Ottawa Tech Sector / RIM

A while ago I was going to post a quick something that I saw about the Ottawa Tech Sector from the Ottawa Citizen, but didn’t post it.  Unfortunately things didn’t seem to be going well in Ottawa high-tech despite some encouraging signs from some companies.  Article below:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/thinning+ranks+Ottawa+tech+sector/4564755/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

But now it seems we could have some more bad news for Ottawa (really Canada) tech with RIM’s recent announcements.  This will affect the growing tech economy of Waterloo much more than Ottawa’s but there will be an effect.  RIM is one of the local bright spots. 

Who is going to be Canada’s tech anchor?  It looks like RIM is still a major force and will remain the number one tech company in Canada for awhile.  But who will be Ottawa’s anchor?  Since the demise of Nortel we don’t seem to have a large, world-class, exporter of technology (apologies to all the smaller Ottawa companies out there).  Maybe an anchor is not required beyond the government and it’s tech contracts, but I think a big world-beater would be good to have in town.

New Blog about Ottawa

No blog posts since that incredible election (who says Canadian politics is boring!), but definitely hope to post more on how Harper is doing with his majority….

In the mean-time I did want to put out a link to a blog about Ottawa.  I do know Mel so I may not be completely impartial, but I do think it’s a good blog on discovering Ottawa including local music, along with some food/recipe exploration.

Here’s My Ottawa Life !

Going Green (Mark MacKenzie) in Ottawa West-Nepean

Finally decided to go with Mark MacKenzie with my vote tomorrow.  I have respect for Anita Vandenbeld and what she has done in the past but Mark MacKenzie’s message resonates with me more. 

So this time, I will not be engaging in strategic voting, but just voting for the person that I would like to see in the House of Commons.  Maybe next time I will engage in strategic voting, vote swapping, or some other method to get around the old first-past-the-post system, but not this time.

Looking forward to see what tomorrow will bring, with a hope for some type of electoral reform in the future.

308 seats

Saw this link from a friend on facebook (!)– ThreeHundredEight.com Basically a blog that keeps track of all the polling nationally, as well as in each riding.  I’m not sure how accurate this is, but seems inline with what many expect to happen–another Conservative minority government.

What is interesting is a rise in the NDP numbers.  Could the NDP actually get more seats than the Liberals?  Could make for an interesting night, although the NDP number usually dips when actual election results are tabulated.  I personally think that a Conservative / NDP coalition might be an interesting mix, provided that the controlling Harper is ousted.  I could see Jack Layton putting his stamp on the Conservative government with a mix of fiscal and social responsibility (still want that deficit down!)  It reminds me of the current situation in the UK, where there was a large protest vote against Labour who had been running the show for a while–and the key beneficiaries were a newly revamped Conservative party and the 3rd party the Liberal Democrats.  The Liberal Democrats were being run by a charismatic leader, and did quite well.  I “think” that uneasy coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats has been going “OK” (current lack of knowledge in that area).  It would be interesting to see who Mr. Harper (or replacement) would turn to for help in voting through key legislation.

Meanwhile, in my own riding I plan on voting for neither Conservative or NDP!  Decision soon…

Strategic Voting 2011

Perhaps I didn’t pay as much attention to this last time, but there seems to be a fairly new phenonenon of Strategic Voting websites, all aimed at removing Conservative candidates.  There always seems to be some venom at the ruling party, but with the Liberals in disarray, there is a new method of trying to defeat the conservatives.  Here are three strategic voting websites:

• Project Democracy
• Catch 22
• Vote Pair
• Vote Swap – Facebook

The first two present target ridings, and the third and fourth links are places where people can register to transfer their vote (an interesting concept in it’s own right).  I’m still not happy that people have to resort to this–proportional representation is a better way to make use of the popular vote numbers.  But, I will be very interested to see if this can make any difference, especially with the NDP surging and the Liberals falling.

Silver Fox Alliance and Nortel

Another quick one (the rest of the world doesn’t stop for the election), but just wanted to point out the Silver Fox Alliance and their activity this election.  They are a group that is fighting for the rights of private sector pensions.  I hope to spend some more time to read their background–but the main thing they are fighting for is protection for private pensions.

With many Nortel pensioners as members, and the Ottawa West-Nepean riding containing many Nortel pensioners, they could represent a significant group of voters.  They aim to push Harper and the Conservatives out and are supporting Anita Vandenbeld here.

More information can be found on their website.

Feeling Green(?)

Still haven’t completely made up my mind, but am leaning towards voting for Mark MacKenzie in Ottawa West-Nepean.  I still need to check out a few things, before what could amount to “wasting a vote”.

Here’s a little bit more about Mark MacKenzie.

Fear-mongering in election ads

I have recently been inundated with ads that are basically created to make you fear the alternatives.  No ads about plans or policies, just how bad it will be if the alternative gets in!  I’m truly getting tired of these ads, especially from the Conservatives and the Liberals.  NDP fear ads are going away with Jack Layton’s recent surge, and Green can’t afford the ads, so I can’t say if they are that much better.

Unfortunately fear plays well with the audience…

Getting things done

Just a few observations from my trip to China.  Seeing the growth of Shenzhen and the skyscrapers of Pudong in Shanghai, one cannot help but be impressed by the progress made in the last 30 years.  I even got to ride on the Pudong Mag-Lev train to the airport.  Very impressive.

I was instantly reminded of the constant debate, start, cancel, debate, start, cancel cycle that we seem  to be involved in for Ottawa’s transit system.  Will it ever got off the ground?

I’m not promoting China’s political system, but they can get things when they need to.  (But may not care about all the consequences). 

Perhaps there is some middle ground that would allow functional democracies to accomplish things a bit faster.  The US was able to put a man on the moon in a limited amount of time–is there a lesson to be learned there?

Ottawa Urban Boundary Expansion

I have been a slow poster,  because of many things that have been keeping me preoccupied including work, but there is an issue that has come up that I really do want to discuss.

I’m not sure if I am missing all the details , but Ottawa City Council is reopening a debate about the expansion of the urban boundary.  To briefly explain, Ottawa has become a truly humongous city since the amalgamation of 2001 with an area of 2,778.64 km² .    In order to deal with this massive size, the city had to perform a split between the urban and rural areas with slightly different by-laws and legislation between them.  Something else that occured was some zoning that restricted development (housing, commercial, etc.) to certain areas.  For the urban area there was a boundary where no more development could occur outside.  (The villages that were amalgamated also have a development boundary).

There was a vote in June of 2009 where the full expansion of 850 hectares was turned down by one vote.  That vote is now going to be looked at again tomorrow, February 24th.

I believe there are many reasons why Ottawa should NOT extend the urban boundary,  but for the sake of time I will not write them out here.  Instead I will re-use part of my letter to Mayor Larry O’Brien in order to state my case.

I just wanted to say that I am disappointed that there is to be a revote for the expansion of the urban boundary of Ottawa.  I think this would not be a good decision for the long-term.  Adding new development to city may save us some legal fees in the short-term, but there are many services (sewers, roads, OCTranspo, etc.) that would have to be expanded, and would cost extra tax dollars in the long-term.  Intensification inside the current urban boundary would increase the tax base (higher price for homes) with much less new infrastructure to build and maintain.  There are other benefits involved with not extending the urban boundary (less commute time, more greenspace), but I believe that the idea of making Ottawa more compact and efficient could be the best reason of all.

As a side note, I have admired your stance on taking a more business-like approach to government.  As I am someone from the private sector, I have often been frustrated with the slow workings of a bureaucracy, and have been hopeful that someone might be able to change that.  It is turning out to be hard to change everything, but I do believe that one achievable goal could be to make Ottawa more efficient.  Expanding the urban boundary would not make this city more efficient.

I urge City of Ottawa residents to write letters to the Mayor and your local Councillors if you are opposed to (or for) the Urban Boundary Extension.  This is an election year so the voices of the public can make a difference.

To get a better picture of the issue, here are some articles in the local media.

Ottawa Citizen

Orlean Star

Ottawa Sun and here

Ottawa Citizen (letter to the editor)