As an east end candidate for city councilor of Cumberland Ward, I am currently not in favour of the new transit plan beginning with a tunnel for the following reasons: 1) cost; 2) Added bus transfer points and 3) the current LRT plan is not visionary enough for our city or our community.

As far as the cost of $735 million for Ottawa's tunnel, it's important to note that tunnels never come in on cost and I am sure that no companies will give us a fixed price. As such, any cost overruns will be passed along to taxpayers because if the tunnel process ever begins, you can be assured we can not turn back the clock.

As far as the bus transfer points are concerned, there is no denying this will add time to an already horrible commute for our residents. Currently, an overwhelming majority of suburban bus commuters take 1-bus to travel to and from work. The current plan will likely require 2 busses to get to Blair station followed by a train boarding. For those residents heading west of Tunney’s or to Gatineau, this plan will also require an extra bus from either the downtown core or at Tunney’s Pasture.

While I am like most residents and want to see Ottawa’s LRT begin at some point, a 25-year transit plan that NEVER has LRT coming to the suburbs is not a visionary plan. I recently had a son and to think that by the time he becomes a taxpayer, we will be under the same transit plan as when he was first born. This, in my opinion would simply be irresponsible for me to support.

Whatever happened to the idea that we should make our city a better place for our children and grandchildren?

All of my homework into the current transit plan tells me we can and should do better, which is why I am against starting a multi generational transit plan with a tunnel. A tunnel will certainly be needed in Ottawa, but not today and not before LRT is citywide.

A plan that does not reduce traveling times, or the cost of public transit to taxpayers, is not a plan worth supporting.

As east end residents, if we don’t fight for our fair share of this transit plan today, our past experience reminds us that we will not see the train in our community at anytime in the future.