Members of Regional Council and residents of Ottawa-Carleton, I am pleased to join you in looking forward optimistically to 1999 and the millennium.

Chers membres du Conseil et résidents d’Ottawa-Carleton, il me fait grandement plaisir d’entrevoir l’année 1999 et le nouveau millénaire de façon optimiste.

This year will bring tremendous opportunity and daunting challenges. 1998 proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that this Council and our administration working together and working in partnership with our community and other governments can excel.

But it is virtually impossible to look ahead to the excitement and promise of 1999 without a glance back at the storms of 1998, one real and unforgettable storm, THE ICE STORM OF THE CENTURY, and several political storms which rained down on us from Queen’s Park.

These political storms included:

Firstly - the moving target of local service re-alignment, or "downloading" as it came to be known, which challenged almost every traditional municipal service and budget as well as the patience and wisdom of every municipal and provincial politician in Ontario.

Secondly - the burdens of adjusting to, and communicating to our residents, the most complicated and continuously changing set of property assessment rules imaginable. These changes had a massive impact on residential and business property taxes.

Thirdly - this Council was forced to prepare a 1998 budget with an acknowledged minimum $43 million of additional provincially imposed services to pay for, with information that was not provided until March of 1998.

And yes, it is instructive to reflect on the real storm, THE ICE STORM OF THE CENTURY. As I said several days ago, the 1998 ICE STORM is more than a story about weather it is a story about people, people who made heroic attempts to help each other and to prevent loss of life - a story of human ingenuity and endeavor.

The storm showed no mercy as it relentlessly ravaged our communities. But unlike broken trees and snapped power lines, the people of Ottawa-Carleton showed no signs of breaking - our people only grew in strength as the challenges and dangers worsened.

It is this strength, the strength we gained as a Council, as an administration, as a community through the ice storm of 1998 and the political storms of 1998, that will serve us well in 1999 and into the millennium.

As Chair and on behalf of the people of Ottawa-Carleton I want to say "Thank you" to Council, and to the entire administration for excelling in 1998 under the most difficult of circumstances.

We, together, have changed the tone of debate. In every instance where additional responsibilities and leadership were assumed by Council members, the outcome has been superb. We have worked with each other well - with respect - without recrimination when votes didn’t go our way - constructively putting the needs of our community first.

We have also positively changed and improved our working relationships with municipal governments in the Outaouais, with the National Capital Commission and with other Federal Departments.

I want to take a moment to talk about some of the leadership shown on this Council in 1998. I want to thank all those who took on the job of working on a Chair’s Task Force initiative.

Together, we are pushing ahead our community’s agenda, be it light rail, economic development, green space or creating jobs. We are also dealing with unprecedented change.

This Council has been up to the challenge of massive change, massive change embarked upon by the provincial government. It should be acknowledged that many of these provincial changes needed to be made and in some cases were long overdue. The provincial budget deficit needed to be addressed and brought into a balanced position.

Ontario had to fix its antiquated property tax system. These changes caused great disruption, but they had to be done.

The spirit behind Ontario’s effort to realign services, so that the most appropriate level of government is responsible and accountable for every service made sense, even though it caused great disruption. Once again this kind of realignment was needed.

Many of us disagree however with the way these changes have been implemented, the way in which the Local Services Realignment turned into the downloading of costs onto municipalities. But the effort to sort out "who does what" was, and still is, important.

Unfortunately the province’s process for achieving this important goal means in reality that significant costs have been shifted onto the Region.

But that is the reality. The province has decided to shift some of the burden to regional government and we have to pitch in.

It does no good to simply complain. Instead we should get down to business and work together to manage change, to manage the new reality.

In 1998, downloading and property tax changes hit municipalities across the province like a lightning bolt. Most municipalities could not cope - most took the easy way out and jacked-up taxes.

Some Councils, many faced with lesser challenges than our own, simply said "this is impossible - the easiest thing to do is download the download - to pass the cost to the property taxpayer and blame the Province."

Our Council understands that property taxes are already too high. Last year we proved that we have more respect for ratepayers than to take the easy way out.

To be sure, the financial burden of downloading is daunting. It is a burden we still labor under, and will struggle with for several years.

But this Council knows that passing the buck, passing the bill, is not the answer.

That is why our region was the only Regional Government in the province that was up to the challenge of holding the line on taxes last year.

Regional taxes did not go up one nickel, and Ottawa-Carleton was the only region in the province that accomplished a tax freeze despite the turbulence and change.

It is important to take a moment and give that fact its due. Unlike the eleven other Regional Governments in the province, Ottawa-Carleton held the line on taxes.

When we started last year, holding the line on taxes seemed impossible. In December of 1997 Queen’s Park announced that Ottawa-Carleton and Toronto would be the only two communities ineligible for transition funding from the multi-year Community Reinvestment Fund, the program meant to give municipalities time to absorb the cost of downloading.

Toronto subsequently received a package to assist it while the municipality pursued savings arising from restructuring into a single city. Our Regional Council fought, along with our local members of the government caucus, for fair treatment.

There were many doubters, many who thought partnership with the provincial government and their local members would not work. But in the end Ottawa-Carleton did receive its fair share of transition assistance.

Partnership prevailed and unlike other Regions, our Council used the transition funding well - to hold the line on regional taxes.

But that was only one year. The tough work must continue. Now with a full budget year and a fresh slate we have to set new priorities and make more tough choices. Over the next several years we will have to change the mix of services we provide.

The Budget Sub-Committee has been working very hard to find cuts and efficiencies and will continue to do so. Again I want to thank Councillors van den Ham and McGoldrick-Larsen for serving as co-chairs in a hot seat.

Had it not been for the $45 million of downloading costs, these coming cuts would have resulted in a significant tax cut for ratepayers. As it is, the work of the Budget Sub-Committee will take the first bite out of the downloading challenge.

Absorbing the cost of downloading does not however mean that our community’s priorities are on hold as we prepare for the new millennium.

Far from it.

Every member of this Council has agenda items that represent the priorities of the residents who elected them. As Chair I commit myself to helping to achieve those goals, the items on your agenda as Council members.

Preparing for the new millennium, improving our quality of life, pushing forward the diversification of our local economy and sheltering ratepayers from the turbulent changes ahead will not be easy. But it is a challenge we must meet within existing budgets.

Taxpayers will not stand for incremental budgeting - we must live within our means, we must create new partnerships, and we must be innovative.

During 1999 among other important issues Regional Government will work toward some critical goals, such as:

• The creation of a budget with a 0 % property tax increase, a budget that follows the people agenda placing the needs of the those who need our help before bricks and mortar.

• The creation of a new business plan for OC Transpo after the final KPMG consultants report has been received.

• To finalize an agreement with C.P. Rail on the light rail pilot so that we can look at the efficiency of re-purposing existing infrastructure.

• To approve a new interprovincial transportation plan including a process leading to the construction new bridges links.

• To better define the Region’s economic development strategy and the roles and mandate for our economic development agencies.

• To follow through to create the linkages project.

• To form the Employment Task Force, consisting of business and community leaders together, to work to move people off social assistance into employment.

• To advance the public/private partnerships evolving - to create a new/expanded convention centre at the Rideau Centre.

• To facilitate the creation of the new Canada Sports Hall of Fame in the Conference Centre.

That is a full agenda by anyone’s standards. And we will have to achieve these goals while wrestling with unprecedented changes.

Il est donc possible en travaillant de concert avec la collectivité, les entrepreneurs et les autres paliers de gouvernement de pouvoir continuer de solidifié les bases afin que notre région en soit une de grande renommée, et ce dans le meilleur pays au monde. Nous ne devons viser rien de moins.

In conclusion, I refer to the old adage that "politics is the art of the possible" and that is very true. So it is possible that we, working together with our community and business partners and other levels of governments, can continue to create the foundations for the best world-class region in the best country in the world.

We should strive for nothing less.

Thank you, merci, Ciao

Moved by Councillor M. McGoldrick-Larsen

Seconded by Councillor A. Munter

RESOLVED THAT the Annual Address by the Regional Chair be incorporated in the Council minutes of 13 January 1999.

1. The Honourable Jean Chrétien Prime Minister, responding to the Regional Chair’s correspondence regarding opening a portion of the Ottawa River to seasonal navigation. The Prime Minister advises of the importance of protecting and maintaining Canada’s national heritage through many historic sites and

waterways. A copy of the Chair’s correspondence has been forwarded to the Honourable Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Honourable

David Anderson, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.

MOTION NO. 4

Moved by Councillor D. Beamish

Seconded by Councillor G. Hunter

RESOLVED THAT recommendation 1 of Item 1 of Community Services Committee Report No. 24 be deferred to the next regular Council meeting.

Moved by Councillor D. Holmes

Seconded by Councillor J. Legendre

RESOLVED THAT item 2 of Planning and Environment Committee Report No. 22 be tabled.

Moved by Councillor R. Cantin

Seconded by Councillor G. Hunter

RESOLVED THAT item 1 of Transportation Committee Report 27 be amended to provide that the Farlane Blvd. bus bay remain on Baseline Road to allow for safer egress Eastbound on to Baseline Road.