A balanced scorecard for Ottawa

Balanced Scorecard: Selected City of Ottawa Decisions (2022 – mid-2026)

This table presents the original criticisms alongside the city’s stated context, supporting data, external factors, and remaining open questions. It is intended to give a fuller picture rather than a one-sided view.

Issue	Criticism & key numbers cited	City / administration context & additional facts	Notes / open questions
Housing & development charges	Charges on a new single-family home outside the Greenbelt rose by roughly $21,000+ before construction. Cost falls on the buying family.	Development charges are intended to make growth pay for infrastructure. Rates rose through indexing and master-plan updates (2024–2025). In mid-2026 the city proposed a 54 % cut (e.g. singles outside Greenbelt from ~$62,500 toward ~$28,800) conditional on federal/provincial infrastructure funding. Housing Action Plan measures (fee deferrals, streamlined approvals) are underway.	Exact $21,146 figure is difficult to isolate in public schedules. Overall trajectory was upward until the proposed cut. Net effect on housing starts remains debated.
Open drug use / overdoses	ByWard Market overdose calls: 77 (2018) → 467 (2023). Crisis teams expanded into additional neighbourhoods because the problem is spreading. Goal should be recovery, not permanent management.	Numbers confirmed by paramedic and police data (≈500 % increase). City response includes expanded paramedic “extended care” model, supervised consumption sites, naloxone distribution, and crisis-response teams. Broader Ontario/national opioid-fentanyl crisis is the dominant driver.	Expansion of services acknowledges growth of the problem. Effectiveness of harm-reduction versus recovery-focused approaches remains actively contested.
Traffic congestion & ring-road study	Two-thirds of residents say traffic worsened; 77 % disapprove of the city’s handling. Mayor voted with the majority to remove ring-road evaluation language from the Transportation Master Plan.	Council (16–8, including the mayor) removed late-added “full and fair evaluation” language, arguing a ring road is primarily provincial, previously studied/rejected, costly, and would encourage sprawl. The province has since signalled interest in exploring a southern ring road. Congestion reflects post-pandemic recovery plus population growth.	Public dissatisfaction is real. Whether a ring road is the right tool versus transit, demand management, or provincial highways remains a long-standing local debate.
Transit (“New Ways to Bus”)	≈70,000–74,000 fewer annual service hours. Auditor found the redesign was driven mainly by $10 million cost savings and used 2023 data that became outdated.	Framed by OC Transpo as a network redesign to improve connectivity to new O-Train Lines 2 & 4 and match post-pandemic ridership. Ridership has recovered somewhat but remains below pre-COVID peaks; the system carries a large operating deficit. New general manager has accepted the audit recommendations and is adjusting schedules.	Auditor’s findings of cost-driven design and outdated data are uncontested. Service reliability and frequency remain major resident complaints.
City Hall staffing	≈1,283 additional positions since the mayor took office; after stripping front-line roles, ≈175 head-office positions ≈ $22 million/year.	Total FTEs have grown (city reports ≈17,100–17,200 by 2025). Majority of growth is front-line, growth-related, or provincially/federally mandated/funded. Council later directed a soft cap near current levels for the 2026 budget, exempting many front-line categories. City notes FTEs have grown slower than population/households since 2016.	“Head-office only” residual figure is an estimate; exact administrative share is not broken out the same way in official reports.
Alto high-speed-rail NDA	City signed an NDA covering route maps; neighbouring municipalities refused. Landowners kept in the dark.	City staff signed to obtain detailed mapping so Ottawa’s own infrastructure data could inform Alto’s planning. Mayor stated the NDA covers city-owned properties, not a general secrecy order, and that Alto itself is running public consultations.	Transparency concern is legitimate for affected private landowners. Degree of actual information withheld from the public is disputed.
Lansdowne 2.0	$419 million project approved 15–10. More than 5,000 residents requested a referendum (denied). Transit improvements to the site promised while bus hours were cut.	City/OSEG partnership claims net taxpayer cost closer to 31 % after revenues, air-rights sales, and property-tax uplift; aims to replace aging facilities and keep sports teams. Auditor had raised cost and revenue-risk concerns. Later public polling showed majority disapproval.	Financial projections remain contested. Opportunity-cost argument (money versus other priorities) is central to critics.
Food-bank visits	Visits more than doubled since 2019 (reported +68 %, +90 %, +101 % in successive years). Shipments cut; more than 1 in 4 households food-insecure.	Ottawa Food Bank data confirm ≈101 % rise in visits by 2025 (≈589,000). City has directed staff to develop a food-insecurity strategy. Drivers cited include housing costs, inflation, fixed incomes (seniors), and newcomer settlement gaps—issues spanning municipal, provincial, and federal responsibility.	Municipal levers exist but are partial. Broader affordability crisis is multi-level.
Zoning for daycares etc.	New zoning by-law removed daycares and places of worship from permitted uses in certain light-industrial / business-park zones; medical clinics size-capped.	Changes made to comply with provincial Planning Act definition of “areas of employment,” which restricts institutional uses in pure industrial zones. Existing operators grandfathered. New by-law overall expands housing permissions, reduces parking minimums, and aims for faster approvals. Daycares remain permitted in many other zones.	Net effect on daycare supply near workplaces is a valid concern for parents on wait-lists. Provincial conformity was the stated legal driver.

This format does not declare a winner. It supplies both the criticism and the missing half of the ledger so a reader can form an independent judgment. Sources include City of Ottawa reports, Auditor General findings, OC Transpo statements, Ottawa Food Bank Hunger Reports, CBC, Ottawa Citizen, and official council records.

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