Editorial: It's time the City of Ottawa reopened Wellington Street

  • 📰 OttawaCitizen
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 54 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 25%
  • Publisher: 68%

Canada Headlines News

Canada Latest News,Canada Headlines

A year after the downtown thoroughfare was closed because of the trucker protest, let\u0027s use our street smarts and restore it.

Meanwhile, scattered vehicles — some authorized, a few not — trickle down the road in one direction, but not the other. It’s time to full reopen Wellington to regular traffic and public transit, time to treat it as the important downtown artery it once was.Sign up to receive daily headline news from Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

Opponents of reopening the street to traffic muster many arguments, the most valid of which is security: anyone could be carrying a bomb in a vehicle. In that case, why are there any cars on the road now? And if you’ve ever been on Sparks Street in early morning, you know not even a pedestrian mall shuns delivery trucks. Presumably, one can also carry incendiary devices, or firearms, in a backpack. Meanwhile, police now know not to allow large trucks to hold protests in the core.

The second argument advanced is that, by reopening Wellington, we somehow lose the chance to re-imagine it — either as a future pedestrian-only mall, a tramway route or some other worthy plan. But visions for Wellington were discussed ad nauseam when it was open. A year after its closing, the visionaries haven’t exactly pushed their agenda hard.

Wellington was “temporarily” closed because of a truck protest. Let’s “temporarily” open it again. Talks on its final permanent status should continue. But this important street shouldn’t continue as a road to nowhere.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

no. keep it closed. keep cars out of the city center, next is bank street hopefully

No, what would be the purpose? You could open it up to allow tourist buses to drop people off but there is no need for regular vehicle traffic. Make it a pedestrian street

No

It's still closed?

Nooooooooooo!

Given the parliamentary offices across the street, I think that portion of Wellington should remain closed, and included into Parliament's footprint.

But the truckers will come back.

But the truckers will come back.

Trudeau's too afraid of a few truckers!

The core is a wasteland and this continued closure is painfully on-brand ottawa

No

Why is it closed?

Is not!

Nope our city needs to protect it’s elected servants. Society needs safeguards from anarchistes and dangerous violent people. More population more crazies and disruptors.

As a tourist in my own city...it is awesome having it closed. Thank you truckers🚛🇨🇦👏

It could be vehicle in winter, pedestrian / human in summer. We have the technology!

I vote open. I can’t wait to finally see the changing of the guard on the Hill again. Play some music for me.

Every time I get even remotely close to rethinking my refusal to subscribe to a paper run by the same hedge fund as the National Enquirer, you run an editorial like this to remind me no, no way.

But if they reopen it, some protesters might block it! Which would be a national Emergency. Keep it closed.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 21. in CA

Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Ottawa council eyes future of Wellington Street nearly a year after ‘Freedom Convoy’ | National NewswatchNational Newswatch: Canada's most comprehensive site for political news and views. Make it a daily habit.
Source: natnewswatch - 🏆 58. / 59 Read more »

Ottawa council eyes future of Wellington Street nearly a year after ‘Freedom Convoy’ | Globalnews.caOttawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says the city's transportation committee will vote next week on whether to extend the closure of Wellington Street. An hour and not one comment. Not one retweet. Not one like. Says a lot doesn't it ?
Source: GlobalNational - 🏆 81. / 51 Read more »

Ottawa committee to decide short-term plan for vehicles on Wellington StreetAs the one-year anniversary of the 'Freedom Convoy' rolling into Ottawa approaches, the city of Ottawa is looking at whether to allow vehicles to return to Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill in the short-term. This should have been re-open a long time ago and even more pressing with the increase of workers back downtown and the usual shenanigans with LRT
Source: ctvottawa - 🏆 29. / 67 Read more »

Ottawa council eyes future of Wellington Street nearly a year after 'Freedom Convoy'Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says the city’s transportation committee will vote next week on whether to extend the closure of Wellington Street in front of…
Source: OttawaCitizen - 🏆 21. / 68 Read more »

Ottawa council eyes future of Wellington Street nearly a year after 'Freedom Convoy'Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says the city’s transportation committee will vote next week on whether to extend the closure of Wellington Street in front of…
Source: calgaryherald - 🏆 64. / 52 Read more »

Globe editorial: Ottawa, and the lessons unlearned in AfghanistanA public re-examination of the 2021 evacuation is in order, so that Canadians know that Ottawa understands how badly it failed our Afghan allies Better to conduct a full review to see what went wrong and how to avoid debacles like this in the future, rather than do another plaque on the wall. Staff make stellar efforts, but work within limits set by the govt. Need to know what happened. Don’t wait for the next crisis.
Source: globeandmail - 🏆 5. / 92 Read more »