The City of Ottawa should pursue an appeal of a provincial decision that allows a private waste operator on Carp Road to receive construction debris from western Quebec, the city’s top lawyer says.

Rick O’Connor, the city’s solicitor and clerk, told council in a memo Thursday that he believes the city should ask to appeal the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change’s decision, which permits the West Carleton Environmental Centre operated by Waste Management to accept construction and demolition debris from some communities across the Ottawa River.

O’Connor includes a caveat: “It may prove to be a procedural challenge.”

The city would have to seek “leave to appeal” from the Environmental Review Tribunal, which means the city first needs permission to file an appeal.

The city would have to prove the province’s decision is unreasonable and that it could result in significant harm to the environment.

The waste facility should only receive material from Ottawa and Lanark County, the city says.

O’Connor says the city’s “long-standing position on limiting the geographic area from which waste is brought to Ottawa landfills” is enough reason to pursue the appeal.

Earlier this month, Waste Management received provincial approval to receive construction and demolition debris from the Outaouais, Abitibi-Temiscamingue and Laurentide areas of western Quebec. The city has until Tuesday to file an appeal application.

Ross Wallace, the site manager of the waste and recycling facility, said this week there is no timeline to begin receiving material from western Quebec and that it wouldn’t happen right away. It would be five Waste Management trucks weekly, or about 20-25 tonnes of material in total, crossing over the provincial border, he said.

The provincial approval for trucked-in material from Quebec only relates to construction and demolition debris.

The interprovincial truck route runs through downtown Ottawa between the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge and Highway 417.

West Carleton-March Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, whose ward is home to the waste facility, said he’s “disappointed” with the province’s decision to allow western Quebec construction debris at the site. 

El-Chantiry is particularly upset that the city’s concerns, which were outlined in at least two letters in response to Waste Management’s application, were apparently never acknowledged.

El-Chantiry met with Mayor Jim Watson and Stittsville Coun. Shad Qadri recently about the possibility of appealing.

“We’re all on the same page,” El-Chantiry said.

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Quebec drivers are still dodging Ottawa’s red-light cameras, with roughly 5,700 vehicles caught burning stop lights last year and none of the motorists receiving a ticket.

It’s the equivalent of about 15 cars each day zipping through red lights at camera-protected intersections, but the drivers not being punished the same way Ontario drivers are. 

More non-Ontario vehicles were getting away with red-light violations in 2016 compared to the previous year. In 2015, the city recorded about 4,900 times that a vehicle from outside Ontario was caught by a red-light camera.

The clear interest in Ottawa is making sure the city can send tickets to Quebec motorists who are regular users of Ottawa roads.

Around mid-2016, the city was on track to developing a system to access Quebec vehicle records so tickets can be sent to the offending motorists. The city figured it would be ready in the first three months of 2017.

Now the city doesn’t know when it will be able to ticket Quebec drivers for red-light camera infractions.

“At this point in time, we have no date to provide as to when a system will be in place and the city can start to issue tickets to vehicles with Quebec plates,” according to Phil Landry, director of traffic services, who responded by email through the city’s communications department.

Landry said the city is working with Quebec’s licensing administration and a joint processing centre in Toronto to come up with a way to issue tickets to Quebec-plated vehicles. Staff will provide updates to council on discussions with the Quebec agency, he said.

It’s not clear what’s holding the city up.

The city has been missing out on fine revenue from scofflaw Quebec motorists for more than a year.

The Ontario government made the necessary rule changes so municipalities could go after drivers of out-of-province motorists when they were caught by red-light cameras. It was just up to the City of Ottawa to figure out a way to gain access to the Quebec vehicle database so the tickets could be mailed to the offenders.

It’s no small task, with several city departments involved in the efforts to send tickets to Quebec-based drivers. It has required input from traffic, finance, legal and technology departments at city hall.

The City of Ottawa recently confirmed the 20 new locations for red-light cameras. That’s 20 more intersections where Quebec-plated vehicles will be able to break the law without paying a penalty to the city.

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Grit, determination, and resilience are all words that spring to mind when you talk to 34-year-old Shaun Kehoe.

Despite a lifetime of serious health problems, including epilepsy, he has never stopped fighting for the life he wants.

 “Believe in yourself and you can get through anything,” he says. Even epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a serious neurological condition marked by seizures that can, but not always, result in convulsions and loss of consciousness. It affects almost 10,000 people in the Ottawa region, an estimated 260,000 in Canada and 50 million worldwide. It also affects more people than are affected by multiple sclerosis, parkinsonism and cerebral palsy combined. Yet – largely because of stigma – very few people talk about it.

Kehoe started to have seizures at the age of 18 and was diagnosed shortly after. The seizures were triggered by scar tissue from several brain surgeries he had undergone over the first 13 years of his life after suffering brain hemorrhages.

By his second year of college, the seizures got so bad he had to leave school and give up many activities, including his favourite: working out at the gym. He couldn’t work, had to move in with his father and, worst of all, wasn’t allowed to be alone with his young son, Aaron.

“I felt trapped for years,” Kehoe recalls. “I felt somewhat like a child again because I required constant supervision due to my seizures.”

Kehoe consulted neurologist after neurologist and tried more than 16 medications to control the seizures, but without success. At one point, he was having 15 to 20 seizures a day, resulting in broken bones along the way.

Over the years, he had more brain surgeries – this time for epilepsy. He also struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts. “What motivated me to stay alive, was my son,” he says, “and a fierce refusal to be beaten.”

As discouraged as he felt, Kehoe pushed himself to work out again, with a friend in tow in the event of a seizure. He got involved with Epilepsy Ottawa who encouraged him to do volunteer work with a number of local organizations. Along the way, he began new medications that reduced his seizures to two or three daily. Then, at the recommendation of a friend, he added omega 3 fish oil to his treatment regimen. It worked! With the epilepsy surgeries and ongoing use of medication and fish oil, he’s been seizure-free for eight-and-a-half years.

Today, Kehoe lives alone and has a full-time government job. He spends quality time with his now 17-year-old son and is a certified Canfitpro personal trainer who helps clients reach their own fitness goals at The Centre for Strength and Athlete Development. Last August, he participated in his first Olympic weightlifting competition, successfully completing a 66 kg snatch – a personal best. “It was one of the most amazing days of my life,” he grins.

While he relishes his progress, he’s never downplayed the physical and emotional toll of living with epilepsy.

“Epilepsy can have a bigger impact on quality of life than many other chronic conditions,” says Nikki Porter, executive director at Epilepsy Ottawa, a charitable agency dedicated to improving life for those who have epilepsy and those closest to them. “It increases the risk of poor self-esteem, depression and suicide. It can also jeopardize a person’s education, employment and independence, as well as their ability to drive and hold a driver’s license. Its effects go beyond the individual to touch the entire family.”

Shaun is one of the lucky ones. Although around 70% of people with epilepsy gain control of their seizures through medication alone, and some through the combination of medication and diet or surgery, others struggle with seizures throughout their life.

“March is Epilepsy Awareness Month,” says Porter, “and our hope is that more people will take the time to find out about epilepsy. Only by talking about it can we help eliminate the social stigma still associated with it.”

Porter cites examples of many people with epilepsy who have lead full and productive lives, including musicians Neil Young, Prince, Harriet Tubman, and several Olympic and professional athletes.

Kehoe offers this advice for people diagnosed with the disorder: “Don’t listen to naysayers. Find out what works for you, what motivates you and do it. Reach out to social service agencies like Epilepsy Ottawa for information, access to support groups, and referrals to community resources.”

“Above all, never give up! You’ll have down days but you are not the disorder – you’re stronger than it is.”

For more information about Epilepsy Ottawa and its support services, education, school and workplace advocacy, and on-going public awareness, visit http://www.epilepsyottawa.ca

This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of UCB Canada Inc.

Your international travel is about to get a little bit easier.

Starting Monday, you won’t need to use paper declaration forms when flying into Ottawa from outside the country.

Self-serve kiosks for international travellers will be at the Ottawa airport starting March 20, the federal government has announced. They’ll be rolled out to other major Canadian airports later this year.

The kiosks — called primary inspection kiosks — will allow international travellers to verify their travel documents, complete declaration forms on screen and confirm their identity with the kiosk using facial recognition to take a photo of the traveller and compare it to a passport picture.

Travellers will also be able to use the government’s new mobile declaration app called CanBorder –  eDeclaration, which will let people complete their declaration in the app then use a generated QR code to scan at the kiosk when they arrive in Ottawa.

NEXUS travellers will be asked their declaration questions at the NEXUS kiosks in Ottawa.

Eventually, Canada Border Services Agency will phase out handing out declaration cards on airplanes. 

If you’re tired of your friends bragging about their Caribbean vacations while you’re still bundling up against the Ottawa cold, it’s not quite done yet.

The high for Saturday will be a mostly sunny 2 C, with light winds at 20 km/h and a UV index of four.

If you’re planning an evening out, don’t forget your gloves, as the low for Saturday is expected to be -9 C.

The sun will stick around for Sunday, with temperatures climbing to 5 C, well above the 2 C average high for this time in March.

The beginning of the work week promises highs above zero during the day with freezy night time lows around -15 C.

Monday, the official astronomical beginning of spring, is a veritable weather medley, with flurries and/or showers in the forecast and an expected high of a balmy 7 C.

But the thermometer is expected to plunge again, as the temperature dips back down to -5 C by Wednesday.

When does the weather get nice in Ottawa…I can’t remember anymore

— Amanda Lynn (@Amanduh_Lynn_) March 17, 2017

Cross-country skiers made their way down the groomed multi-use winter trail along the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway near the Island Park Bridge Saturday March 18, 2017.

Cross-country skiers made their way down the groomed multi-use winter trail along the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway near the Island Park Bridge Saturday.

67’s 5, Generals 2

With just one game to go in their regular season, the Ottawa 67’s provided two periods of satisfaction for coach Jeff Brown at TD Place arena on Saturday afternoon.

The third period got Brown riled up, though, even though the 67’s skated to a 5-2 win against the Oshawa Generals, their likely opponents in the first round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.

The 67’s built a commanding lead by chasing Oshawa starting goalie Jeremy Brodeur, son of NHL legend Martin Brodeur, with four goals in the opening two periods, and they went up 5-0 just nine seconds into the third period, when Austen Keating scored against Kyle Keyser. That was when the wheels started to fall off for the team wearing green uniforms a day after St. Patrick’s Day.

“The worst thing that could have happened was we scored the first shift (of the third),” said Brown, who recorded his 100th victory as an OHL head coach. “Then everybody got their calculators out thinking it was point night. You could feel our bench as soon as we scored. ‘Ah, how many can I get tonight?’ They completely dominated us in the third period. I can’t believe our guys did that when we had them right where we wanted them.

“They’re kids. There’s some human nature going on there. I’m not doing my job if I don’t tell them it’s wrong. You have to get tougher mentally. The belly bumping after a whistle, I just hate that stuff. For me, it gets you nowhere. Skate away. Go on the power play. That’s toughness for me.”

As for the playoffs, which begin next week, Brown said: “I’m not really thinking about it right now, I’m just thinking about how horrible we were in the third. I thought we’d evolved as a team, but that third period was disgusting. Come playoff time, those games have to be lights out: third period, grind the clock down and it’s game over.

“(For two periods), our guys moved the puck, we made some great plays offensively. We were solid, we were really supporting the puck, I was really happy with our first two periods.”

“I have to agree with coach,” 67’s captain Travis Barron said. “We sat back when we shouldn’t have. The team got too comfortable. We should have grinded it like it was the last game of our lives. We slipped up. It was a lesson learned for us.”

Ottawa took a 1-0 lead 7:36 into the opening period on a goal by Mathieu Foget, who made it 2-0 in the second period with a short-handed goal after the puck took a wicked ricochet off the boards. Tye Felhaber also scored a pair of goals to make it 4-0 Ottawa.

Robbie Burt and Renars Krastenbergs scored for Oshawa.

As for Brodeur’s early exit, Brown said: “He is one of the best goalies in the league. Come playoff time, he’s going to be stellar. I know he will be.”

If the 67’s can work out some inconsistency, they will be a tough playoff matchup for anyone, at least in the Eastern Conference.

“Every game is a war, every game is the biggest game of the series,” Barron said. “You can’t take any game for granted. Every shift, every second is crucial. It was tough losing to Niagara two years in a row. I’m really, really excited and looking forward to giving everything I have to push this past the first round.”

“Obviously things are going good right now. Today we showed how powerful we can be and how much of a force we are in the East,” Foget said. “We have to stick to our mission. In the third we got away from it. We’re excited about the playoffs. There are teams who are pretty good on our side, but we’ve competed against them all. So, if we get on a bit of a roll, you never know what will happen.”

The 67’s close out the 68-game regular season against the visiting Hamilton Bulldogs at TD Place arena on Sunday at 2 p.m.

67’s defenceman Peter Stratis tries to cut off the Generals’ Danil Antropov on his way to the net in the first period on Saturday at TD Place arena. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia

Playoff preview?

The Generals are bigger and probably stronger, but the 67’s can’t afford to get drawn into a physical showdown if the teams meet in the OHL playoffs.

Down 5-0 in the third period on Saturday, the Generals started to push back — literally — before losing 5-2.

“That’s Generals hockey, I expected that,” Brown said. “We have a lot of skill that they tried to neutralize.”

“We play each other a ton during the season,” added Barron. “It was heated, yeah. On our side of things, we have a big lead and we’re playing down to their level and doing stuff after the whistle. You can’t do that. Tension was high and that’s just going to be the playoffs.”

Late in the game, 67’s goalie Leo Lazarev took an interference penalty when he put his elbows up and hit the Generals’ Serron Noel behind the net.

“I’m not happy about it at all,” Brown said. “It’s another bad penalty. Just play the puck. What are you doing hitting a guy? I know it’s great for the fans, but I wasn’t happy about it.”

Ottawa’s Zack Dorval and Oshawa’s Domenic Commisso were assessed 10-minute misconducts in the aftermath, but there was nothing else that followed.

“The game has evolved since I played,” Brown said. “It would have been a fight-filled third period back in the day.”

The Centennial Fan Arena, a touring tribute to a century of the National Hockey League, made a stop at the Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park on Saturday.

The Stanley Cup was front and centre, of course, but other features included a 53-foot museum truck and pop-up ball hockey rink.

The Fan Arena will be at Aberdeen again on Sunday, opening at 12 noon. There will also be a Hometown Hockey viewing party for the Senators-Canadiens game in Montreal starting at 7:30 p.m.

The NHL says the Fan Arena will visit all league markets in 2017. It had also been set up at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

In addition to celebrating the league’s centennial, the NHL Centennial Fan Arena will also recognize the 25th anniversary of the modern-era Senators franchise and the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup, which was first donated by Lord Stanley of Preston, the sixth governor-general of Canada, to the Ottawa Hockey Club on March 18, 1892.

Sunny conditions on Saturday afternoon made for a picture perfect environment for a ball-hockey game as part of NHL Centennial Fan Arena at the Aberdeen Pavilion. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia

Ty Chabbert, 7, gives the Stanley Cup a close-up inspection. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia

Madison McKercher, 10, and her father, Mike Price, compare notes on the names on the Stanley Cup on Saturday. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia

A worker was taken to hospital after being injured inside the downtown LRT tunnel on Saturday afternoon.

According to initial reports, the worker was struck by a hose supplying concrete, a statement from the Rideau Transit Group said.

Firefighters had received a call at 4:42 p.m. for a worker described as being “severely injured” in the tunnel, and responded to the shaft entrance at Queen and Kent streets.

The fire department dispatched a technical rescue team to make sure there were enough resources at the site because it was at the tunnel. The worker walked out of the tunnel on his own and was taken to hospital to be assessed, the RTG said.

No details of the worker’s injuries were released, but the RTG said emergency services remained on scene to investigate and that the Ministry of Labour had been notified. Work continued as scheduled, it said.

It was the second LRT worker injury over the past seven days in that stretch of tunnel.

On March 11, a worker fell while installing reinforcing steel, or “rebar.” He went to hospital but didn’t have serious injuries. He returned to work, but the Ministry of Labour looked into the cause of the injury.

According to the Rideau Transit Group, which is the project contractor, there was no work stoppage in the tunnel but work resumed in Parliament station on Tuesday.

RTG says there are three full-time safety co-ordinators assigned to the tunnel and they conduct safety inspections twice daily.

RTG reported 11 injuries that caused workers to lose time on the project. The LRT project’s lost-time rates are better than the industry average for heavy civil construction in Ontario, RTG said.

There are up to 1,100 people working on the LRT project at any given time.

Last November, first responders helped three tunnel workers trapped on a lift about 100 metres from the eastern tunnel portal at Laurier Avenue and Waller Street. One of the workers received an injury to his hand and the other two didn’t require treatment.

The $2.1-billion Confederation Line LRT, which includes the 2.5-kilometre downtown tunnel, has been scheduled to open at an unspecified time in 2018.

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A large concrete-supply hose struck a 40-year-old LRT worker on the head while he was in the tunnel on Saturday, but construction on the $2.1-billion transit project continued through the weekend.

The Ottawa Paramedic Service, which made its response information available Sunday, said the worker received minor injuries. The paramedic tactical unit, firefighters and LRT workers helped the man out of the tunnel to an ambulance. Paramedics transported him to the hospital as a precaution. He was listed in stable condition.

The Rideau Transit Group, the city’s LRT builder, said the worker was able to walk out of the tunnel without assistance.

Paramedics received the call at 4:26 p.m. on Saturday. Firefighters, who were initially told the worker had been severely injured, also sent their technical rescue team in case those specialty skills were required to extricate the worker from the tunnel cavity at Queen and Kent streets. That central access point for construction work on the tunnel is between the future Lyon and Parliament stations.

RTG notified the Ontario Ministry of Labour about the workplace injury, but work continued on the tunnel.

It was the second LRT worker injury in eight days in that stretch of tunnel.

On March 11, a worker fell while installing reinforcing steel, or “rebar.” He went to hospital, but wasn’t seriously injured. He returned to work, but the Ministry of Labour looked into the incident.

According to RTG, there was no work stoppage in the tunnel related to that incident. Work resumed in Parliament station on Tuesday.

RTG says there are three full-time safety co-ordinators assigned to the tunnel and they conduct safety inspections twice daily.

RTG has reported 11 injuries causing workers to lose time at work on the project. The LRT project’s lost-time rates are better than the industry average for heavy civil construction in Ontario, RTG said.

As many as 1,100 people work on the LRT project at any given time.

Last November, first responders helped three tunnel workers trapped on a lift about 100 metres from the eastern tunnel portal at Laurier Avenue and Waller Street. One of those workers received an injury to his hand, but the other two didn’t require treatment.

The Confederation Line LRT, which includes the 2.5-kilometre downtown tunnel, is scheduled to open in 2018.

jwilling@postmedia.com

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Ottawa investigators are looking into police involvement related to a shooting death in Nunavut.

RCMP in Pond Inlet responded to a report of a suicidal man with a firearm at the local cemetery at 4 p.m. Saturday.

According to Nunavut RCMP, police “attempted to de-escalate the situation.”

The 20-year-old man received a gunshot wound. He was taken to the local health centre for treatment, but died several hours later, police said.

No further details about the shooting were released.

The Ottawa Police Service is under contract to investigate serious injuries and deaths involving RCMP in Nunavut.

It’s the official harbinger of spring for Ottawa.

Not crocuses, it’s construction.

The City of Ottawa kicked off the construction season Monday  – the first day of spring – with the first major project. Queen Street will be closed between Lyon Street and Kent Street until the end of June.

Meanwhile, most Ottawa kids are back to class after March break so police are launching a city-wide traffic blitz focussing on keeping school zones safe.

STO commuters should start making plans for Tuesday’s trip to work or school – the second in a series of weekly, day-long rotating strikes is set.

Monday’s forecast is for clear skies, a mix of sun and cloud in the morning and a UV index of 4, or moderate, to go along with that welcome 6 C high.

Overnight, Environment Canada predicts a 40 per cent chance of flurries with a low of zero and a risk of freezing drizzle into the early morning.

Tuesday is expected to be cloudy with a 40 per cent chance of morning flurries then a mix of sun and cloud and high of 4 C.

Then the forecast is for frigid, with an expected low of -17 C overnight into Wednesday, which is expected to be sunny with a high of -5 C and low of -14 C.

More sunshine is expected for Thursday, along with a high of 1 C.

Clouds are forecast to roll in Thursday night with a low of – 6 C, ushering in a 60 per cent of rain or flurries and high of 3 C Friday.

The mercury is expected to rise to 8 C on Saturday with a 60 per cent chance of flurries and low of zero.

Sunday is forecast to be a mix of sun and cloud and high of 5 C.

Given its rapid sales trajectory it was only a matter of time Shopify would outgrow its state-of-the-art headquarters building at 150 Elgin St.

That 170,000-square-foot facility was outfitted just three years ago. But last week Shopify Inc. signed a lease to eventually take over an additional 325,000 square feet of nearby office space at 234 Laurier Ave. — best known as the former headquarters of the Export Development Corp., a federal crown corporation.

“Ottawa may be one of the best places in the world right now to build a multibillion-dollar business,” said Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s chief operating officer. “In fact, we consider Ottawa to be one of Shopify’s competitive advantages.”

Shopify will begin fitting up floors two through six this July, with employees starting to move in early in 2018, according to the terms of the multi-year lease with Gillin Engineering & Construction and Slate Asset Management. Plans call for Shopify workers to fill an additional four to five floors each year until all 19 floors are occupied.

“Our problem has always been not having enough space,” said Greg Scorsone, director of internal operations at Shopify. He added he was “very confident” the company would eventually fill it.

All of this is heavily contingent on Shopify’s success in selling its software to online merchants around the globe. On current trends, Shopify’s headquarters operation would reach about 3,000 employees by year-end 2021.

This compares with 750 employees currently. Shopify also employs 1,150-plus workers outside the national capital region, with offices in Toronto (300 employees), Kitchener-Waterloo (170), Montreal (90) and San Francisco (20). The e-commerce firm also employs nearly 600 technical experts who operate from home offices, mainly in Europe and across North America.

Related

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Scorsone said Shopify will continue adding to its other locations outside the capital region but that Ottawa would remain the global headquarters. This is where most of the company’s R&D and engineering takes place. It is also where most of the top executives are based.

It’s likely that over time the percentage of the workforce located in Ottawa will decline, though even this is not certain. Finkelstein said that as the company expands the types of businesses it targets – to include shipping services and the provision of capital, for example – Shopify will expand where talent resides. That said, he added, “the best in the world at what they do are now interested in working for Shopify” – even if that involves making a move to Ottawa.

Residents of the national capital region are well aware of the dangers of counting on growth from a sector as volatile as high-tech. At their peaks during the late 1990s tech boom, Nortel Networks and JDSU employed 16,000 and 10,000 respectively in the Ottawa area. Just several thousand remain — and most work at Ciena, Ericsson and other telecom equipment firms that acquired units of Nortel out of bankruptcy court.

Ciena, now moving into its own 425,000-square-foot campus on Terry Fox Drive in North Kanata, employs about 1,600 locally. It’s one of the region’s largest tech employers, along with Nokia and IBM.

Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify, an online store, is seen in the company’s Montreal office, Wednesday, February 18, 2015.

It’s conceivable Shopify could be Ottawa’s top tech employer several years from now. The telecom equipment industry is relatively mature while Shopify is mining one of the richest veins in the software sector.

Shopify is coming off a year in which revenues grew 90 per cent year-over-year to $389 million (all figures U.S.). More than 375,000 online merchants use Shopify’s software platform to set up websites and process electronic payment systems.

For the moment, the momentum is impressive. The consensus forecast of independent analysts tracked by Reuters is that Shopify’s sales will hit $600 million this year and $819 million in 2018. Paradigm Capital, an investment research firm, predicts Shopify will add more than 100,000 net new online merchants each year for at least the next three years. 

Forecasts like these help explain why Shopify’s shares recently topped $90 Cdn on the TSX — up from less than $26 little more than a year ago. This gives Shopify a market value of roughly $8 billion Cdn. To put that in perspective, it’s about half the value reached in the mid-1990s by Newbridge Networks, the telecom networking company founded by Terence Matthews. However, it’s nowhere near the $125 billion U.S. plus market capitalization that briefly attached to optical components superstar JDSU in 2000.

Shopify has some interesting ideas about whom it would like to hire.

“Shopify is composed of highly talented, deeply caring individuals,” the company noted in a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “But at our core, we value people who get shit done, build for the long-term, focus on simple solutions, act like owners and thrive on change.”

You can look for more of these kinds of people in the downtown core in the months to come. 

jbagnall@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/JamesBagnall1

Workers who fear they’re unsafe in the train tunnel they’re building under downtown have a duty to report their concerns, Ottawa’s transit boss John Manconi said Monday, after another worker was injured on the weekend and union leaders said they’re worried.

A worker in the light-rail tunnel got whacked in the head with a heavy hose on Saturday and went to the hospital. It was the second incident in the tunnel in a week. Last November, workers were trapped and one was slightly hurt when a chunk of rebar came off a tunnel wall. These cases are adding up, as labour leader Sean McKenny said Monday.

Is the tunnel a death trap? Inasmuch as nobody’s been killed in it, no. But the city isn’t great at making its own case that it’s safe.

Manconi was speaking on behalf of the city government and its rail company, Rideau Transit Group, which has the $2.1-billion contract and is the tunnel workers’ more direct employer. Journalists had sought to speak to someone from RTG but, as the contract with the city requires, the company referred everything right back to the city.

So here was Manconi, ambling out of his office at OC Transpo headquarters on St. Laurent Boulevard, jacket off and collar open, to give a small scrum of reporters a dose of his reasonableness and supreme calm.

“Every single employee working in that environment has the same rights that every other employee in Ontario has. They have joint health and safety committees, they have inspections, they have the right to report to the Ministry of Labour, they have a right to refuse unsafe work,” Manconi said.

RTG must keep its job sites safe and workers also must say so if they think something’s wrong, he said.

The rail project is a public-private partnership, a “P3,” in which the city is very proud to have transferred substantially all the risk to Rideau Transit Group. Almost anything that goes wrong, anything that holds the job up, is the builder’s problem. Manconi pointed this out. Including the consequences of the massive Rideau Street sinkhole last year that held completion of the tunnel up for weeks.

“We’re in the space of P3s, right? P3s are complicated things. Time is money. RTG … has penalties at the back end if they don’t meet (deadlines),” Manconi said. “So they have some very smart people, smart engineers, lots of labour resources at their disposal to meet their requirements. So our project, even with the setback at Rideau, is still one of the best ones out there.”

Eight- and 12-hour work days have expanded to 24. Five-day work weeks extended to seven. More work happening in more places at once. If the question had been, “How is the Rideau Street sinkhole affecting the construction timetable?”, that’s a nearly perfect answer. But the question is whether RTG has an incentive to push the limits and the answer is obviously yes.

Nevertheless, there’s a ratio of injuries to hours worked that’s used to assess workplace safety and the rail project scores 0.32 on a scale where lower is better. Ontario’s average for heavy construction is about 1. So the rail project is one-third as dangerous to workers as an average construction job in this province.

This is the figure for the whole multi-year construction effort from Tunney’s Pasture to Blair Road, though, not just for work inside the tunnel. It’s actually even more than that: it counts the work to widen a section of Highway 417 before anything much train-related began. A figure for the tunnel work alone — which would need not just the number of injuries but the number of hours people have worked in there to be calculated — isn’t available.

Manconi had some trouble explaining how the figure is calculated, and also wasn’t sure whether the number of injuries on the project has been 11 or 12. Turns out it’s 12.

By the time he was done, Manconi had said so many times that we’d have to talk to Rideau Transit Group about things that the company had to put somebody up to talk after all.

That turned out to be Tim Stewart, the project’s director of construction, who said the worker hurt on the weekend was conked by a concrete-spraying hose that had itself become embedded in concrete; they used a crane to heave it out and when it came free, it whipped around like a loose garden hose and hit him in the helmet. The worker is off for couple of days until a test confirms he’s not concussed.

(He was initially reported as having been “severely injured,” in a statement from the fire department that paramedics said they’d been told not to comment on. Nobody seems to know where they got the idea to break with their customary habit of releasing basic details about significant calls. Just one of those things that happens with the rail project.)

The sinkhole made RTG rearrange its plans but didn’t create a great deal of extra pressure, Stewart said.

“Work still had to be completed. The quality is still there, the quality is still measured the same way. The production rates that we’re expecting are not different than we had expected earlier in the project,” he said. “We just changed our logic and modified our schedule.”

Besides, safety isn’t just a moral and legal responsibility, he said, it’s good business. “If our workforce is safe, practically speaking, we turn the job over faster.”

No worker on the project has refused to work over safety concerns, he said.

dreevely@postmedia.com
twitter.com/davidreevely

Ottawa’s ridiculously overcrowded hospitals are back in the news again, as they will be until the provincial government finally does something substantial to fix the problem.

Health-care experts agree a hospital should average between 85 to 90 per cent occupancy, so it can handle surges of demand. Our local hospitals are full at the best of times and in the high demand winter season have reached up to 120 per cent of capacity.

This is a problem that can affect patients’ ability to get timely, quality care and one that stretches hospitals’ resources beyond reasonable limits. Curiously, the problem is not that so many people are trying to get into the hospital, but that we are so bad at getting them out.

To function properly, a hospital requires flow. When a patient no longer needs the expensive acute care that hospitals provide, the next step is supposed to be home care or long-term care. Unfortunately, we are short of both of those resources, forcing hospitals to hang on to patients who are too sick to be sent home without extra help.

At The Ottawa Hospital, there are typically between 170 and 190 patients who shouldn’t be in hospital, but have nowhere else to go. That’s taking up a significant portion of the 950 beds the hospital has and is well beyond the 100 or so such patients the hospital can comfortably handle.

The problem is not new, but it keeps recurring because too little has been done to fix it. Our hospitals can’t do the work they are supposed to do because they are doing busy doing the job of the home care and long-term care sectors.

So what should be done?

The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions suggests that Ottawa get 200 more hospital beds. That would be the most costly and least sensible approach.

The Champlain Local Health Integration Network has been nibbling away at the cheap end of the problem, using extra provincial money to provide more intensive home care to those with significant medical needs, keeping them out of hospital or long-term care. It can help about 600 people at a time this way.

That helps, but it’s not enough. The fact that we have so many people waiting in our hospitals is proof of that.
The other piece of the solution is long-term care, and this is where the government really does a poor job. Our region has 7,600 long-term care beds and about 3,639 people waiting for those beds. It’s a problem that’s just going to get worse. Between now and 2035, the percentage of our local population over 75 will more than double, to a little over 200,000 people.

There are 78,807 long-term care beds in Ontario, up only 1,900 beds over the last seven years. Despite the clear lack of beds, the government has no plan to build more, focusing instead on renovating some of the shabbier facilities.

The Champlain LHIN says the average length of stay in long-term care has been reduced by four months, saving quite a lot of money. Is that because we are doing a better job of serving people at home or because they have to wait so long they are nearer to death by the time they get long-term care?

One would think that health ministry bean counters and their government bosses, desperate to control health care costs, would want people to get into cheaper care right away. Strangely, that has not been the case.
Keeping people in hospital is far more expensive than home care or long-term care. A hospital bed costs between $1,000 and $1,300 a day versus $165 for long-term care. According to Home Care Ontario, the average cost of home care is $42.

The Champlain LHIN is expecting a consultant’s report soon that will outline the scope of the care problem here and possible solutions. The question is what happens next?

The problem of hospital overcrowding is neither mysterious nor insoluble. Fixing it will require cash and political will. Both have been in short supply for years.

Randall Denley is an Ottawa commentator, novelist and former Ontario PC candidate. Contact him at randalldenley1@gmail.com

Whither activities for young athletes? wonders one letter writer. And, a great article on a vegan inspires one reader to share her story. On the other hand, nasty things were said about the Tory leadership candidates, contends one writer, while another recalls a lovely inter-religious partnership that formed in Ottawa. 

Sensible approaches on sports skills
Re: Hockey players who can’t catch, March 21

This article reminded me of when my son was very young in Manor Park. Most little boys were eager to play hockey but they weren’t allowed to even skate with a stick until they had taken the Learn to Skate program. How very sensible.

Diane Bethune, Ottawa

Why salt the sidewalks on a nice day?

Congratulations to the City of Ottawa, which, despite blowing through the 2016-2017 snow budget, decided to lay down a layer of salt on the sidewalks in my Orléans neighborhood on Sunday. These sidewalks were free of snow and ice … or even wet. And I believe the temperature on Sunday even reached balmy above-zero temperatures.

Good grief! Where is the common sense?

Jim Wills, Orléans

Opinion piece a nasty take on Conservative race
Re: How ugliness is outshining Tory courage, March 18

This article about the Tory party leadership race is a disgrace and that’s from someone who is not a Conservative. The author suggests that one candidate is “stupid” and refers to another as a “disrespectful coward.”

And not satisfied with these demeaning remarks, Andrew MacDougall regards as fools any Conservative who agrees with the “disrespectful coward.” If a reader had submitted such a letter to the Citizen, it would undoubtedly be tossed in the trash.

Alistair Hensler, Ottawa

Many stories of inter-religious ties in Ottawa
Re: Here’s how two religious communities came together, March 18

Jean Teron’s Saturday letter reminded me of another early example of Christian/Muslim friendship in Ottawa. In 1972, Idi Amin expelled the Ismaili Muslims from Uganda and about 6,000 of them came to Canada to settle.

One group in Ottawa turned to St. Columba Anglican Church in Manor Park requesting space in the hall and kitchen every Saturday evening. This was arranged, and each week the group prepared their meal and ate together, maintaining their religious, cultural and social ties during a period which must have been marked by struggles to adapt to our cold northern land with its very different ways.

I was a warden at the Church and it was my duty to go over and lock up at 11 p.m. I remember a warm and caring community gathered there each week. The hall was redolent with the spicy smells of their meal and the sounds of fellowship. This community became valued Canadian citizens, some of whom have made exceptional contributions to our multicultural society.

Carol Burrows, Ottawa

Excellent Capital Voices story on veganism
Re: Capital Voices by Bruce Deachman, March 20

I have been thoroughly enjoying Bruce Deachman’s Capital Voices articles. I was thrilled to see on Monday an article about becoming vegan.

I became vegetarian about two years ago. I did so as I felt I could no longer contribute to the animal cruelty that takes place in the meat industry. I thought it would be difficult to change my eating and cooking habits at the age of 62, but it was much easier than I anticipated.

My husband was supportive and eats the tasty, healthy vegetarian meals I cook. I take a selection of recipes with me when I visit family in other provinces and no one has complained yet when I take over the cooking.

Keep up the good work of publishing interesting and educational articles.

Kathleen Saunders, Dunrobin

“Grace in the Kitchen, along with our in-store Serious Cheese shop, has really pushed the boundaries of kitchenware retail,” said Jamie Nadon, Grace in the Kitchen’s social media director.

“We now have the honour of being the first in Canada, Zwilling J.A. Henckels Shop in Shop! We have expanded our store another 1200 sq. ft. to incorporate a very exciting venture with one of the world’s biggest kitchenware producers. There is really nothing like it; basically, it’s a foodie wonderland.

“When we are asked to explain what it is we do here at Grace, it does not come out quickly or in a few words,” said Nadon.

This said, Grace in the Kitchen has so much to offer to home chefs, foodies and culinary professionals that resorting to many words to describe its vast product selection is worth the effort.

First and foremost, Grace in the Kitchen is all about food and the joy of preparing, cooking and eating. They specialize in chef’s knives, kitchenware and any other tools that make cooking a pleasure, rather than a chore. Aisles of gourmet foods from local and worldly producers will inspire something fantastic from your kitchen.

Recently, Grace in the Kitchen expanded, adding an extra 1200-sq.-ft. Zwilling J.A. Henckels Shop in Shop within its kitchen emporium, so that customers can see the full range of these amazing cutting tools in one convenient location. The Shop in Shop was developed in partnership with Zwilling; a testament to how much this knife maker values its products being sold by this top-drawer cooking store.

“Opening up the Zwilling J.A. Henckels Shop in Shop was the biggest project we have undertaken since launching Serious Cheese within our walls,” said Albert Plomer, owner of Grace in the Kitchen. “Our customers just love seeing all of this manufacturer’s products in one convenient location.”

Speaking of Serious Cheese, this well-stocked source of top-quality cheese from all over the world has been winning serious raves from cheese lovers, customers and the local media alike. In fact, Jamie Nadon, who is also the cheese shop’s manager, recently appeared in an Ottawa Citizen online video to explain his latest invention: truffle brie. (You can see it online at http://ottawacitizen.com/life/food/found-a-cheese-to-try-before-you-die.)

“I invented truffle brie about five years ago for a very special event,” Nadon said. “To make it, I took a wheel of triple cream brie and sliced it in half horizontally. I then scored the inside and stuffed it with truffle paste, cream cheese, truffle oil, salt, pepper and bits of brie.”

Grace in the Kitchen’s 1200-sq.-ft. store on Hazeldean Road in Kanata has much to offer home chefs, foodies and culinary professionals.

Nadon’s truffle brie so wowed his uncle Albert Plomer, that he’s been making it to sell to customers ever since. “The only time I’ve experienced any problems is when we run out, and our customers get a little upset!”

In addition to Serious Cheese’s tongue-tantalizing selections, Grace in the Kitchen sells a mouth-watering array of delectable gourmet foods, world class spices, barware bitters and so much more. “We also offer frozen prepared entrees and locally made products,” said Plomer. “If you love to prepare and eat great food using the best tools and ingredients, Grace in the Kitchen is the place you have to visit in Ottawa.”

Despite offering a world-class selection of kitchenware and gourmet products worthy of the very best tables, keeping prices fair and reasonable is a priority at Grace in the Kitchen. “Value is something you constantly hear our customers talking about,” said Nadon. “We have the best range of products to suit any lifestyle. Bert spends a considerable time bringing the very best items to our shelves that are great value for our customers.”

At the same time, the level of kitchenware and culinary expertise you’ll find among Grace in the Kitchen’s staff is second to none. “Not only are we known for top value, quality and originality, but we are also very aggressive in seeking and expanding our product knowledge,” Plomer said. “If you are experiencing the passion of great food and want to know more, we are more than happy to answer your questions. Meanwhile, if you learn of an exotic food product that you simply must try, we will do our best to find it for you – wherever it may be made in the world.”

There’s so much happening at Grace in the Kitchen that trying to sum it up is a nearly impossible task. “The only way to take it all in is to come here and see it for yourself,” said Plomer.
Don’t wait: Start your journey of culinary exploration at http://www.graceinthekitchen.ca.

This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of Grace in the Kitchen.

The best way to avoid bad jail food is to, well, not end up in prison, says a correspondent. Meanwhile, hospital overcrowding could be alleviated with a novel solution and the Don Meredith scandal continues in Canada’s Senate. 

Don’t like prison food? Don’t go to jail
Re: Hungry inmates barter for food, March 22

I couldn’t believe the article about complaints in Canada’s jail about the quality of food. Millions of poor people all over the world including right here in Ottawa and Canada would be happy to eat that food every day.

If the prisoners don’t like the food, all they have to do is stay out of jail.

Remi Borris, Ottawa

Convert schools for long-term care
Re: How to start fixing hospital overcrowding, March 22

One of the main reasons cited for the long waits is the lack of beds due to people who should be in long term care staying in hospitals instead. This is costing $1,000 to $1,300 per day instead of the $165 in a long-term-care facility. The solution seems simple to me.

Let’s convert some unused schools into long term care facilities. Surely the difference in daily rates would cover the initial set-up costs quite quickly.

Lucie Masson, Orléans

Electronics airplane ban cold comfort
Re: Airport screening 2.0, March 22

With regards to bringing large electronic devices in carry-ons on board from 10 countries (none of which were on President Donald Trump’s travel ban). Travellers are told instead to pack them in their checked luggage. So if the concern is that terrorists might put explosive devices into their laptops, how comforting is that to know that there might be a bomb in the hold!

David du Feu, Carleton Place

Don Meredith should leave the Senate

There is a proverb which reads: “A clear conscience makes a soft pillow.” Sen. Don Meredith’s pillow must be quite unconformable and causing lots of disturbed sleep. There is a quick remedy for this insomnia: resign from the Senate.

Peter Croal, Ottawa

The legacy of Lord and Lady Tweedsmuir
Re: Lord Tweedsmuir and the search for identity, March 20

Kudos to Anna Desmarais for her insightful and well illustrated article on John Buchan (Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada, 1935-1940).

Following his death in office, Tweedsmuir’s ashes were conveyed to England on the warship H.M.S. Orion for internment in the parish churchyard of the small village of Elsfield, five kilometres northeast of Oxford, overlooking that city of spires from its elevation beyond.

By chance I happened on the site during a country walk in February 1962 and was moved to see two small Canadian Red Ensign flags inserted on opposite sides of the circular four-foot diameter convex stone memorial resting a few inches above the pebbled plot.

For years, Queen’s University at Kingston proudly maintained the John Buchan Room within the Douglas Library with his private library and papers, now located in the Queen’s Archives and Library.

Lady Susan Tweedsmuir likewise had a profound impact on the collection and recording of Canadian settlement history through her exhortations and encouragement to women’s institutes across Canada that are known today in countless museums and archives as Tweedsmuir Histories.

George Neville, Ottawa

Pop Lynn Saxberg

Nova Scotia-based singer-songwriter Jenn Grant just released a beautiful new album, Paradise, this month, following the reflective journey of her last one, Compostela, by looking at the world beyond. “I wanted something new,” she told one interviewer. “I wanted to get out of myself. I wanted to be more bold.” You can hear Grant’s expansive new songs when she returns to the NAC Presents series on Saturday, part of a cross-Canada tour. Her concert at the NAC Theatre begins at 7:30 p.m. with an opening set by Montreal singer-songwriter Jenny Berkel. Tickets start at $25, available at ticketmaster.ca or by calling 1-888-991-2787.  

Rock Lynn Saxberg

Mad Mad World, the best-selling album by Tom Cochrane, turned 25 last year. To celebrate, the Canrock hero is on tour, reunited with his Red Rider bandmates Kenny Greer and Jeff Jones. He’ll be playing all the MMW songs, including Life is a Highway, Sinking Like a Sunset and No Regrets, plus a selection of fan favourites, when he stops at the NAC’s Southam Hall on Sunday. Tickets start at $53.50, available at ticketmaster.ca or by calling 1-888-991-2787. Ontario country dynamo Meghan Patrick opens the show at 8 p.m.

Jazz Peter Hum

You can hear two prestigious big bands for the admission price of one ($10 for adults, free for students 18 and under) on Tuesday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. when the Nepean All-City Jazz Band and the University of Toronto Jazz Orchestra play at Hillcrest High School (1900 Dauphin Rd.). For three decades, the award-winning Nepean band under the direction of Neil Yorke-Slader has pulled together the Ottawa-area’s best aspiring jazz students, preparing scores of them for post-secondary studies and careers in music. The U of T big band, under the direction of Gordon Foote, draws on the talented ranks of the school’s jazz studies program and has released two CDs.

Dance Lynn Saxberg

Three legends of Canadian choreography are in the spotlight March 23 and 24 as the NAC celebrates the 10th anniversary of its Associate Dance Artist program. The performances, which take place in the NAC Theatre, showcase Marie Chouinard’s solo Etude no. 1, danced in steel-toed shoes by Antonija Livingstone; Crystal Pite’s A Picture of You Falling, performed by Anne Plamondon and Peter Chu; and Christopher House’s Echo, featuring 10 dancers from Toronto Dance Theatre. Tickets range from $30-$55, plus fees, available at ticketmaster.ca or by calling 1-888-991-2787.

Food Peter Hum

Turkish chef Ismet Saz, the most recent winner of the Best Chef in Istanbul award, will show of his culinary prowess in Ottawa over the next few days. At the Sheraton Hotel Ottawa March 22, 23 and 24, Saz will oversee a special buffet lunch dedicated to Turkish gastronomy ($28; call 613-238-1502 ext. 6646 to reserve). Saz, a cookbook author and TV show host who has cooked with Gordon Ramsay and Markus Glocker in New York, will also show off and serve three of his dishes at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum Thursday night from 6 to 8 p.m. ($25, register at cafmuseum.techno-science.ca/). Finally, Saz will be one of six chefs respectively demonstrating everything from Indonesian beef rendang to S’mores at this weekend’s Ottawa Travel and Vacation Show at the Shaw Centre (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, admission $10, free for children 12 and under, seniors 60 and over free on Saturday). Saz will demonstrate a contemporary Turkish lamb dish at 1 p.m. each day.

Automation is gobbling up factory jobs all over the world and it’s coming for white-collar ones, the new federal budget concedes, and our best hope is to build the robots and write the software that runs them.

How to pull it off? Well, that’s the tricky part.

Every budget has an element of voodoo to it, doing things that are assumed to be good for the country even if the exact mechanism is hard to explain.

For the Liberals, both on Parliament Hill and at Queen’s Park, it’s assuaging middle-class worries about supporting young children and aging parents and what happens if my company goes bust. Shrinking government has meant impoverishing public services that are the foundation of prosperity.

Wednesday, the federal government promised money for health care, for child care, for home care — billions of dollars in all, with the aim of freeing Canadians’ minds to focus on work while the government helps out with everything else.

READ: Budget silence on Phoenix shows public servants ‘are not important’ to Liberals: PSAC president

The Liberals also want to help successful businesses become really, really successful businesses.

Minister of Finance Bill Morneau speaks during a press conference at the media lock-up, before tabling the budget in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa on Wednesday, March 22, 2017.

“Smart, ambitious investments in people, communities and high-growth industries lead to opportunities,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s budget speech said. “Opportunities lead to jobs, jobs lead to a more confident and growing middle class, and a more confident, growing middle class is the only path to strong and sustained economic growth.”

The middle class the Liberals really have in mind isn’t mining bitumen or rolling sheet metal, either. Where the Conservatives wanted to support Canada’s resource companies and figured cities would take care of themselves, the Liberal philosophy is precisely the opposite.

If you live in Alberta or Saskatchewan, the feds are waiting right along with you for oil prices to climb again. Alberta is getting a straight $30-million cash payment “to support provincial actions that will stimulate economic activity and employment in Alberta’s resource sector,” which seems mainly intended to supply a counter to any complaint that the budget is doing nothing in that area at all.

But if you happen to live in Ontario, Quebec or British Columbia, and especially in a city in one of those provinces, whoa, the government is here for you.

To begin with, the government promises to speed access to Canada for researchers and in-demand technology workers, and to make it easier for foreign companies to open Canadian offices. There’s money to help immigrants get foreign credentials recognized here. To encourage Canadian kids to pursue science and engineering, there’s $2 million a year for “learning opportunities” in those fields, and even $300,000 a year for new science-teaching awards.

MORE: Key measures aimed at energizing high-tech clusters, like those in Ottawa-Gatineau

A few million here and there, spread out across the country, over years. Worthwhile, but tiny potatoes.

If you run a business, however, the federal government wants you to prepare to be partnered with, supported, or invested in. You might be urged into a supercluster, which is like a cluster but super.

Let’s spend a moment on that. A cluster is when businesses that work in the same industry have offices near each other and sometimes work together and greatness results — think telephony and fibre-optics growing out of Bell-Northern Research in Kanata.

They’re notoriously hard to create by design.

Ontario and the feds have tried to do it with health sciences and biotechnology in Toronto. It’s gone sort of OK, but they also notoriously built a top-quality office tower there to fill with labs and researchers and couldn’t find them.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hold copies of the federal budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Wednesday, March 22, 2017.

The federal government wants more clusters, in “advanced manufacturing, agri-food, clean technology, digital technology, health/bio-sciences and clean resources, as well as infrastructure and transportation,” and wants businesses to band together and apply to a $200-million-a-year program that will … er… the budget doesn’t say. Promote clusters, superly.

Superclusters are the biggest line-item in the $1.7-billion innovation agenda by far, totaling $950 million over five years. Nothing else comes close. God knows what the money will buy. Nevertheless, self-driving cars, Ottawa’s current technological preoccupation, seem like they’d count as a transportation thing to cluster around.

This is a risky form of government activism. Sinking public money into private companies that fail means, well, sinking public money into failures. Putting money into successful companies risks making them dependent on government, sapping them of the very agility that’s supposed to make them globally competitive.

Maybe you’ve heard of Bombardier, which is getting federal and Quebec-government help to support a great new jet it can’t seem to sell and has had a rich contract to supply streetcars to Toronto that’s fallen to pieces.

Despite the dangers, Morneau and the Trudeau Liberals are in tune with the Kathleen Wynne Liberals’ sense that there’s no use promising a return to a golden age of manufacturing — that if only we can make it really, really cheap to do business here, mothballed factories will reopen and low-skill high-pay jobs will flood back and we’ll make Canada great again.

In that, they’re acknowledging reality, which is at least better than beating hopelessly against the inevitable.

dreevely@postmedia.com
twitter.com/davidreevely

Perhaps we should be a little insulted. There’s a section in Wednesday’s federal budget that highlights how a multitude of measures aimed at accelerating innovation are supposed to work.

The government wants us to create innovation superclusters — “dense areas of business activity” capable of attracting the very best talent and companies from around the world. To give us an idea of what these look like, the budget lists four urban areas that have already achieved this distinction: California’s Silicon Valley, Berlin, Tel Aviv and the Toronto-Waterloo corridor.

A nod in the direction of the capital region would have been nice. While it’s true Ottawa and Gatineau long ago lost the distinction of being the planet’s most important supercluster in matters of telecommunications technology, the cities’ innovators are mounting an impressive comeback.

Ottawa remains the most tech-intensive in the country, meaning a higher percentage of its workers — eight per cent — are employed in the tech industry compared to less than six per cent in the Toronto-Waterloo corridor.

Yes, there are fewer numbers here — 44,000 compared to 200,000. 

But in these matters, density counts. And Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s budget looks particularly well-suited for the capital region.

For starters, it includes measures to expedite the immigration of skilled workers along with a sharp rise in the provision of venture capital through the federal Business Development Bank. Morneau has also earmarked nearly $1 billion to be spent over the next five years to help cities develop superclusters.

The capital region has most of the necessary ingredients — universities, talent and infrastructure. But after the implosion of Nortel Networks and JDSU, Ottawa’s tech cluster has been struggling without an anchor tenant — a large multinational with offices and customers around the globe. 

Now, thanks to the improbable rise of Shopify, an e-commerce software firm that a decade ago employed just a handful of entrepreneurs, Ottawa is once again becoming a place where tech is cool. Shopify last week revealed it had signed a lease to triple the amount of space it will occupy in the downtown core — an expansion contingent upon its ability to continuing selling more e-commerce services and to hire thousands of skilled new employees. If there is a bottleneck in Shopify’s growth it will be caused by its inability to convince the right people to come here.

The budget has moved to accommodate situations such as this. The government is proposing to eliminate the need for foreign workers to obtain a work permit for stints of fewer than 30 days in a year — used chiefly to facilitate moves within companies for work on certain projects. The Liberals will also amend legislation to ensure the Express Entry system for permanent residents identifies candidates “most likely to succeed in Canada.”  

These measures follow the government’s promise last fall to set a quick, two-week standard for processing work permits and visas.

Shopify is hardly the only firm locally that will benefit from greater access to foreign skills. A number of tech companies, including QNX and Halogen Software, have been hiring at a tremendous clip. Top global firms, such as Apple and Amazon, have recently opened offices and research facilities in the Ottawa area.

At the same time, a new generation of software startups now occupies offices from Kanata to the downtown core, and many will be able to tap into the fresh $400-million allocation to the Business Development Bank, a federal crown corporation that is already the biggest venture investor in the country. More to the point, BDC’s investment team is more than familiar with local entrepreneurs. Its venture capital arm has ploughed risk money into dozens of Ottawa startups over the years.

Resident billionaire and serial entrepreneur Terence Matthews will almost certainly be the first to knock on BDC’s door tomorrow. He has personally help to seed or promote a small army of startups that today form a ring around Mitel Networks, where Matthews currently serves as chairman.

Matthews understands better than most how difficult it is to create the necessary critical mass a supercluster requires.  For every startup that fails, you need another that is gaining ground. To counter the industry’s considerable risks, a successful tech cluster demands multiple types of firms in different stages of growth. The money, drive and, yes, a lot of luck, all need to be there. And it doesn’t hurt that to have a government willing to lubricate the machine with risk money and access to skills.

This is a budget tech should love. With any luck, the next one will feature the capital region in its list of successful superclusters.

jbagnall@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/JamesBagnall1