Ottawa is a nice city, which is one of the reasons I moved here after the election. I decided that my political efforts needed to escalate, as I was at the right time in my career for advancement, and the election loss for the Conservatives inspired me to do more. Ottawa seemed like an obvious place to move, and I am glad I did, although there is much left to be desired.
Mixed alongside the beautiful architecture and old city feeling lie some darker elements, like the constant presence of homelessness and open drug abuse. This is where the city is failing compared to other cities. It's not "the same everywhere." I frequented Toronto often prior to my move, and it has a large homeless problem, but it is less pronounced and concentrated than in Ottawa.
In Toronto, the hustle and bustle of daily commuters heading to Bay Street seem to distract from the homeless people who are scattered around, and in Toronto they are more docile. In Ottawa, most homeless people are extremely mentally ill, and it shows. I cannot leave my condo on York Street in the ByWard Market without immediately being greeted by a homeless person screaming or asking for cigarettes.
Yesterday at 8:30 a.m., I literally walked one step outside of my door, and a homeless woman was standing there saying, "I just got kicked, look." She then showed me her back (which had no injuries) and said, "No, I am just messing with you," as she scurried off talking to herself. This is not humane; this is not ‘her beautiful truth’ or whatever else progressive minds excuse it as. These people should be in institutions where they can be cared for and possibly find meaningful lives. Leaving them to wallow in addiction is both harmful to them, and the city.
What makes me laugh the most about my experience in Ottawa is the lack of parking options and strange rules regarding them. You can only park at a meter for a maximum of two hours, meaning you constantly have to return to your vehicle to feed the meter. Since I moved here in May, I have obtained over $500 in parking tickets as I have been unable to return to my car every two hours. What's most laughable is that half the time, there is a homeless person smoking crack or meth beside my car, yet no officer ever bothers them. In Ottawa, the laws are for the working class; they don't pass the curb. What's the money used for anyway stemming from a ticket? They aren't using it to keep the streets clean and safe, that’s for sure!
Ottawa is failing. During the Freedom Convoy, residents declared that their city was being decimated by working-class people tired of restrictions. Where is all their outrage now? I walk often through the market and up through Parliament, and I see all the young professionals with their backpacks and khakis walking around pretending not to see the chaos. It's most likely because they are working for the government(s) that are causing it. It's easy for them to walk from Parliament to their condos while excusing it all away as "the new world, that nothing can be done about, because that's the way it is everywhere." This flawed mentality is failing residents and, as importantly, failing the homeless who desperately need intervention and rehabilitation. We have endless money for European wars or refugees, yet we ignore our own citizens. Why?
Part of the problem is our legal system, which interprets the laws under a modern lens, where the rights of Canadians are no longer balanced and are instead stacked toward chaos. For example, the courts have found that detaining the homeless and helping them with treatment is unconstitutional, while they ignore the shop owners' rights to run a business in a safe environment protected by police, and they ignore the children's rights who are constantly having meth and crack blown in their faces by homeless people who could not care less about their actions. In modern Canada, the junkie is king. I would like to organize members of the judiciary who make these odd rulings to walk through downtown Ottawa and leave their mansions so they can actually see the harm their failing policies cause. But we know they can't be bothered.