Council tightens anti-idling rules but dilutes staff proposal

Ottawa's anti-idling bylaw will now be enforceable 365 days a year, though rules will not go as far as city staff had envisioned.

The 17-year-old bylaw has been updated to crack down on drivers who keep their vehicle running on days below 0 C or above 27 C a period previously exempt.

The proposal put to councillors would set the idling limit onthose cold and hot days at five minutes, but they upped it to ten minutes.

"I heard from my own residents that the original staff report was a little bit too far, too soon," said Coun. Steve Desroches, who brought themotion to dilute staff recommendations.

• Stronger rules against idling aimed at worst offenders
• Idling rules could get tougher under bylaw changes

Councillors also voted on Wednesday to stick with a pre-existingthree-minute time limit for the rest of the year, rather than tightening the rules to one minute.

'Big step forward'

Coun. Ariel Troster questioned why the staff proposalshould be watered down, noting how the impact of idling truckson her downtown ward during the 2022 convoy protests.

"I've also heard the argument floating around[of], 'why bother to have a rule if we can't enforce it all the time?' Well, in that case we would have no regulations," she said. "Our current protections are not getting the job done."

The motion passed easily, withcouncillorsultimatelyapproving the revised bylaw change in a15 to eight vote.

Coun. Shawn Menard, who chairs the environment committee, was pleased to see the old bylaw expandedwith what he considersreasonable exemptions.

The old rules had rendered it inert for well over 200 days per year, though he acknowledged that$500 tickets could still be few and far between.

"At the end of the day, it wasn't enforced much before. I don't think it's going to be," he said."It's going to be more about education."

That message was echoed byMayor Mark Sutcliffe.

"The signal that we've sent is that we don't want people to idle their cars even on cold and hot days," he told reporters after the meeting.

"I think we can look at all of that as a big step forward."