Time for some beautiful stubbornness
It’s the time of year when we (royal) enjoy looking back on all that effort and the stuff that survived the editing process — mourning in passing the brilliant jokes that didn’t, perhaps because they weren’t so brilliant — and come up with lessons learned that, ideally, inform the new year.
Me, I’ve got beauty on the mind. You’d think that being a capital city would make the people who live here want to put our collective best foot forward. And bring out our best stubbornness to dispel the cloud of grey apathy that descends on our federalism threesome every single time we try to do something with the stretch of asphalt in front of the Peace Tower.
Speaking thoroughly unscientifically, I do believe Ottawans want their town to look better than it does. And to feel safer, too. Stats show it is actually very safe. But not everyone feels that way and that’s as serious a problem as actual crime.
Anyway. In my last Ottawa Citizen column of 2024 I reminisce about the good things, specifically this Holt-Bennett report from 1915 that contains most of the ingredients we need to turn Parliament Hill into something great. Or at least way better than the current car sewer.
Next week I’ll be dealing with the horrendous bits from 2024 because damn it, we are going to have to gird our loins and unlock our strategic reserves of kindness to get through the next few years.
