Welcome to this week’s edition of City In Review – a Saturday subsection of CFRA Weekends. CFRA’s Andrew Pinsent is steering the ship. And here is what we are following!

The Week In Review

• Pre-trial testing for the LRT East Extension is set to begin in early-October, while flood damages have put the delivery schedule of the West Extension in doubt.
• Bike lanes and cycling infrastructure has been approved for Gladstone and Gilmore in response to safety.
• The lease at the Old Central Library on Metcalfe has been extended by 365 days, while the Adisoke timeline remains unclear.
• City Council asks the feds to extend consultations on a project that includes a sixth intraprovincial bridge.
• In the wake of the July floods, the Insurance Bureau of Canada is calling on all levels of government to address a massive municipal water infrastructure gap.
• Ottawa's 'Shop Local, Buy Canadian' marketing campaign is set to re-launch over the coming days.
• Trump Avenue renaming proposal comes to City Council later this month.
• A quick rundown on the biggest takeaways from the campaign trail this week.
• Ready or not, here come the election signs!

Insurance Bureau: $60 billion water infrastructure gap needs to be addressed to curb flood damage

The Insurance Bureau of Canada is calling for an ‘all levels of government’ approach to address aging municipal water infrastructure across the country – a deficit that it currently pegs at $60 billion. The IBC says that damages from floods have jumped 300 percent over the past 20 years. And as today’s storms become more powerful and frequent, infrastructure has not been able to keep up. Amanda Dean is the Vice-President of the Ontario and Atlantic Regions for the Insurance Bureau of Canada. She talks about the gaps, impacts, and solutions.

City Issues Panel

Transit was, once again, a focal point at City Hall this week – including a slew of updates at what was the final planned Transit Committee meeting of this term of council. The most optimistic news: Pre-testing for the LRT East Extension is slated to begin in early-October. Several city councillors are taking this dose of news with cautious optimism. Ottawa Citizen columnist Brigitte Pellerin and former City Hall reporter Jon Willing join Andrew Pinsent for this week’s City Issues Panel.

Candidate Corner

14 candidates are running for Mayor of Ottawa, and CFRA’s Andrew Pinsent is profiling as many as possible ahead of October 26th. Invitations are being made in alphabetical order. This week, mayoral candidate Alex Lawson spoke about why he joined the race, and outlines what he sees as the biggest issues facing Ottawa right now.