Municipal elections 2022-Rideau-Vanier city councillor candidates

The Manor Park Chronicle contacted, or attempted to contact, all candidates in the Rideau-Rockcliffe and Rideau-Vanier wards, as well as the local zones for three school boards. (The incumbent trustee for zone 11 of the French Catholic school board, Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est, has been acclaimed.) Out of a total of 23 candidates, 16 responded. Below are profiles for candidates running for city councillor in Ward 12-Rideau-Vanier.

Laura Shantz

Doctor Laura Shantz is a researcher, part-time University of Ottawa professor, an active community member, and now she is your progressive candidate for Ottawa city council in Rideau-Vanier.

Laura is a 13-year resident of Vanier where she lives with her partner Craig, their two boys, and their very friendly cat Martha. She has held a wide range of positions, including in advocacy, policy development, research, and community engagement.

While working at emergency shelters in downtown Ottawa, Laura saw how important it was to be able to connect with people in their first language. She set out to learn French and is now fluently bilingual, and so are her children.

She grew up in a rural area where she learned to value community support and taking care of neighbours. As a student at the University of Ottawa, Laura lived in abject poverty. She worked difficult, low-paying jobs to put herself through school and pay her rent and often was left with almost no money to pay for food.

Her deep sense of justice, fairness, equity, and inclusion led her to pursue a Ph.D. in criminology, studying women over the age of 50 experiencing homelessness. She appreciates and values that each person experiences life differently. Laura is committed to meeting the needs of Ottawa’s diverse community, including by drawing on her own lived experience with autism.

Laura envisions Rideau-Vanier as a community where everyone can thrive and succeed together. A place where taking care of each other and treating each person with dignity and respect are defining values. To Laura, it is vitally important for the lived realities of people in her ward to be brought to city hall. She will ensure that the issues that matter to her constituents receive the attention they deserve.

Specifically, Laura believes that housing is a human right, and the housing crisis in Ottawa is growing by the day. We must take action in the city to ensure every person living in Ottawa has a place to call home.

She also believes that a robust public transit system is key to making Ottawa an excellent place to live for everyone. Laura is firm that we must reverse the old mentality of bad transit planning, like opting for the cheapest light rail transit (LRT) stations and constant fare increases. A more extensive list of her priorities and policy beliefs is available at www.laurashantz.ca/priorities.

Alex Osorio

My name is Alex Osorio, and I am running to be your city councillor for Rideau-Vanier because you deserve better from City hall. In the last 10 years, city hall has made the wrong decisions, one after another. As a result, housing is more expensive, and transit is even more unreliable. Instead of fewer people living on the streets, there are more than ever.

I believe that when something is wrong, you should act. That’s why I started youth groups, job coaching, and counselling services for people who needed help in our community through the Fire of God (FOG) Community Outreach Centre.

When the pandemic hit, I opened a food bank serving over 800 families a week. On city council, I can make a bigger positive impact on Rideau-Vanier.

We can make Ottawa a city for everyone.

Housing

We need more homes built, starting with relaxing zoning. We need affordable homes for students and seniors and sizable for young families and new Canadians. While making our neighbourhoods open to business, that are within walking distance.

Transit

We need more reliable services that allow residents to operate downtown. That means revising OC Transpo routes to better reflect community needs and away from focusing on Monday to Friday, 9-to-5 commuters going between downtown and the suburbs.

Homelessness Crisis

Homelessness is rising. City council keeps trying to push the problem downtown. It isn’t working. We need services spread across the city for mental health and a focus on getting people clean. Those dangerous to themselves and others must be taken off the street and helped.

Small Business

Our community has amazing shops. We must take advantage of tourists already in the city and funnel them to everything our community offers. I will work to strengthen tourism because that will create better jobs in the community and bring in revenue for better services.

Services

The cost of living is rising, and people need help. I want to ensure our city programs focus on what is essential, like better garbage pick-up services, enforcing safer communities and that we all work to support local charities with a record of success instead of growing city hall.

City hall does not need any more advocates. City hall requires action, and that is what I bring to the table. But I cannot do it on my own. I need your help today.

Julie Fiala

Born at Montfort Hospital, Julie Fiala is a proud Franco-Ontarian. Julie is an artist and educator with more than 30 years of experience, living and working in Vanier, Lowertown and Sandy Hill.

Julie has a proven track record of community organising in Canada and abroad to improve communities and the quality of life of residents, by identifying key issues and solving them through fast and forward-thinking solutions. Julie is an award-winning artist and academic, a Commonwealth Scholar, a Queen’s University alumna, and a graduate of l’école secondaire publique De La Salle. When Julie is asked where she comes from, she always says, “I am of this place.”

This year, Julie was a senior consultant on housing issues as they pertain to the aging population here in Ottawa. Since 2019, she has been a volunteer for the Guigues Centre at Montfort Renaissance. Julie is a leader, mediator and teacher. She talks, laughs, listens and sings.

Her priorities are threefold:

Humanity

Let’s be human. Heart-to-Heart. Franco-Ontarians, Francophones, Anglophones, First Nations, Inuit, Punjabis, Haitians, Africans, Afro-Americans, refugees and immigrants, new and old. I hear you. Let’s sing in unison. Let me be your voice. We must stand together. We are better, together. Let’s be the heartbeat of our community. In particular, Julie is concerned with the security and safety of all as we recover from the pandemic.

Housing

A roof is not enough. We need more affordable housing. Julie is forging alliances to create the conditions that increase the supply of quality rental units and ownership.

Hospitality

Make Rideau-Vanier better. This requires that we address local food poverty and its impact on wellness. Julie will keep Rideau-Vanier alive by continuing this fight through adult education, civic engagement and community health. Let’s continue to build on the work of organisations like le centre de services Guigues, Montfort Renaissance and the Wabano Centre for every person’s wellbeing and healing.

Tyler Cybulski

My name is Tyler Cybulski and I’ve been a proud resident of Rideau-Vanier for the last 11 years. I am a proud member of One Arrow First Nation, a husband, and a father to a newborn baby boy. I love my community, but the reality is that our ward faces numerous challenges that must be addressed during the next council term in Ottawa.

Our light rail transit (LRT) system has been plagued by mechanical issues, derailments and logistical failures since it launched in 2019. Our buses are often late and, as we witnessed recently, many do not show up at all due to driver shortages, resulting in cancelled trips. The public has lost all confidence in our public transportation system.

As a candidate, I believe that we need to acknowledge this, instead of maintaining that we provide an acceptable service to the citizens of our city. As councillor, I want to resolve this long-standing issue and restore our transit system to a service that is reliable and affordable.

Rideau-Vanier has recently been recognized for having the second-highest crime rate in the city. Crime, specifically violent crimes, are rising at alarming rates. Adding to this crisis are community organizations, local leaders and council candidates that are calling for massive spending cuts to our police budget. I believe that police are an essential service and that you deserve to feel safe in your community. Therefore, I will not be supporting any spending reductions that would undermine the great work that our police do.

One of the greatest challenges we face in Rideau-Vanier is a severe shortage of affordable, dignified housing. The current guidelines surrounding development in Ottawa have resulted in massive urban sprawl and expansion at a time when we should be striving for urban intensification. As a candidate, I recognize that our housing issues are reaching a critical juncture where we must act in a responsible manner to increase supply in a relatively short amount of time.

These are just a few of the issues that I have identified as important to our ward. There are many more that can be found on my campaign website, www.tylercybulski.ca. This election will be crucial for the direction that we go as a city. I entered this race because I believe that we have witnessed too much rhetoric surrounding the issues affecting our city and not nearly enough action. I am committed to addressing the most challenging issues we face and look forward to being your advocate at city hall.

Editor’s note: The other candidates running in the ward are Patrick Auguste, Hicham Boutaleb, Burthomley Douzable, Jwane Izzetpanah, Kim Leclerc and Stéphanie Plante.