Committee updated on commitments made at 2024 Rural Summit

The Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee today received an update on commitments made during the 2024 Rural Summit. 

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe joined the Committee today, offering brief remarks on the progress made on rural issues since the 2024 Rural Summit and emphasizing rural Ottawa’s role as a place of innovation, resilience and community. The Rural Summit, held in November 2024, gave residents an opportunity to engage directly with City leaders on issues affecting rural Ottawa. It resulted in a series of commitments aimed at improving rural services and representation. 

Achievements highlighted in today’s update include:

• Improved ditch maintenance: With roughly 5,400 kilometres of roadside ditches in Ottawa, rural residents identified ditching and drainage as essential for protecting farmland, preventing flooding and maintaining safe roads. The City has increased its ditching and drainage budget, which is anticipated to reach $5.6 million by 2027 to better maintain this infrastructure. A new stormwater fee structure approved for 2027 will remove the stormwater charge from rural tax bills, replacing it with a levy dedicated to rural drainage maintenance that will also lower costs for most rural households.
• Stronger governance: To help ensure rural decisions are informed by rural voices, the City expanded the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee’s mandate to include all reports that have significant rural implications. The Committee is now generally responsible for all matters outside the urban boundary, including oversight for rural ditching and the new rural ditch maintenance levy. The City has also identified a rural lead in each department to ensure that rural considerations are always part of planning, operations and decision making.
• Enhanced Rural Affairs Office: The City hired a new lead for the Rural Affair Office and is updating the Office’s terms of reference to align with the Rural Summit outcomes. The Rural Affairs Office provides practical guidance to help residents and local businesses access provincial rural funding opportunities, and work is underway on a comprehensive plan to improve communications with rural communities.
• Improved rural paramedic response: The Ottawa Paramedic Service has hired 83 new paramedics and four support staff this Term of Council to help address concerns about timely emergency care, ensuring better service coverage in rural Ottawa. The City also introduced a new dispatch system, which has improved response times and resulted in an 80-per-cent drop in cases where no ambulance is available to respond to a call.
• Dedicated rural focus for road infrastructure: The City has updated its processes to ensure Councillors are consulted for road renewal projects in rural Ottawa. It has also completed a review of how it determines the need for traffic signals or all-way stop signs at rural intersections, updating criteria to better reflect the rural context. The aim is to ensure rural projects are assessed and funded on their own merits, reducing direct competition with urban infrastructure needs.
• Streamlined planning for rural development applications: The City has worked to streamline how routine planning files are reviewed and approved, and dedicated, rural-focused planning staff are in place to better understand the realities of farm and village applications.

The Mayor also reinforced the City’s commitment to amplifying rural voices and noted that the City will organize another Rural Summit in 2027 to build on these achievements and inform strategic priorities for the next Term of Council.

City Council will consider the recommendations from today’s meeting on Wednesday, February 11.