OTTAWA OC Transpo is offering free rides on New Year s even again this year, even through Ottawa Public Health is recommending people only celebrate the holidays with members of their household only. The risks associated with impaired driving remain prevalent, and by offering no-charge transit with mandatory masks and other safety precautions we can help reduce impaired driving while maintaining a safer transit system, said OC Transpo General Manager John Manconi in a statement to CTV News Ottawa on Thursday. On Wednesday, the transit service announced that OC Transpo and Para Transpo will be no-charge after 8 p.m. on Dec. 31. The free service is in partnership with Mother s Against Drunk Driving Ottawa and the Safer Roads Ottawa Program.
POLICING The Ottawa Police Services Board passed its 2021 budget in late November after two lengthy meetings in which nearly 100 members of the community demanded the board scrap a planned $13.2 million year-over-year increase in spending. Board chair Coun. Diane Deans told CTV Morning Live after the budget had passed that they could not make a $13 million cut so soon. You can t, just a few days before you pass a police budget, decide to reduce the numbers by 13 million dollars. That would have meant layoffs at police because most of the increase that they re getting this year goes to cost of living increases and their salaries, she said. Those are negotiated through collective bargaining so, if we didn’t have that money, it was going to be a cut to police.