Last fall, as representatives of the Ottawa Coalition for a People’s Budget, a coalition of 18 grassroots organizations from across the city, we wrote an op-ed signalling the need for change when it came to how our city spends and raises its revenue. Since then and since the subsequent approval of yet another status quo budget, things have not gotten any better.

An alliance of 18 Ottawa advocacy groups teamed with an independent economist to produce the Ottawa Coalition for a People’s Budget, an alternative proposal aimed to prove there are better, more sustainable options. It proposes divestments of $235 million from the police budget and $390 million from planned fossil fuel infrastructure. It also proposes $878 million in additional spending, with 75 per cent going to programs and services (including transit) and 25 per cent toward city capital expenditures.

“The first time the $15 million happened, it was truly transformative,” said Khulud Baig, spokesperson for the Ottawa Coalition for a People’s Budget, an advocacy group with a focus on social issues. “But with this year being the housing and homelessness emergency, I think we need to see that leadership from the city to increase those investments.”

CPEP is proud to join the Ottawa Coalition For A People’s Budget. Our vision for Ottawa shows how the City can make a transformative investment in social services and address all areas of our current crisis — public health, economic, social, and environmental — at a scale these issues require.