PRESS RELEASE: Coalition of Community Groups Launches 2022 Alternative Municipal Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Coalition for a People’s Budget launched their 2022 Alternative Municipal Budget. In this document, our coalition of community organizations from across the city outlines a vision for our city to address critical facets of the current crisis — public health, economic, social, and environmental — at a scale these issues require. The coalition launched Ottawa’s first ever alternative municipal budget during last year’s budget season in 2021.

“After decades of social infrastructure like housing and transit being drastically underfunded, the Alternative Municipal Budget calls for a bold, transformative investment in social services, and in safe, affordable housing in Ottawa,” said Khulud Baig, a representative of the Ottawa Coalition for a People’s Budget and one of the lead authors. “The coalition created this budget to outline how our City could meet the dire need to fund services that keep our communities healthy, such as childcare, food security initiatives, and addiction and mental health services.“

To fund these crucial services, the Alternative Municipal Budget proposes new revenue streams, including a 5% vacancy tax and progressive property taxes, in addition to halting new investments in fossil fuel infrastructure and reallocating more than 60% of the Ottawa Police Services Budget. Under the Alternative Municipal Budget plan, Ottawa Police Services would retain control of investigative services, but all frontline and community relation work, and its respective funding, would be moved to appropriate community programs and services. 

"We are paying to send police officers to do work that should be done by caring people trained in the needs of our communities," said Vanessa Dorimain of the Ottawa Black Diaspora Coalition, one of the signatory organizations. "The bloated police budget, combined with the lack of oversight of the Ottawa Police Services, is leading to pain, deaths in our communities, and gut-wrenching violence, which is disproportionately wielded against Indigenous, Black, and other racialized people."

The Alternative Municipal Budget also proposes that the City halt all new investments in fossil fuel infrastructure. The climate crisis is an existential threat to our City, and to young people in particular, the City of Ottawa must prioritize green transportation, free transit in Ottawa, and accessible transit for seniors and people with disabilities. With the proposed $235M in reallocated funds from the Ottawa Police Services Budget, and the $390M that would be cut via the divestment from fossil fuel infrastructure, this sets the stage for the City to make transformative investments in housing, transit and key social services, like childcare. 

"This budget seeks to disprove what those in power at the City of Ottawa have been saying for a long time - that we don’t have the resources to provide good, quality services to every single person who needs it in this city," said Sam Hersh, a Board member of Horizon Ottawa. "The fact of the matter is that it has never been about resources but priorities and our document proves what is possible when leaders prioritize residents over the wealthy and well-connected at City Hall.”

Over the past two years, COVID-19 has exposed deep disparities in our city. Recognizing the deep fault lines in our communities, Ottawa’s Coalition for a People’s Budget aspires to reimagine what Ottawa could be if our budgets prioritized communities and people, rather than interests of a privileged few. 

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Click here to read the full 2022 Alternative Municipal Budget document. 

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About the Ottawa Coalition for a People’s Budget

The Ottawa Coalition for a People's Budget is a broad coalition of organizations from across the City that advocate for social, environmental and economic justice for all residents. These organizations collectively recognize that the way money is spent in the City needs to change and have come together to advocate for a City Budget that upholds a core focus on the people and communities of Ottawa.

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Khulud Baig

Email: kbaigpolicy@gmail.com

Phone:  613-875-9664

Sam Hersh

Email: info@horizonottawa.ca

Phone: 613-668-7018