March 13, 2026
Some of you asked on Sunday… will this make a difference? I said YES!
Nothing is better for profile than a grassroots rally. And this week, The Ottawa Citizen’s Joanne Laucius filed a story about our issue.
It was FANTASTIC to see hundreds of you at the Rally…
And we’re told the next one WILL BE EVEN BIGGER!
Some of you asked on Sunday… will this make a difference? I said YES!
Nothing is better for profile than a grassroots rally. And this week, The Ottawa Citizen’s Joanne Laucius filed this story.
Councillor Cathy Curry was there along with Councillor David Hill from Barrhaven. Lots of regrets from our elected officials given the short notice of this, your first rally. Karen McCrimmon sent her regrets from Spain. We bet they’ll all be at the next one!
SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR NEXT RALLY
TEXT DOUG FORD today! TEXT HIM EVERYDAY!
Pick your message…long or short or use one of the rally organizer lines here. Explain why the mercury and flooding scare you. Ask if he has a plan to help should we suffer insurance withdrawal with a floodplain failure. Last week he called back one of our supporters after she texted him! Do your bit. A text every day this week and weekend! You might even get a call back from the Premier himself!
How to Protect Your Trees along the shared KGC Property Line
We received correspondence this week from Forestry at the City of Ottawa. They were responding to one of our supporters who asked specifically what the City would be doing to help her protect a magnificent tree on her property and very near her shared KGC property line. Here is their response copied to the KGPC.
Without permission from the landowner, offsite and co-owned trees cannot be negatively impacted by the development of an adjoining property. In this case, the developer must prove to the City’s Planning Forester that all work in the vicinity of the tree at 171 Knudsen will not compromise its health or stability. The Planning Forester cannot approve the Tree Conservation Report until satisfied that the long-term retention of the tree is possible.
We have heard from many of you over the years who are also worried about your property and specifically trees and landscaping nearest the KGC lands. At this point, we understand the City of Ottawa preference is to have the community email all concerns to kanatalakes@ottawa.ca and copy cathy.curry@ottawa.ca . Perhaps sharing your location and a photo of the tree that concerns you would be helpful.
Monday March 9 Minto Meeting …Cancelled.
The Kanata Beaverbrook and Kanata Lakes Community Associations ( KBCA and KLCA) along with the KGPC were forced to cancel our attendance at this meeting. Councillor Curry issued a community reply earlier this week to rebut misstatements being made by Minto and in support of our decision.
Full disclosure. Here’s our take and the very relevant timeline.
- the February 23 meeting (first meeting) was not cancelled as represented by Minto but rescheduled, with their agreement, to meet our request to include Councillor Cathy Curry
- we made multiple requests beginning February 6 for their Meeting Agenda. We finally received it March 3, six days before the rescheduled March 9 meeting
- after meeting to review that Agenda the evening of March 4, our group replied on the morning of March 5 requesting:
- an ability to record the meeting to support communication with you
- the receipt of their electronic documents in advance of the meeting
- time saving modifications (we felt their lead item, a review of the history and timeline of the KGC development over 7 years unnecessary)
- the addition of a key item: Questions from the Community.
We asked for the material by Friday, March 6 at noon to allow us time to review the multiple presentations and prepare over the weekend for the meeting and discussion. Their reply refusal of all the above requests came at 12:02pm on March 6. Under such one-sided conditions and given the eleventh hour, we saw cancellation as our only option. In our reply, we made it clear we were willing to reschedule should they be prepared to meet our reasonable requests.
With full honesty, it appeared in advance Minto was pursuing nothing more than a ‘box-ticking’ exercise based on their suggested agenda and meeting format. They wanted to be able to say after the meeting “ Met with Community 
. Watching Minto subsequently choose to misrepresent the above facts in public responses to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and others, we appear to have been correct, and this was the right decision for now. All three community organizations take open, honest and fair communication very seriously. We want to be heard yet remain fully prepared to sit and listen responsibly. Minto does not appear to be serious about either.
On the matter of meetings, the KGPC continues to press, through the city, for an open community meeting in our communications. As to the construction on the site at present, we continue to press the City to deliver the full transparency that the community has yet to receive. [Email to the City]. It is the bare minimum you are entitled to. We’re staying with it! Help us if you’re able.
That’s it for today!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS – RALLY – SUNDAY, MARCH 29 1pm
Come out and support your community organizers.
We will be there too! Bring your signs!
We’re better together!
Barbara
Chair, Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition
E – chair@ourkanatagreenspace.ca
C – 613.725.4345