Give Credit Where Credit is Due..NCC Innovation

A Rockcliffe former councillor,  Nussbaum at the NCC, said 

the image of “the capital that fun forgot” no longer rings [not entirely anyway] true

He said this while citing the commission’s work to animate the region’s shorelines, paths and parkways, alongside the work of other organizations in the city.

If Toby was still our councillor I probably would not be running against him.

The changes and innovation at the NCC have been very good in my opinion.

More Summer Fun on the Rideau

By inflating a man made weir/ u, communities can transform shallow, rocky rivers like the Rideau into deep ponds suitable for swimming, rowing, and fishing during dry summer months.

Inflatable weirs (also known as rubber dams) are flexible, air- or water-filled membranes anchored to riverbeds to raise water levels for recreation. They are widely used in urban and natural environments to create deep flat-water reservoirs for swimming and boating, or to power adjustable rapids for whitewater kayaking and surfing.

Unlike fixed concrete weirs, inflatable dams can be completely deflated during heavy rain to allow floodwaters and debris to pass safely. They also allow easier sediment management and can be lowered to safely pass migratory fish.

The Pumphouse: Just around the corner from the Canadian War Museum in downtown Ottawa, is highly utilized by the
Ottawa River Runners for slalom and whitewater kayaking. They worked countless volunteer hours to make this a reality against a backdrop of institutional inertia.

• Flat-Water Pools: By inflating the dam, communities can transform shallow, rocky rivers into deep ponds suitable for swimming, rowing, and fishing during dry summer months.
• Adjustable Whitewater: Specially engineered inflatable spillway gates allow engineers to adjust the height of the weir in minutes, altering river flows to create standing waves for surfers and play-features for whitewater kayakers.
• Environmental & Flood Safety: Unlike fixed concrete weirs, inflatable dams can be completely deflated during heavy rain to allow floodwaters and debris to pass safely. They also allow easier sediment management and can be lowered to safely pass migratory fish.
For those located in the Ottawa region, while large-scale inflatable weirs are primarily municipal, you can experience natural and dam-regulated whitewater and floating recreation nearby:
• The Pumphouse
• Madawaska River & Ottawa River: Located just west of Ottawa/Gatineau, resorts like Wilderness Tours (located in Foresters Falls) and the Madawaska Kanu Centre offer extensive commercial inflatable water parks, guided white-water rafting, and kayak training.
Implementing an inflatable weir or recreation project on the Rideau River along the Overbrook shoreline presents a unique mix of high community potential and strict seasonal, environmental, and structural constraints.

Because this specific stretch of the Rideau river runs past Riverain Park, the Rideau Sports Centre, and dense residential pockets, any transformation must balance park use with intense spring environmental factors.

The Overbrook Rideau River Footprint
The primary zone for potential recreation spans from the Hurdman/417 bridge area down past the Adàwe Crossing to Beechwood Avenue.

1. Inflatable Weir Feasibility: Challenges & Opportunities

Installing a municipal inflatable weir in this specific section is theoretically possible but complicated due to the following factors:
• The Summer Shallows (The Opportunity): Local paddlers note that the river near the 417 bridge and the Rideau Sports Centre gets incredibly shallow and rocky during July and August. A temporary summer inflation could raise the water level by 1 to 1.5 metres, creating a reliable, deep urban flat-water loop perfect for stand-up paddleboarding, canoeing, and recreational kayaking between Hurdman and New Edinburgh.

• The Spring Ice Blasting Conflict (The Massive Challenge): Every late February, the City of Ottawa conducts aggressive annual ice-breaking and dynamite blasting operations starting from the Rideau Falls Dam Complex up through Overbrook to Billings Bridge. This prevents catastrophic spring flooding in Overbrook and New Edinburgh.
• Any rubber weir bladder anchored to the riverbed would risk severe structural damage from the shifting ice sheets, amphibious excavators, and explosive charges unless it was thoroughly deflated and armored flat against the riverbed before winter freeze-up.

2. Immediate, Non-Structural Recreation Possibilities

Without installing heavy permanent or semi-permanent infrastructure like dams, several high-impact recreational activations are highly possible and frequently discussed for Overbrook's waterfront:
• Expanded Public Launch Infrastructure: While the Rideau Sports Centre offers private access and rentals, constructing a dedicated, accessible public dock or beach-style launch at Riverain Park would dramatically open up the river for local paddlers.
• Seasonal Inflatable Water Parks: Instead of a structural weir in the riverbed, the city or a private partner could anchor a seasonal, floating inflatable playground (similar to the commercial park at Wilderness Tours) right off the shores of Riverain Park during low-flow summer months.
• Eco-Tourism & Heritage Trails: The shorelines of Overbrook feature rich natural environments and historical paths (celebrated locally by initiatives like the Poets' Pathway).
Enhancing the shoreline paths with viewing decks, urban fishing platforms (targeting the river's native sportfish), and educational signage regarding the Rideau Waterway UNESCO World Heritage Site status is easily achievable.

When I first ran for office in 2019, it was Nussbaum, not King, that set the standard to which I aspire. 

I am asking Rideau Rockcliffe to imagine what is possible as well as what is necessary and what is needed.

I will not quit.

This time around, inform yourselves, vote differently, vote wisely.  Vote for Peter Karwacki for Rideau Rockcliffe

Emergency Preparedness in Rideau Rockcliffe

What does emergency preparedness look like in Rideau Rockcliffe?  You need a buffer of supplies and know how.

1. Back up water supplies

2. Back up food supplies

3. Emergency power backup

4. Emergency cash... atm's out of order

5. Working bicycle or ebike

6. Physical conditioning

7. Access to power tools like chainsaws, sump pumps , and the knowledge how to use them.

With flooding more prevalent the protocols need to  be commonly understood

Flooded basement Protocol

•  Move out contents, rip out flooring, rip out bottom 18" of dry wall...or more, remove wet insulation, all to prevent or minimize black mould
•  Then dry it all out with fans, and commercial grade dehumidifiers.
• Apply a mould inhibiter 

• You'll need a dumpster for the torn out materials  damp and damaged linens, furniture and anything adversely affected. DRY Things out ASAP.

• Level and Seal the slab after it dries out
• Reinstall insulation, pull down original vapor barrier and secure to dried out stud and plate
• install drywall and plaster, sand
• Prime and paint drywall
• Install dimpled PET floor cover
• ReInstall vapor seal
• Install flooring

8. Communications backup.. more than one cell account

9. Flashlights and batteries, solar backups

10. Sufficient medications and first aide supplies

11. Know your neighbors, help them out, they'll help you too. Figure out how to deal with the stress. Remember to eat, drink water, sleep.

12. Your own emergency plan including a ready bag, contact numbers, cash, a buddy, meetup points, a plan of action when things go pear shaped.

There is much to consider...when there is no emergency.  Try and practice. Pretend there is an emergency.

The need to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable...

The tragedy in LAHAINA, Hawaii is instructive concerning the need for wards of municipalities to be prepared. Here's a list of the crazy things that happened during the Lahaina wildfire: 

1. Police turned cars back towards the wildfire fearing downed power lines;

2. They fought over water supply to fire trucks;

3. They did not sound alarms;

4. Because power lines were not buried, they collapsed in the fire;

5. Combustibles abounded all around;

6. Lack of organization and planning delayed the evacuation;

What about Rideau- Rockcliffe?

The question now arises--what hazards and proclivities pose the greatest risk to our ward?

Here is a short list: 

1. Nuclear detonation

• Owing to adversarial Putin and Canada's NATO alliance...things could escalate.
• Hiroshima has informed us.

2. Contamination of water supply--the Ottawa River

• The Ottawa River is soon to be down-stream from a nuclear waste dump in Deep River; prevention is the answer here.

3. A great conflagration in Gatineau park

• Climate change, drought and pine beetles have wreaked havoc all around us. The national capital is not immune to wildfires. Clear combustibles from around your home. Consider a metal roof to resist hot flying embers from the flames.

4. Multiple tornados striking the ward

• The band of tornados seems to be moving north. We have been lucky but a highway seven event is possible. You need emergency backup power.

5. Natural Disaster

• Massive heat wave...or ice storm, climate change is palpable now...but could get worse...the changes may not be linear or manageable. You need cooling systems and fans.

6. Aliens land 

• The Americans admit that UAP are not proven to be extra terrestrial..."but we do not know what they are!"
• ;o)  just kidding, they are ours.

7. Racial, gang or worker strife... including trucker convoy styled protest or general strike

• The trucker convoy was proven effective as a protest. It could happen again. In fact protests could become more common.
• Roaming gangs of thugs protocols

Probably not much you can do unless you have Surrey neighbors with baseball bats to discourage ner's do wells.

8. Hazardous materials incident

• 417 Traffic on the Queensway often grinds to a halt backing up traffic in the nation's capital. A hazardous waste incident during a traffic tie up could have disastrous consequences.

9. Overland inundation

• On July 1st, 2026 Otawa received about 200 mm of rain over four hours. Things go sidewalks when you get that much water. The drains just cannot handle it. Basements flood, personal property damage escalates. People get stressed out. Implement flooded basement protocol as per above.

One of the problems in Lahaina was that they did not practice and they did not imagine the worst case. Can we learn from Lahaina and not just think the unthinkable but be proactive as a community to mitigate those risks?

Even if the City and ward refuse to practice, you and your family and neighbors can and should practice

 Expect the unexpected. Imagine the unimaginable.

Again, these are a few of the possibilities. There are others of course, including air crashes, plagues, etc.

Rideau Rockcliffe does have an emergency planning process but have stopped short of trying to predict the future... It is focused on city assets and process:

https://ottawa.ca/en/health-and-public-safety/emergency-preparedness#section-0116fca7-414f-4d72-954d-7097cd1f1be3

Consider who you want to plan for the future emergencies. Choose somebody who can think clearly under pressure and will not quit.

This time around, inform yourselves, vote differently, vote wisely.  Vote for Peter Karwacki for Rideau Rockcliffe

Campaign Web Page

 

https://peterkarwacki.blogspot.com/p/peter-karwacki-for-rideau-rockcliffe.html?m=1#

Optimized for your phone

OOPS - oversight, no oversight

In February 2022, as the trucker convoy occupation dragged into its third week, city council voted to overhaul the Ottawa Police Services Board. 

The trigger was the board's sole-source hiring of Matt Torigian to replace outgoing chief Peter Sloly, done without consulting council — chair Diane Deans maintained the board alone had legal authority over that hiring under provincial legislation. Fallout was immediate: Torigian himself terminated his two-day-old contract rather than come to Ottawa, Deans was removed as chair, and councillors Rawlson King and Carol Anne Meehan, plus citizen board member Sandy Smallwood, all resigned in the same meeting. Eli El-Chantiry took over as chair the next day, uncontested.

King didn't go quietly. In his official resignation statement, he called the mayor's claim that the board hadn't been effective in its oversight function "highly disingenuous and insulting" to colleagues who, he said, had been working tirelessly within their scope of responsibility. He argued the board had exercised oversight in the strongest way available to it — public and in-camera meetings, pressing the chief to use every resource at his disposal.

That was King's claim: this board, as constituted, was doing its job.

Four years later, it's a claim worth testing against what actually happened to oversight at the Ottawa Police Service between then and now.

What the board didn't know

In 2022, OPS and its board jointly created an independent workplace investigations office — set up specifically to handle harassment and misconduct complaints outside the normal chain of command, a direct response to years of documented failures on gender-based misconduct. In 2023, that office was shut down. The board wasn't consulted. Members found out the day of their regular October meeting.

That gap shouldn't happen to a functional oversight body. A structural safeguard was quietly removed, and the body responsible for oversight learned about it after the fact.

What the audit found

In May 2026, the city's auditor general released findings on OPS project management: projects sometimes proceeding without proper budgets, and reporting to the board that in places contained flat-out inaccuracies — including outdated figures on the body-camera program in a December 2025 report. The auditor's word for the information reaching board members and OPS leadership was "vague," with risk not properly flagged.

An oversight board can only oversee what it's accurately told. This audit says, on the record, that it often wasn't.

We can only guess what might have happened had King and his colleagues chosen to stick things out rather than bail.

I will not quit.

This time around, inform yourselves, vote differently, vote wisely.  Vote for Peter Karwacki for Rideau Rockcliffe

Canada Day 2026

 

This year is an election year in Ottawa. Will you actually vote?

Will you hold your currently elected officials to account?

You may think they are friends, fine people, good community members - that's fine but they must be held accountable for their decisions in a functioning democracy.

It's not personal, it is necessary.

Hold the whole lot of them to account if you cannot pick just one but things must change!

This time around, inform yourselves, vote differently, vote wisely.  Vote for Peter Karwacki for Rideau Rockcliffe

The Satirical Interview with an Ottawa Mayor

 

The Honest Mayor: An Interview That Could Never Actually Happen

Reporter: Why did Council approve a $95 million landfill purchase appraised at $23 million?

Mayor: We don't call it overpaying by $72 million. We call it "long-term planning." If you say a number with enough confidence in a council chamber, nobody checks the math until it's somebody else's term.

Reporter: OC Transpo has missed nearly every performance target for years. What's the plan?

Mayor: Same as always — commission a report so expensive it becomes the achievement. We don't fix transit, we fund its eulogy, on a loop, annually.

Reporter: Why does every ward boundary vote split 20-5 along urban-rural lines?

Mayor: Because we didn't draw wards, we drew a custody battle. Every councillor gets the kid on alternating weekends and nobody agrees on bedtime.

Reporter: The Montreal Road shelter was cancelled after community pushback. Right call?

Mayor: Compassion is in our strategic plan. It's just not zoned anywhere.

Reporter: Ottawa Police spent $4.9 million on governance reform since 2022. Real change?

Mayor: We restructured the org chart four times. That's not reform, that's musical chairs with a procurement budget. Nobody's sitting anywhere different, the chairs just cost more now.

Reporter: Lansdowne 2.0 — good use of public money?

Mayor: Define "good." If "good" means a stadium gets built, yes. If "good" means anyone can explain who pays for it, I'm going to need you to define "good" again.

Reporter: Why does every road get a safety fix only after someone's hurt?

Mayor: Grief has a budget line. Prevention doesn't. You can't cut a ribbon for the crash that didn't happen.

Reporter: Your honest assessment of 24 Sussex Drive?

Mayor: It's not a residence, it's a metaphor with a leaky roof. We've spent more studying whether to fix it than it would've cost to just fix it. Twice.

Reporter: Why do City-run programs cost more and deliver less than residents could manage themselves?

Mayor: Because a resident solving their own problem doesn't need a press release. Ours does. We're not funding outcomes, we're funding the announcement of outcomes.

Reporter: Last one. If you were honest with voters just once, what would you say?

Mayor: That the dysfunction isn't a bug, it's the org chart working exactly as designed — to make sure no single person is ever responsible for anything. And that I will absolutely deny saying that the moment this interview ends.

One councillor added ""I thought, 'Ooooh, this is bad in general,'"

Reporter: Why doesn't Ottawa have a public washroom policy?

Mayor:
1. We have a Public Washroom Strategy. The strategy is "Tim Hortons."
2. Mayor

 A washroom doesn't get its own ribbon-cutting. A "Multi-Use Wellness Hub Feasibility Study" does, and that's basically a toilet with better branding and a five-year timeline.

3. Mayor

We looked into it, and it turns out a public washroom costs less than the meeting we had about whether to look into it.

4. Mayor

Technically there is a policy. It's called "hold it."

5. Mayor

 Every other city's washrooms are "infrastructure." Ours are "an ongoing conversation with stakeholders," which is a lot less plumbing and a lot more PowerPoint.

6. Mayor

We don't lack washrooms, we lack a councillor willing to put "toilets" in a press release headline. Bridges photograph well. Toilets do not.

7. Mayor

We did build one. It's downtown. It's wrapped in scaffolding. The scaffolding has now outlasted two mayors.

8. Mayor

The real barrier isn't cost, it's that nobody wants to be the politician remembered for toilets when they could be remembered for a stadium nobody asked for.
9. Mayor

We have a robust network of public washrooms. We just keep them inside private businesses and call it "partnership."
10. Mayor

Honestly? A bathroom is the one piece of infrastructure where everyone agrees on the need, the cost, and the design. Council can't function without something to disagree about, so we just... don't build it.

10. Mayor

We do have a P3 model for washrooms — a Public-Private Partnership. You go in public, in a private business, and pee. It's very efficient. Tim Hortons has done more for bladder infrastructure in this city than three terms of Council.
11. Mayor

Officially it's called a  Public-Private Partnership. Unofficially, it's "go ask Starbucks." Same acronym, much smaller capital budget.

And finally

12. Mayor

We've fully privatized the public washroom system. We just didn't tell anyone, and the private partner is whichever café is most agreeable.

Breaking News:

 the City has announced its new washroom policy is new bilingual signage 

— Public-Private Partnership / Partenariat Public-Privé — 

bolted onto the door of every downtown coffee shop bathroom.

When asked, the mayor said: 

Mayor
Our official Public-Private Partnership framework for washrooms is innovative and creative: the public provides the bladder, the private sector provides the toilet, and Council provides the press release."

Here are a few more about statistics

Ottawa loves a good stat: technically true and practically meaningless. 

---

Reporter: The City says 94% of roads meet "acceptable condition" standards. Is that true?

Mayor: "acceptable" the same way a landlord defines an apartment as "move-in ready."

Reporter: OC Transpo reports 80% on-time performance. Riders disagree. Who's right?

Mayor: We're both are right. Did the bus show up? No, We're measuring whether a bus exists in the system, theoretically, at some point during the day.

Reporter: Council says response times for 911 calls have "improved." Improved from what?

Mayor: We picked the one that was easy to improve on. Pick a low baseline and even standing still counts as progress.

Reporter: The City touts a 30% increase in "community engagement" on the new budget. What does that mean?

Mayor: It means thirty percent more people clicked a survey link before realizing the budget was already decided. We count clicks, not outcomes. Clicks don't push back.

Reporter: Police governance reform reports "significant progress on accountability metrics." What changed?

Mayor: The metrics changed. That's the progress.

Reporter: The City says 100% of new builds meet "climate-conscious design standards." What's the standard?

Mayor: That somebody filled out the climate-conscious design form. We don't measure carbon, we measure paperwork. Paperwork doesn't melt ice caps, so technically we're winning.

Reporter: Why does every annual report show "record investment" in housing, transit, and infrastructure, every single year?

Mayor: Because "investment" means money announced, not money spent, and definitely not money that solved anything. We could announce the same dollar twice and it would still be a record.

Reporter: The City claims a 25% reduction in "homelessness-related service gaps." What's a service gap?

Mayor: A service gap is whatever was there before we redefined the service. Shrink the definition, shrink the gap. Nobody's housed, but the chart's beautiful.

Reporter: Satisfaction surveys show residents rate City services 7 out of 10. Does that reflect reality?

Mayor: It reflects who picked up the phone. We don't survey the people who gave up calling 311 in 2019. Survivorship bias is basically our core methodology.

Reporter: Last one. If the City published one honest statistic, what would it be?

Mayor: The percentage of our statistics designed to be defended in a council meeting rather than verified by a resident. I'd guess that number's close to 100%, but we haven't commissioned a study, because we already know we wouldn't like the answer.

Maybe these are not funny for the simple reason that we are tired of it. 

Hold the whole of them to account!

This time around, inform yourselves, vote differently, vote wisely.  Vote for Peter Karwacki for Rideau Rockcliffe

Rideau-Rockcliffe community calendar for Peter Karwacki

 

It's still a bit buggy but soon you will be able to enter your own events on a simple form.

Submission Form

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9joYabR9x9xAVKAcwBWaLWV-900Bo-jFa6sO10l6GJTRRRg/viewform?usp=dialog

The Rideau Rockcliffe calendar

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/1?cid=ZTczMDNlYjI0MTQ1M2NmNmExZDlhMWUzNGExYTM0Y2E4ZDg4NjgyYjFiOWFkZGQ1YWFkNzU4Mzc1MjRiM2Y0N0Bncm91cC5jYWxlbmRhci5nb29nbGUuY29t