Platform

This election is about the future of our community and everything we hold dear about it. We need a new leader and a new way of doing business if we are to prosper in the future. Ottawa city council needs to be able to work together to generate new ideas and new ways of doing business. We cannot afford to have another four years like the last four years. I will work collaboratively with council to ensure the smart growth of our community.

The taxpayers of Kanata North have witnessed large tax increases, levies, a long bus strike that augmented the never ending transportation problems for Kanata commuters, and a payout of $37 million to settle a single lawsuit. Our city councillors have approved a 14% tax increase over the last three years. City council has forgotten whose money they are spending.

As your city councillor, I will vote to hold city council salaries at the level they are today; I will only vote for new spending that can be balanced with a reduction in current spending; I will work to find alternative sources of finances through the provincial and federal levels of government.

The Kanata Beaver Pond and the lands that surround it are as important to me and my family as I am sure they are to you and yours. Kanata North has some of the most environmentally sensitive and historically significant land in all of Eastern Ontario. These areas need to be protected. The fight is on to save as much of this land as possible but we have been fighting a losing battle. This is because of the agreement that our current city councillor made with the developers in years past. Her decision and the agreement lacked long term vision and now these environmentally sensitive lands may be lost because of it. We need to have someone new take on this fight and go in a new direction. I have a plan.

My plan is to create a nonprofit charitable Land Trust that will purchase the land from the developer. This Land Trust will solicit funds from the community. Donors can be individuals who are interested in preserving the land; corporations wanting to reduce their corporate tax burden (in the corporate world, a donation to a charitable organization can be balanced with a reduction in corporate tax); estates, levels of government and other nonprofit organizations.

The land trust will be governed by a volunteer Board of Directors elected by the membership. These volunteers can come from a wide range backgrounds including; land-use planning, environmental studies, ecology, education, law, finance and fundraising.

This new Land Trust will purchase the land, slated for development, from the developers at fair market price. Acting on the principle that preservation of the South March Highlands, the new Land Trust will be the property owners and will work to preserve land for the benefit of the community and for future generations.

This idea is not a new one in Canada or around the world. There are many Lands Trusts in Eastern Ontario. The Rideau Water Way Trust is one such example.

To prevent development, in the short term, we will be asking council to support a motion to hold development until spring. We will also ask the National Capital Commission to include the property as part of the National Interest Land Mass. The community has asked the current councillor to explore many options to help prevent the development of this land and I will continue this effort.

Ottawa city council has been sleeping while other municipalities across Ontario and Canada have been capitalizing on green incentives and jobs.

I will support business development projects that add value to our city by creating jobs in the green economy.

The city has also been asleep to the needs of the business community. When a growing business has to wait 10 months for the permits it needs to expand and take on more staff, something is wrong!

Hardworking business owners should spend their time improving their businesses not sifting through mounds of bureaucratic red tape.

Dumping garbage into the ground is the old way of controlling waste. Today companies around the world are turning municipal solid waste into biofuels and other forms of clean energy. This is big business and several Canadian companies are at the forefront. I will take a lead role in developing a waste management strategy that includes achieving 90% municipal solid waste diversion and closing landfill sites to future garbage.

I want to give power back to the community and restore Kanata’s ability to control it’s future. With amalgamation came the loss of some of Kanata’s distinctiveness, I plan to bring it back. We need to find alternative, collaborative ways to govern ourselves.

I will hold monthly meetings where I invite all the community associations to talk about issues that need to be addressed. The community associations of Beaver Brook, Kanata Lakes, Morgan’s Grant- Briar Brook and Village Green will have a direct hand in shaping our community.

There are many core services that need our immediate attention. I will focus particularly on improving services that you have told me are important to our community. These services include regular grass and weed cutting, sidewalk and road repairs, lighting, better access to bus services, and proper clearing of snow.

If you would like to know where Jeff stands on other issues, do not hesitate to contact us at info@jeffseeton.ca