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A local business owner and project manager of rail operations for the City of Ottawa has put his name forward to be the next city councillor in Barrhaven West. 

Jay Chadha has officially registered for the position which will be left vacant after longtime councillor Jan Harder announced she won’t be seeking re-election after two and a half decades. 

Chadha has worked for OC Transpo for the last 19 years, and has called the community home for 25 years. He has concerns over the large sum of spending coming from city hall, and feels existing funds could be better spent. 

“It’s a dysfunctional city council right now. Our debt is rising — we are three billion dollars in debt,” Chadha told the Barrhaven Independent. “A city with a million people, that’s roughly about three thousand dollars per resident. We are spending money where we don’t need to and we aren’t putting money where it should be focused.”

An example Chadha gives is with the new central library being built downtown. The project is already facing construction delays and is hundreds of thousands over budget. 

“Let me be clear: I am all for libraries; I think they are great resources for people of all ages to go and connect,” he said. “However the new central library downtown right now is $330 million over budget. We have not got our money’s worth from Lansdowne’s recent developments, and now we are talking about Lansdowne 2.0 without any public consultations. Not only that, it comes with a price tag of $150 million. We cannot look at taxpayers like a blank cheque where we keep drawing from an account.”

Amid rising crime levels in Barrhaven, a petition has been started by a local council candidate to get more police resources in the growing community. 

Jay Chadha, who’s running for council in ward 3 – Barrhaven West, says while he has been canvassing in the community, he’s hearing a common concern at the doors: crime. 

In 2021 Barrhaven West reported a crime spike of 20.7 per cent, more than any other ward in Ottawa. That has included increased car break ins, thefts, and other illegal acts. 

Chadha started the petition after meeting Cobble Hill residents Kiranpal Singh and Ranjit Dhaliwal, who had their car stolen out of their driveway a few weeks ago. They caught it on their home security cameras, but when they called police, they were told only to report it to their insurance. No police report was ever taken and the footage was never reviewed. 

“It’s unacceptable that when someone calls Ottawa Police to say they have proof of a crime being committed, they don’t even follow up or review the footage,” Chadha told the Barrhaven Independent. “Not only does it mean criminals are getting away with these acts,it also means people’s confidence in the Ottawa Police is declining. We have many really great police officers in Ottawa, but we need to ensure that when calls come in, they are dealt with.”

When Singh and Dhaliwal followed up with police, they said nothing could be done, according to Chadha. They are only entitled to a rental car for 30 days and insurance companies are facing months long delays due to the May long-weekend storms. New car shipments are also backed up three to four months due to supply chain issues.

Mr. Jatinder Chadha

Jatinder Chadha is the latest recipient of the City Builder Award. Chadha was honoured before the last city council meeting by MayorJim Watson and Coun. Jan Harder for his “outstanding contributions to the community as a volunteer, fundraiser and advocate fornew Canadians.”

Since 2000, Chadha has organized many community events in the National Capital Region to galvanize the South Asian communityand assist members of the community to become familiar with Canadian culture, providing advice and guidance.

Chadha, a project manager with Transit Services at the City of Ottawa, is the founder, producer and host of the television programDesi Ottawa on Rogers Television. He has also spearheaded benevolent eff fforts, raising $10,000 in contributions for relief of the Haitian earthquake in addition to orga-nizing collection drives for the Ottawa Food Bank.

The Mayor’s City Builder Award is a civic honour created to recognize an individual, group or organization that has, through out-standing volunteerism or exemplary action, demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to making our city a better place today andfor the future. This may include lifelong service, outstanding acts of kindness, inspiring charitable work, community building or otherexemplary achievements. Individuals, groups or organizations may be nominated by members of city council or the public. The award is presented at the begin-ning of each council meeting.