bonds being manhandled and strip-searched in the cellblocks at Ottawa’s downtown police station, and said he didn’t want to play any part in the “travesty” of the case against her. He called her treatment “an indignity towards a human being.”

Boucher wrote in the e-mail to his members that Lajoie’s comments drove a wedge between the police and the community. He wrote that the union leadership is consulting with its lawyers; it’s not clear to whom a complaint would be filed.

It is actions like these, the brutality by police officers themselves and their association attacking the judges who speak up against police brutality, that drives "a wedge between the police and the community", not the judges standing up for innocent members of the public. This "circle the wagons" Blue Wall of Silence is what that alienates the public from the police that should be protecting them, not brutalizing them.

What is Really Scary is ...

Some people will support the police whatever they do. When I saw the recent CBC poll I was disturbed, but then when I saw the CFRA poll I was disgusted.

CBC Poll - Did the Ottawa police officers go too far in their dealings with Stacy Bonds?

Yes 88.99%

No 8.93%

Undecided 2.08%

CFRA Poll - Should Ontario’s Attorney General resign after the province said it supports the decision made by crown prosecutors to proceed with a case against Stacey Bonds?

Yes, it’s an injustice and a travesty that the case went ahead in spite of how she was treated by police 60.3%

No, just because Bonds was not convicted doesn’t mean the decision to proceed was wrong 36.3%

Other 3.27%

Ottawa Citizen story


What I realized is that, indeed, some people will support the police no matter what they do. These are people who think the courts are too soft and that the police never arrest anyone that isn't guilty. These people think that if someone is beat up by the police they probably have it coming to them.

These are the same type of people who supported the right wing law and order blame the scapegoats German equivalent of the Tea Party in the 1930s.

These people are very scary and they are growing in numbers, egged on by people like Glenn Beck and Lowell Green. We must speak up against them.

The Fifth Columnist is Getting a New Camera for Christmas

My first serious camera was a Konica Autoreflex T3 35 MM SLR that I purchased in the early 1970s and used for over 25 years. It cost around $300, but I spent well over $1000 on it including lenses, the most expensive being a $500 80-200 MM zoom lens. I have always been a big lens guy shooting mainly landscape and wildlife. I also had a 2X converter that gave me a maximum focal length of 400 MM. Of course, with the large aperture required at that zoom and the lack of any form of stabilization, I could really only use the combination with a tripod on a sunny day. My daughter still has the Konica and it was her main camera till she got a digital SLR a year ago, but she still likes to shoot film occasionally. I got my first digital camera in 1999, and again I went for the big zoom. The $1,500 Sony Mavica FD-91 was one impressive looking camera for it's time. The 14X zoom on the Mavica was huge, a 35 MM equivalent of 37-518 MM and with Sony's Steady Shot image stabilization system it could be hand held at the full zoom. The camera was unique in that it used 3.5 inch floppy disks for image storage and though it was under a megapixel it produced decent 8X10 prints, even though the experts claimed that was not possible. It was a large camera but I was used to the size and feel of an SLR and preferred it over smaller digital cameras. The Mavica became my daughter's first digital camera when I upgraded. By 2005 a sub megapixel camera was pretty well considered obsolete and after 5 years I decided it was time to upgrade again. By now digital cameras were becoming serious and digital SLRs were available. However one of the main reasons I went to a digital camera with a long zoom was to avoid the hassle of changing multiple lenses and the weight and bulk of carrying them hiking. So I decided on the Panasonic Lumix FZ20 with a 12X 36-432 MM stabilized zoom lens. The FZ20, at a cost of about $1000 (with a bit more for an extra battery and memory cards), was a big improvement over the Mavica and takes great photos and I am sure it would do me well for many years to come. However with all things electronic and digital the time comes when you have to decide whether it is worthwhile to upgrade to a newer improved model with more features. After 6 years it looks like it is about time to upgrade again. This time I am looking at the Panasonic Lumix FZ100. The Lumix FZ100 is a 14 megapixel camera with a 25-600 MM 24X stabilized zoom with full HD video capability, rather than the crappy tiny Quicktime video of the FZ20. Shooting at 3 megapixels, the top of the zoom range is an effective 1200 MM lens - WOW. The awesome zoom and full HD video capability are the main features that made me decide that now is the time to upgrade, but the camera also has impressive burst shooting capabilities and a whole slew of improvements over the FZ20. The cost has gone down as well to about $550, but an extra battery and SD cards might add an extra $200 or so. So it looks like that will be under the tree for me this Christmas.

Fewer Politicians - Less Democracy

Everybody loves democracy and hates politicians. It doesn't make sense but it's a fact and it's what drives ideas like Mike Harris's "Fewer Politicians Act" which created megacities and recent proposals to reduce the size of Ottawa City Council.

But what does it really mean. Well it means less representation and more work for the people's representatives. Properly performed, a politician's job is already a 24 hour a day job. The more people a politician has to represent the less time he can spend representing each voter/taxpayer.

In municipal politics what that means is that elected representatives have to depend more on city staff for information and advice, and in Ottawa that means more power to the development industry because Ottawa's city administration is developer driven.

Hopefully our new City council will see the flaws in this proposal from the new mayor's election campaign and maintain the peoples representation on council and not give even more power to developers in running our city.

The Fifth Column Is Not Dead

I have just been a bit preoccupied with things lately. I've actually been thinking about things to blog about so once the spirit moves me I should be off and running. More to write about SMH, of course, and cycling stuff and political commentary on all sorts of things. And I've been looking at getting a new camera that I want to talk about. In the meantime I am posting short tweets and links on my twitter feed that you can follow on the right hand column of The Fifth Column.

Beautiful Calendars For Christmas Gifts

Are you looking for a unique Christmas gift for your friends and family. Is your company looking for a unique way to recognize your employees this holiday season. For only $20 each you can purchase beautiful calendars with high quality photos of Ottawa's beautiful South March Highlands taken by local photographers.

I cannot say enough about how beautiful and unique these calendars are. We have purchased many for gifts for our friends. This is a great opportunity to give your friends unique gifts and help save Ottawa's beautiful South March Highlands. Proceeds from calendar sales go to the Coalition to Protect the South March Highlands (South March Highlands - Carp River Conservation Inc.).

Click Here To Order A Beautiful Calendar

No shipping charge for orders in the Ottawa area.

Another "Brings Tears To Your Eyes" Video - The South March Highlands

Mountain Biking and Saving the South March Highlands

Click On Images To Enlarge
The Ottawa mountain biking community in recent years has been focused on the South March Highlands Conservation Forest accepting that the rest of the South March Highlands/Kanata Lakes trails will be lost to inevitable urban development.

Personally I am starting to become very hopeful that that will not be so and that at least some, if not all, of the remaining South March Highlands lands and trails will be saved from development. This will provide the potential for the South March Highlands to become a real family destination for mountain biking with trails ranging from true beginner (Greenbelt type) level trails to the advanced trails in the Outback system.

Just last week I rode some of the old "Kanata Lakes" trails between Goulbourn Forced Road and the Hydro Cut and it was quite enjoyable. The addition of these trails back into the system would increase the intermediate (Group D type) level trails in the system.

But where I see real potential is in the land north of the existing Conservation Forest that already has a trail on it that connects to the trails within the existing Conservation Forest and provides a trail all around Heron Pond. This land is currently privately owned but zoned Environmental Protection. The potential I see there is to purposefully build a new sustainable trail network on the land further north where true beginner level trails could be built so that whole families, from Ottawa and beyond could visit, Family members could ride the trails that suit their skill level all from one central trailhead, where toilet facilities could be provided and perhaps a picnic area for families to meet up together mid day.

The same trails that form the basis for a beginner trail system could be used for a flowy race course where races could be held to further promote the South March Highlands as a mountain biking destination.

As is the current practice all these trails would be shared trails open to everyone. The only exception being the race course while actual races were being held.

The current City Council takes the first step to save all of the South March Highlands at one of it's last meetings in mid November. Urge your current councillor to support the Wilkinson-Doucet motion that starts the process of saving all of the South March Highlands. Let us all do what we can to save the South March Highlands from further urban development.

The Coalition to Protect The South March Highlands Changed Everything - The Need For A Moratorium on Development in SMH

Before the Sierra Club raised the issue of the Terry Fox Drive Extension and the Blandings Turtle, which was taken up by a group of concerned residents who expanded the mandate to include protecting all of the South March Highlands (SMH), there was no hope.

It was pretty well assumed that Terry Fox Drive would go through the middle of SMH, the KNL development south of the road would destroy that part of SMH and the only part of this ecological jewel that would be protected would be the city-owned South March Highlands Conservation Forest, including Trillium Woods and the land the city purchased thanks to Alex Munter.

My best hope at that time was that maybe the city would purchase at least some of the land north of the SMH Conservation Forest that is zoned Environmental Protection and add it to the protected lands.

Then came the Coalition to Protect the South March Highlands and due to their hard work in researching the environmental issues and raising public awareness of the South March Highlands everything changed.


I would like to thank them publicly for bringing us to the point that saving all of the South March Highlands is very much a possibility and saving at least more of it is virtually a certainty. I know how hard they have worked and how much dedication they have put to the cause and it is remarkable. I will not name names simply because I believe they would want the focus put on the land and not on individuals.

It is clear that their is a consensus among the community and City Council that the South March Highlands is an ecological jewel that should be saved. The only point of discussion seems to be how much money the City should spend, or can afford to spend, to save it.

Even City Council's most environmental neanderthal has proposed that the City spend money to purchase the lands north of the SMH Conservation Forest and the National Capital Commission (NCC) is considering adding the South March Highlands to the Greenbelt. Even the developer, KNL, is willing to give up a small portion of their lands to increase the protected area.

These lands are all environmentally inter-connected and dependent on each other, the loss of parts of it may have devastating effects on what is left. Those of us who are environmentally minded and forward thinking know that if we do not save all of the South March Highlands, or at least all of it that has not yet been developed, our descendants will look back at this lost opportunity with deep regret that we did not find a way to make it happen.

I will be the first one to recognize that there may be financial considerations that make it difficult for a municipality, the City of Ottawa, to buy all the KNL lands at their current value, the lands having been inappropriately rezoned for development when they should not have been. The blame for that must be shared by a lot of people.

But a way must be found to save this land that is of provincial significance from an environmental viewpoint, and of national significance being in the nation's capital. The responsibility and costs should be shared by all three levels of government.

What we need is a moratorium on all development in the South March Highlands until the community and all three levels of government can come together and find a solution to save this ecological jewel. All three levels of government must make a commitment to do what is necessary to put such a moratorium in place and the must do it immediately.

The decision makers must act now or their grandchildren's grandchildren will never forgive them.

How Dumb Does Randall Denley Really Think We Are

Randall Denley would have us all believe that the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) is an impartial body designed to protect citizen's interests from the actions of big bad government and that it is the only recourse citizens have to appeal municipal government decisions.

He states, in the Ottawa Citizen:

the candidate this week released a proposal to abolish the Ontario Municipal Board. He would like to extend the iron fist to council in general, so that council decisions would not be appealable to any other body.

An attempt to extinguish an individual's right to appeal a council decision is legally dubious at best. The individual's right to challenge a government decision is fundamental to our system. Doucet's idea would hurt communities, not just developers.

As a citizen, I have been involved with appeals to the OMB, as well as applications for judicial review, the process by which decisions by governments, including municipal governments, and governmental administrative bodies can be reviewed by the courts.

Randal Denley would have us believe that he is unaware of judicial review in Ontario. Does anyone really believe that an experienced journalist covering provincial and municipal affairs is not aware of judicial review.

No other province has the equivalent of the OMB. Abolishing the OMB will simply mean that appeals of municipal government decisions will be heard by real courts with real judges not by a developers kangaroo court presided over by corporate lackeys.

There is a word for statements that are made knowing them to be untrue.

Saving the South March Highlands - Urgent Call to Action

The story of the South March Highlands and why it must be saved, in under five minutes.
A must watch video. (Best viewed full screen in 720HD)
Who would have thought this spring, when the battle to save the South March Highlands was reignited, first by the Sierra Club of Canada in relation to the Terry Fox Drive Extension and the Blanding's Turtle, and soon after that by a coalition of concerned residents and community groups, focusing on the road and the proposed development lands, that we would be looking towards a possible victory in the battle.

However, as I write this, a motion is about to go before Ottawa City Council on Wednesday October 6 to expropriate the KNL lands, known as the Beaver Pond Forest, that are in imminent threat of clear cutting and urban development.

It is urgent that this motion pass as the first step in saving the South March Highlands. But it is only the first step. Originally all of the South March Highlands was zoned "environmental protection" and presumably protected. But as we all know, in Ontario, where developers have their own kangaroo court known as the Ontario Municipal Board, zoning is meaningless when it comes to protecting environmentally sensitive lands. In order to save the rest of the South March Highlands the city must purchase all of the remaining SMH lands that have not yet been developed, both those that have been rezoned for development, and those that remain zoned "environmental protection".

Maps indicating the boundary of the South March Highlands (from Brunton report)
and zoning of the lands (from City of Ottawa)

(click maps to enlarge)

Zoning Codes Used on Map
RESIDENTIAL ZONES
Residential Third Density Zone R3
Residential Fifth Density Zone R5
OPEN SPACE AND LEISURE ZONES
Parks and Open Space Zone O1
ENVIRONMENTAL ZONE
Environmental Protection Zone EP
RURAL ZONES
Agricultural Zone AG
Rural Residential RR
Rural Countryside Zone RU
OTHER ZONES
Development Reserve Zone DR

I therefore urge all of you to immediately email your City Councillor and urge them to support the expropriation motion and the acquisition by the city, by negotiation or expropriation, of all of the remaining SMH lands.

This is a jewel, a piece of wilderness in the city, that we cannot let become just more cookie cutter subdivisions.

Ottawa River Pathway Two Solitudes: PostScript

Yesterday I was down by the canal locks looking over at the "missing link" and realized there may be some sections where it is a challenge to continue the pathway along the river at the bottom due to the terrain. But there is a solution. These photos are from the boardwalk along Ramsey Lake in Bell Park in Sudbury

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)

East and West: Two Solitudes - The Problems With The Ottawa River Pathway

(Click On Maps To Enlarge)
The really nice thing about Ottawa is that so much of the Ottawa River shoreline is in public hands and includes shared scenic recreational pathways/bike paths. In the past few weeks I have rode on the eastern and western portions of the Ottawa River pathway and made some observations. The first one being:


It is often said of Canada, that it consists of two solitudes, English Canada and French Canada. When it comes to the Ottawa River Pathway the solitudes are East and West. The connections between Ontario and Quebec are actually quite good, however the East and West sections of the Ottawa River Pathway are separated from each other by sometimes dangerous roadways. I did not even try to follow the roadway from the east to west on my last ride because it started along a very narrow and winding under construction section of road.

However if you examine the map above you will see that there is not much development along the riverfront between the two sections of the Ottawa River Pathway, and I believe most of what development there is, are federal institutions. One of the problems with the National Capital's very good system of pathways is the lack of key interconnections. I believe this missing link to be one of the most important missing connections and connecting the two sections properly, avoiding roadways, should be given the highest priority.

I also see a problem with the western section of the Ottawa River Pathway:


The Ottawa River Pathway ends at the Andrew Haydon Park water park, although two separate pathways continue, one through parkland (Andrew Haydon Park and Dick Bell Park) and one along Carling Avenue.

Unlike all other pathways that I know of in the National Capital Region, the one through this parkland is not a shared pathway and bicycling is not allowed on it. The only reason I can think of for this anomaly is that it goes back to when those parks were in Nepean and different rules were applied. Indeed the section immediately east of the water park going go Britannia Park has as much, if not more, pedestrian traffic than the section that goes through Andrew Haydon Park and bicyclists and pedestrians manage to share the pathway with no problem. As well since there is an alternative faster and shorter route along Carling Avenue, commuter cyclists in a hurry would opt for that route leaving the route through the parkland for those wanting a casual ride through parkland avoiding the traffic noise of Carling Avenue.

It is time to move on and apply the same rules to this pathway as all other pathways in the National Capital Region.

After Dick Bell Park the pathway continues along Carling Avenue as that is where the publicly owned land ends, at least until we get to Shirley's Bay.

I also have an observation to make about the eastern end of the Ottawa River Pathway:


I discovered that there is another very pleasant gravel pathway a short distance from the eastern end of the Ottawa River Pathway. The pathway starts alongside Hiawatha Park Road, not far from the Bruyère Continuing Care Saint-Louis Residence, and goes all the way to Trim Road. One interesting thing about this pathway is that a group of what appear to be hiking and/or single track mountain bike trails intersect with it and run alongside a portion of the pathway.

I believe it would be very useful to have some signage at the eastern end of the Ottawa River Pathway directing people to this, as far as I know, unnamed pathway.

The Ottawa River Pathway is a very important part of the National Capital Region shared pathway system and very enjoyable to cycle on. With some improvements it could be a real gem, the most important being connecting the east and west sections safely so that they are no longer two solitudes.

See also: Ottawa River Pathway Two Solitudes: PostScript

Trail Building School in the South March Highlands

This past weekend I had the good fortune to attend a trail building school held by the people who invented sustainable trail building and literally wrote the books on it, the International Mountain Bicycling Association's IMBA Canada Trail Care Crew:

Supported by Parks Canada and the Trans Canada Trail (TCT) and directed by the International Mountain Bicycling Association Canada (IMBA Canada), the IMBA Canada Trail Care Crew works with IMBA Canada-affiliated mountain bike clubs, TCT Provincial and Territorial organizations, Parks Canada and other trail user groups. Its mandate is to build new trails, maintain and restore existing trails, participate in solving trail management challenges, and to promote trails in order to improve trail conditions and trail experiences for everyone.

The IMBA Canada Trail Crew is a dynamic two-person team of professional trail builders that will travel throughout Canada year-round.

The work that the crew will do will benefit all types of trail users including hikers, horseback riders, mountain bikers, cross country skiers, snowshoers, bird watchers, and all other outdoor opportunities that use trails.

Source: Parks Canada website

Sustainable trail building is not just about mountain biking, and indeed most MTB trails are shared trails and IMBA has been working with other trail users in providing education and has trained people from the National Capital Commission (NCC) and Parks Canada in sustainable trail building methods. Parks Canada is currently revising their trail building manuals to reflect IMBA guidelines, and the NCC seems to be going through a slow shift in their attitude to mountain biking.

The first thing we learned at trail building school is that water runs downhill, well actually that was the second thing we learned. The first thing we learned was that planning is the most important part of trail building and should have the most time devoted to it. Key points are that all trail users need to be considered in planning a trail and that route design can be key in making a trail sustainable.

This is where the water runs downhill part comes in. One of the biggest factors in sustainable trail building is avoiding erosion so that designing a trail so that water runs off it rather than along it is key, and much of what we learned had to do with the degree of incline and slope of a trail. The bench cut method is one way of doing that. Some of the things we learned are described here.

Other factors in designing trails include keeping them away from fragile habitats of endangered species, the Blandings Turtle was mentioned, indicating that the Trail Care Crew was familiar with the SMH situation.

During the trail building school we got to meet many new people and learn a lot of new information, some of it not directly related to trail building techniques, such as the fact that OMBA has been given permission by the City to post signs on the SMH trails to help bikers and hikers know where they are and find their way out. I expect the signs will be in place by next spring. I also learned that the City of Ottawa's draft trail plan for the South March Highlands, with its inappropriate trail closures and denaturalization of trails, is apparently dead. Hopefully it will be back to the drawing board with proper consultations with the public and experts in trail design and building.

We spent the morning in the classroom and the afternoon in the field building a new trail, actually a re-route, in the South March Highlands.

Photos courtesy of David N of OMBA

In The Classroom


The Crew


Hiking In


The Route Is Flagged


Briefing From The Expert


Raking The Path


Bench Cut


Rock Work


The Finished Trail


Restoring The Old Trail


More photos of trail building school are available here.

Trail building school was sponsored by the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association (OMBA).

Life Cycles

Not Your Typical Bike Movie

Who Are Terrorists Anyway

To me, terrorists were always people who targeted innocent civilians going about their daily lives. So how does a 15 year old child soldier accused of killing an American soldier in a battle become referred to as a terrorist.

But my definition of terrorism (and genocide) includes dropping atomic bombs on civilian populations. However, my definition does not take into account that it's not terrorism if the good guys do it and only the losing side ever commits war crimes.

To Americans, and Obama, Muslims Are "Them"

Let us be clear the President of the United States is not a stupid man who speaks without thinking and when he speaks of "we", unless he makes it clear he is talking about some specific group like the Democratic Party or his family, he is speaking of the American people. So when he says

"The idea that we would burn the sacred texts of someone else's religion is contrary to what this country stands for,...It's contrary to what this nation was founded on, and my hope is that this individual prays on it and refrains from doing it."

he is clearly stating that Islam is "someone else's religion", not the religion of Americans and thus that Muslims are not real Americans. Indeed he is accepting the religious right's assertion that, despite what the Constitution of the United States says and what the founding fathers intended, the United States is a Christian country and Americans are Christians.

This is the almost inescapable result of the American attempt to take a nation of immigrants from many different countries and create an artificial ethnic nation from it. For some people it may be easy, just change your last name, for others it is not so easy to change the colour of your skin or indeed the religion of your birth or choice if that is required to be considered real Americans.

I must say, I much prefer the inclusive Canadian multiculturalism where our nationality is not based on ethnicity, but on citizenship.

Everyday Can Be Burn A Religious Text Day

Any day can be Burn A Religious Text Day. Just take the day and look for some historical atrocity or crime committed on that day and determine who committed it and their religion. Then burn their religious text. It's really quite simple.

For example September 11 is the anniversary of the brutal 1973 coup by Augusto Pinochet against the democratically elected government of Chile and the assassination of President Salvador Allende. I couldn't find Pinochet's religion, but he went to a seminary school taught by brothers, and after all it is South America, so we will assume he was Catholic. Anyway, facts are not important on Burn A Religious Text Day. The important thing is to insult all the members of a religious community, supposedly to right a wrong committed by one or a few of the members of that community. So in that case we would burn the Bible. I would suggest burning the New Testament because burning the Old Testament would be the same as burning the Qur'an, since the messages in both of them are so similar. And, apparently, there already is a Burn The Koran Day.

So that's it. Happy Burn A Religious Text Day everybody.

Only One Choice or One Choice For Change

With Alex Cullen officially out of the race for Ottawa Mayor the race becomes a three way race between Mayor Larry O'Brien, former Mayor Jim Watson and the man with a vision, Clive Doucet.

Unfortunately with the flawd municipal election process that we have many may feel that their only choice is to vote for Jim Watson. Watson is attractive to the left and right for different reasons.

To right wingers who simply cannot bring themselves to vote for their philosophic choice of Larry O'Brien, due to his demonstrated incompetence, Watson is a safe choice - not too radical and someone who will not change the way things are done at City Hall.

To left wingers who fear another O'Brien victory, Watson is portrayed by the media as the only candidate who can stop O'Brien and and as a moderate and a safe choice.

The question for voters is whether safe mediocrity is really what they want or do they want real change to the developer driven administration at Ottawa City Hall. In that case there is only one choice and that choice is Clive Doucet.

Cyclist Killed Near Inappropriate Pathway Detour Route

On August 13, 2010 a cyclist was killed while riding along city streets in the area of the official detour route for a section of National Capital Commission (NCC) pathway along the Ottawa River that was closed for rehabilitation.

This post is not meant to assign blame for this tragedy. I will leave that to the appropriate authorities. I also want to make it clear that I rode the official detour route and it seemed perfectly comfortable and safe to ride, for me.

That being said, the Ottawa Citizen article did raise concerns about cyclists detouring through the neighbourhood streets which I wish to address. Indeed, there are many people who choose the shared pathways to cycle because they do not feel comfortable riding on the roads and it seems appropriate to attempt to keep a pathway detour on pathways as much as possible. In this case, when there is a parallel pathway running alongside the detour route, not using it and detouring further away on city streets seems completely inappropriate. I have not been using the official route but an unofficial detour that I mapped out several weeks ago (and shared with others) before the official detour route was marked.

Click on Map To Enlarge
As you can see the official detour (and my route) follows alongside Carling Avenue for a bit on the paved shoulder. It then, out of necessity, goes down Maplehurst Avenue and then along the parallel pathway. My unofficial detour continues along the parallel pathway until it reaches the end of the construction zone and continues on an open and rideable section of the main pathway. For some reason the official detour leaves the parallel pathway at Kempster Ave. and meanders through city streets not joining the main pathway till well past the end of the construction, as the map above indicates.

As soon as I saw the official detour route I wondered why it did not follow the most logical and appropriate route rather than taking cyclists, many who choose to ride the pathways to avoid the roads, onto city streets.

UPDATE AUGUST 16, 2010

Today construction has started on the dark blue section of the detour. The old asphalt has been removed and new gravel put down and it appears to have been packed down by a roller. That section of pathway is now effectively open and being used, at least till they start repaving it. The rest of the detour, blue section, has the old asphalt removed, new gravel down, and rollers were on it today.

UPDATE AUGUST 23, 2010

All of the pathway construction is paved (lines not painted) and effectively in use, although not yet officially open.

UPDATE OCTOBER 20, 2010 (from NCC)

Re-opening: Ottawa River Pathway

The rehabilitation work of the 2 km of recreational pathway between Carling Ave. and Britannia Rd is completed. The NCC has done its final inspection and the pathway has officially re-opened.

Canadian Muslim Leaders Speak Out

This statement from the Canadian Council of Imams — signed by almost 40 senior Muslim religious leaders — will be read during Friday prayers in hundreds of mosques across Canada.

CANADIAN COUNCIL OF IMAMS DECLARATION

We, the imams who have signed below, hereby affirm and declare the following fundamental points:

1. We believe in the oneness of Allah (God) and in the oneness of humanity and that all the Messengers of God, including the final Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), have taught human beings how to come closer to God and closer to one another. Islam is a religion of nature and humanity, one that teaches that a person cannot be a good Muslim until he/she becomes a good human being. All human beings are equal, and all of them are the children of Adam and Eve (peace be upon them). The best Muslim is the one who is good to his/her family and neighbours and one who avoids harming others with his/her hand or tongue.

2. We believe in peaceful coexistence, dialogue, bridge building, and cooperation among all faiths and people for the common good of humanity. Islam does not permit the killing of innocent people, regardless of their creed, ethnicity, race, or nationality. The sanctity of human life overrides the sanctity of religious laws. Islamic rulings do not – and should not – contradict natural laws. Islam is a religion that promotes peace, justice, equality, dignity, and freedom for all human beings.

3. We believe in the preservation of all the necessities of life. Islam upholds the sanctity of religion, life, intellect, family/society, and property.

4. We believe that the well-being of our fellow citizens is the well-being of Muslims, and that the well-being of Muslims is the well-being of our fellow citizens. Being law-abiding people is part of the Islamic practice, and following the pristine teachings of Islam leads to good citizenship.

5. We believe in gender equity and each man and each woman’s divine right to education, social contribution, work, and treatment with respect and dignity. Men and women complement each other, and healthy relationships between them are essential to a healthy society.

6. We believe that it is the right of every individual adult person to determine for themselves their conduct towards and within their society (for example, in matters of dress or good manners), and their personal conduct in matters of faith and belief as well, as long as their conduct does not threaten the common good. Likewise, we believe that every society must be allowed to express and celebrate humanity's profound cultural diversity, as long as the expression of that diversity does not include the compulsion of any individual to violate their own human rights, or their personal values, or their human nature, or otherwise threaten the common good of all people.

7. We believe and strongly encourage Muslims to seriously engage in civic life and contribute to their communities and society as much as they can.

Source: Canadian Council of Imams - CANADIAN COUNCIL OF IMAMS DECLARATION

Further Information:

CBC News - Canada - Canadian Imams denounce Islamic radicalism

Why we needed an Imams' declaration for peace - CNN.com

Ever Wish You Could Really Commit Something to "Memory"

If you are a blogger or student or anybody who writes a lot I am sure you do a lot of pre-writing, thinking things through and even composing articles in your head when you are not at your computer. Some of the best things I have never published have been written that way. They never got published because they never got committed to my hard drive. By the time I got around to writing what I wanted to write the brilliant piece of work that was in my mind had disappeared from my thoughts.

Don't you wish that as you composed those brilliant pieces in your mind you could actually commit them to memory somewhere for later retrieval and editing. Wouldn't it be great if you could have a memory card slot in your brain to save them too and then pop into a USB slot and edit.

So are there any techie entrepreneurs out there working on this (besides the CIA of, course, who are no doubt working on secret brain implants to record your every thought).

Marianne's Folly - Kanata Lakes 40% Agreement

It seemed like a good deal - a developer agreeing to protect 40% of it's land as "greenspace" instead of the normally mandated 5%. It seemed like a good deal till you realize none of that land should be developed in the first place as it was all zoned as environmentally protected conservation lands. The only thing that made it seem like a good deal was the fact that developers rule in Ontario and have their own kangaroo court - the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to threaten communities, municipalities and environmentalists with.

We can argue till the proverbial cows come home whether the deal should have been made or whether the developers bluff should have been called and the original zoning defended by the cities of Kanata, Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and City of Ottawa.

What we do know is that the agreement could not have been implemented in a worse way, resulting in very little actual environmentally sensitive land being protected and a private golf course being designated as "greenspace".

The first mistake was in designating the allegedly "protected" land as "greenspace" rather than environmentally important land. The second mistake was in not identifying the protected lands at the very beginning before any development took place in Kanata Lakes. And the third, and most important mistake, was in virtually letting the developer decide what was to be in the 40 of "greenspace", leading to such absurdities as the golf course being included in the "protected" lands.

So now we have an unsustainable corridor of protected land, surrounded by development and barely connected to the rest of the South March highlands . That is what we got for giving up the fight to protect all of the South March Highlands - folly indeed.

At Least She Won't Be Sunburned When She Cracks Her Head Open

Anna Bebon, from Tommy & Lefebvre, is cool to go out
in the sun thanks to her UV-protected clothing by Lole.
Photograph by: Jana Chytilova, The Ottawa Citizen
As one who is a strong advocate of wearing bicycle helmets, seeing the apparent promotion of cycling without a helmet by a prominent local cycling store in what considers itself to be the city's newspaper of record is sure to catch my attention.

Perhaps upon further reflection and examination of the photo that comes with a photo credit, but looks like it should also have a Photoshop credit, I should not take the article, which appears to be an advertorial, too seriously. I mean what type of dock is that anyway, and why would anyone try to cycle on it.

Nevertheless, community leaders should be careful about what type of messages they are sending.

Thousands Line Up For Newest Apple iThing

Thousands have lined the streets prior to the release of Apple's newest product. Apple fans, with their credit card limits newly boosted to the max, are lining up in advance of the January 13, 2013 release of the latest Apple Inc. product whose price and function are a heavily guarded secret. Price apparently is no object when it comes to being first to get the newest iThing. The product, whose function is still undetermined, will simply be known as the iProfit.

Why We Left Bell Canada (Short Version)

Summertime and the Blogging is ...

Well it's summertime for the Fifth Column and the blog posts are becoming sporadic as I get busy with travel and other activities. However I do have a few blog posts floating around in my head so I do hope to be posting again soon.

Workers Win (Local 6500 vs VALE INCO)

They say nobody wins in a strike and certainly after a year the workers will never regain the income they lost and the company will never regain it's lost production, and in this case the extra expenses incurred on scabs and security to pretend they were operating normally.

But we have to look a lot further than that in this case, to the objectives of both sides, to declare a winner.

The objective of the Brazilian based VALE was to bring their Sudbury operations in line with their operations in third world developing countries, by dictating rather than negotiating a concessions only contract, and in the process break the workers union.

They clearly failed in that goal. Although it took a year long strike they were finally forced to negotiate and realize that Sudbury is not Brazil or Indonesia. The workers proved their solidarity ending their strike stronger than before and a whole new cadre of union activists were created.

The workers struck for a "fair deal" and negotiated a contract that included some gains and was a far cry from the original dictated terms of the company. The deal included cost of living increases to keep up with inflation as well as additional increases raising their real incomes. It did include some changes to the bonus system but much less than originally proposed, and while it included a new pension system for new hires it was much improved from the original proposal, and there were also improvements to the pension plan for current employees. On top of that was a signing bonus and substantial early retirement incentives to avoid layoffs. It is an agreement that while clearly not a "good deal", under the circumstances can be called a "fair deal".

It was unfortunate that it took a year long strike, with it's subsequent loss of production, to teach VALE that it has to respect their Sudbury workforce and negotiate with them rather than dictate to them, if they expect to operate in this country.

And the workers, and their union, now stronger than ever, have five years to prepare and save up for the next round of negotiations where they can build on the gains in this contract. Hopefully VALE will have learned their lesson and it will not require another year long strike before they start to negotiate. There may even be hope that a new respectful relationship with their Sudbury workers can be built during these five years.

The Fifth Column again congratulates the members of Local 6500 on their solidarity.

An Activist's Viewpoint

Congratulations Brothers and Sisters

Congratulations to Local 6500 on Your Solidarity - One Year Stronger

Sudbury, Port Colborne – United Steelworkers (USW) members in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ont., voted today to end their year-long strike against mining giant Vale, approving a new collective agreement.

USW Local 6500 members in Sudbury voted 75% in favour of the new contract, while Local 6200 members in Port Colborne ratified the deal by a 74% margin.

“Our members have spoken and I believe everyone respects the decisions they have made in extremely difficult circumstances,” said Wayne Fraser, the USW’s District Director for Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

“We congratulate our members for the determination, spirit and solidarity they demonstrated over the last year in their unprecedented struggle against this huge multinational corporation,” said USW Local 6200 President Wayne Rae.

“We also extend our sincere appreciation to our community for its tremendous support throughout the last year and to the countless people, unions and other groups around the world who demonstrated incredible international solidarity with our members,” said John Fera, President of USW Local 6500.

Highlights of the new collective agreement, which runs until May 31, 2015, include:

- Across-the-board, hourly wage increases with cost-of-living increases each of the five years. Thus, bringing the wage hike to between $2.25 and $2.50 an hour over the life of the agreement.

- Improvements to the existing Defined Benefit Pension Plan increasing to $41,400 per year, with cost-of-living indexing for life, along with life-time health care benefits.

- A Defined Contribution Pension Plan for new hires that provides for Company contributions equal to 8% of employees’ regular basic earnings. As well, employees will be able to make additional contributions ranging from 2% to 6% of regular earnings, with matching contributions from the Company subject to certain limits. The new plan also will include Long Term Disability coverage for employees.

- As a result of sustained, hard-fought negotiations, the nickel bonus program will allow employees to earn up to $15,000 annually in addition to regular earnings.

“For the last 12 months our members have stood together in the face of incredible adversity,” Fraser said. “They demonstrated tremendous character and they can hold their heads high as they return to work.”

“As our brothers in Voisey’s Bay NLF head into negotiations, our members in Sudbury and Port Colborne will remain in solidarity with them as they continue to fight for the fair deal they deserve,” said Fraser.

City Considering SLAPP against Terry Fox Road Extension Opponents

In a break with city policy, Ottawa's city solicitor is recommending the city try to intimidate the opponents of the Terry Fox Drive extension into dropping their legal action against the city.

As the Ottawa Citizen reports:

The fight over the Terry Fox Drive extension could come with a $50,000 legal bill, city solicitor Rick O’Connor said Tuesday.

And the group of people who want to stop the $47.7-million roadway should be ordered to put up the cash before their case goes ahead, O’Connor told members of city council’s corporate services committee.

“We would be asking the court for this particular group to put money into the court to be set aside in the case that we win and that we’re entitled to our legal costs at the end of the day,” he explained. “If we are successful on a motion for security for costs, we’d be looking for this corporation to set aside approximately $40,000 or $50,000.”

The corporation, South March Highlands Carp River Conservation Inc., is taking the city to court next Tuesday in a bid to stop the Terry Fox Drive extension, a four-kilometre road being built through the ecologically sensitive South March Highlands in northern Kanata.

The group will ask the judge for an injunction, which would put an immediate stop to construction, pending a judicial review of whether the city broke the law in going ahead with the roadway without an updated environmental assessment.

The City of Ottawa has a policy not to ask for court costs from community groups that undertake litigation in the public interest. However, O’Connor said that South March Highlands Carp River Conservation Inc. does not meet the definition of a community group, having incorporated just three weeks before the lawsuit was filed.

“Clearly they initiated the incorporation solely to protect themselves … and they should know that they can’t hide behind the incorporation if, at the end of the day, we are entitled to have our costs,” he said.

Eric Gillespie, the lawyer for South March Highlands Carp River Conservation Inc., said it is the legal arm of a coalition that represents several community groups, some of which have long fought for conservation in the area.

“The City of Ottawa has a clear policy to not seek costs from community organizations. As a result, a request of that nature is very surprising and would seem very inappropriate,” he said.

This is clearly an attempt by the City to use the SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) tactic against a citizens group concerned about the environment and the ecological integrity of the South March Highlands to prevent them from acting in the public interest. This is a tactic that Environmental Defence and more than 60 Ontario groups are calling on the province to pass legislation protecting public interest groups from, and it is a tactic that we certainly do not expect representatives of the public to employ.

Considering the city policy to play fast and loose with federal and provincial environmental laws, as well as ignoring it's own demographic data, all in pursuit of free federal money, when it comes to this project, perhaps we should not be surprised by this latest proposed tactic.

Paul Renaud of the Coalition to Protect the South March Highlands has responded with the following statement:

This is absolutely outrageous and none of us should accept this abuse of municipal power against its own citizens.

1. How is it not in the public interest to conserve and protect the South March Highlands? Of course it is.

2. How can a public interest group stop being a public interest group by acting in the public interest? Does this mean that Friends of the Greenspace Alliance and other public interest groups are no longer acting in the public interest to defend green space just because they incorporate? Of course not.

3. Public interest groups already have to pay twice – i.e. for both sides in this legal case: our lawyer and the City’s lawyer who is paid by our tax dollars. Why should we pay 3 times? Perhaps we should offer to withhold our tax dollars to level the playing field.

4. The Coalition to Protect South March incorporated precisely to avoid this type of scare tactic being used against its members. Clearly we were wise to do so.

5. Is the City so unsure of its case that it is trying to keep it from getting to court? If so, why is City Council condoning both potentially illegal activity and the abdication of its policy not to pursue costs?

The Sierra Club Canada has issued the following statement:

Sierra Club Canada is shocked to hear the City of Ottawa is pressing a
community group for up-front court costs in the South March Highlands
case. Despite City policy not to demand court costs from public
interest community groups, a city solicitor is pressing for the group
to pay as much as $50,000.

“Moves like this impede the democratic process in the City of Ottawa,”
said Sierra Club Canada Executive Director John Bennett. “Citizens
should have a right to voice their concerns without fear of
heavy-handed reprisal.”

“There wouldn’t be a need for this if the City had obeyed the
environmental assessment laws in the first place,” said Mr. Bennett.
“The City is acting as a bully selectively applying its own rules.”

The Fifth Column calls upon all Ottawa citizens to let your city councillor know that you do not approve of your municipal government using intimidation tactics against citizens groups that oppose the actions of the city or developers.

Municipal Elections Suck

So why do municipal elections suck.

Because the way the system works now all too often the least preferred candidate wins rather than the most preferred candidate.

This results from the fact that there are often a large number of candidates, many of whom may share a similar philosophy and similar policies and who appeal to the same group of voters. For simplicity sake lets divide the candidates (and voters) into alphas and betas, for want of better terms.

Various scenarios can come into play here but for demonstration purposes lets look at a simple one. Let us say there are three alpha candidates that share 60% of the vote roughly and one beta candidate with 40% of the vote. Let us assume, reasonably, that the beta candidate is the last choice of almost all of the alpha voters. And let us assume, also reasonably, that while all the alpha voters may have individual preferences all the alpha candidates are acceptable to almost all of the alpha voters.

Under our present electoral system the beta candidate, the last choice of the majority of voters and the one acceptable to only a minority of voters would get elected. Similar situations can happen with different numbers of candidates and different breakdowns with either beta or alpha candidates benefiting from the flaw in the system.

Another effect of this of course is that people realize this is happening and "strategic voting" comes into play and voters attempt to avoid this by voting for their second or third choices instead of their first, depending on who the media says has the best chance of winning. Such a situation deprives voters of the ability to vote for their first choice and gives the media an inordinate (and undemocratic) amount of power in choosing who gets elected.

There is an alternative - system that allows voters to vote for their first choice amongst acceptable candidates and not vote for unacceptable candidates. Instead of voting for one candidate you would rank the candidates in order of preference, ranking as many candidates as you wish and avoiding ranking unacceptable candidates if you do not wish to. The votes would be tabulated electronically dropping the bottom candidates from the list and redistributing their votes to the voters next choice until a candidate receives over 50% of the vote.

Under this system the least preferred candidate would never be elected and the elected candidate would always be acceptable to the majority of voters.

This would allow voters to vote for their first choice knowing that if their first choice was not amongst the top vote recipients their vote would be transferred to their second choice and not become a de facto vote for the candidate they least liked. Strategic voting would be eliminated and all candidates would know how much real first ballot support they had and candidates would not be penalized because the media tells everyone they do not have a chance.

This type of system, of course, would not just work in municipal elections. Indeed, this is the type of system that the United Kingdom is going to hold a referendum on.

Using such a system in Ontario municipal elections would be an excellent place for us to start. While it is likely too late to introduce in this years election it may very well not be too late to add a question to the ballot in the November election to find out what voters think of the system.

Every Canadian Should Read This

It is long. It is shocking. It will make you sad. It will make you cry, It will make you puke. It will make you angry. It will make you fucking scream. But you should read it.

How I Got Arrested and Abused at the G20 in Toronto, Canada: backofthebook.ca

Mountain Biking the South March Highlands Trails - The Video

Why Is Bill Blair Still Toronto Police Chief

If there is one thing I thought all Canadians agreed on, in it was the rule of law and that the role of the police was to enforce the laws made by our elected governments not make up their own.

I find it hard to understand how a chief of police could admit to making up his own law and instructing the police to enforce it, while lying to the public about it, without adding "therefore I resign immediately". It does not even matter whether the law was enforced fairly or appropriately, which in this case the evidence indicates it was not - the police do not make up their own laws. It seems to me there can be no greater crime that a police chief could commit than to do that and upon admitting that there is no choice but immediate resignation.

Am I missing something. Why is there not total and complete public outrage over this. Are there really that many people that think a police state is acceptable, even for a weekend.