MPP Phil McNeeley steps down gŏđŏ
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hub for the community’s arts and culture sector. "It was a project I held dear to my heart," McNeeley said. One regret McNeeley does have is that he will not be able to keep firing salvos on be- half of his riding at the federal Conservative government and its plan to relocate 10,000 Department of National Defence positions to the Ottawa West area. He noted that the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, "a non-Lib- eral non-partisan group" is criticizing the Harper government "a boondoggle in the making," describing the transfer of all those jobs from the downtown Ottawa and Orlé- ans areas to the former Nortel campus on Moodie Drive as a waste of taxpayer funds. "It’s going to impact Orléans and also the City of Clarence-Rockland," said McNeeley. "This is strictly politics. It’s not a good deal." He noted that DND employees who live in Orléans and Clarence-Rockland and other communities will now have to decide whether they want to commute the extra distance to their jobs or relocate to Kanata and other neighbouring areas which are closer to where they now have to work. He predicts a serious future impact on the downtown Ottawa business sector as a re- sult. "The downtown core now has a vacancy rate of 11 per cent, an all-time high, " he said. "It’s not good news."
GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
ORLÉANS | After a decade representing residents in Orléans at Queens Park, Lib- eral MPP Phil McNeeley will step out of the provincial spotlight. There is already a successor picked for the Ottawa-Orléans MPP. Marie-France Lalonde was chosen Saturday as the new Liberal nominee for the riding during a Dec. 14 weekend nomination gathering in Orléans. "I’m very pleased with the candidate we’ve chosen," McNeeley said during a Monday phone interview. "She’s fully bilin- gual. I think she’ll do a bangup job for us in Ottawa-Orléans." McNeeley noted that Lalonde’s back- ground includes extensive experience in business development and in healthcare issues, both of which were important to him during both his terms as an Ottawa city councillor and later an Ontario Liberal MPP. McNeeley announced last year his deci- sion not to run for re-election. At 75, he said he is looking forward to relaxing more and being with his family. "I’ve got three-and-a-half grandchildren," he said, smiling. "I’m also back to being a boater. I’ve got other things to do." Trained as a professional engineer, the Cumberland native founded his own con- sultant firm in the Orléans area before de- ciding to take a run at municipal politics. He won a seat on Ottawa city council in 2000, finishing up a full three-year term before switching his attention to provincial affairs. During his 10 years as a Liberal MPP, Mc- Neeley has served as parliamentary assis- tant to ministers for transportation, energy, infrastructure, health, and the environment. While at Queens Park, McNeeley’s personal focus outside of constituent concerns was on environmental and health-related is- sues. Looking back over his political career highlights, the first thing that comes to mind for him is the anti-smoking campaign he waged against retail advertising that targeted youth. He adapted his tactics as a municipal councillor for his Smoke-Free Ot- tawa lobby and applied them on a provin- cial basis. "We took that thinking to the province OTTAWA | City council may be asking the Ontario government for changes to the Pawnbrokers Act. Ottawa’s Community and Protective Ser- vices Committee will ask city staff to re- view the legislation and then report back to council on whether or not changes are needed to make the Pawnbrokers Act bet- ter work with any proposed municipal li- censing scheme for pawnbrokers. Ottawa city staff will also consult with the Ottawa Police Services on the issue and also review past “best practices” in other munici- palities on the situation before reporting to council. City eyes pawnbrokers
and got a Smoke-Free Ontario thing going," he said. With the support of local high school student groups in his own riding and a 22,000-signature petition, "the McNeeley amendment" to provincial tobacco legis- lation resulted, banning the use of "Power Wall" advertising billboards in Ontario retail outlets for promoting cigarettes and other tobacco products to youth. McNeeley is also satisfied with the role he placed as MPP for Ottawa-Orléans in help- ing get provincial funding aid for the Shen-
kman Arts Centre development at the Place d’Orléans. The centre has since served as a
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