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Councillor says city ‘caught off guard’ by work at former Kanata golf
course

   Joseph Tunney
   | CBC News | Posted: January 25, 2026 9:00 AM | Last Updated: 3
   hours ago

   Kanata North Coun. Cathy Curry says she raced to property after
   receiving little notice of upcoming work

   Image | Kanata Golf and Country Club sign in winter

   Caption: Until recently, the golf course was the centre of a
   long-running legal dispute between the city and owner ClubLink.
   Last year the Supreme Court announced it wouldn't hear the City
   of Ottawa's appeal. (Kate Porter/CBC)
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   A city councillor says she’s frustrated after a recent incident
   at the former Kanata Golf and Country Club left the city
   feeling "caught off guard."
   Coun. Cathy Curry says she received an email from developer
   Minto Homes Thursday evening, letting her know there’d be work
   underway on the site the following day.
   Until recently, the golf course was the centre of a
   long-running legal dispute between the city and ClubLink, over
   the property owner’s plan for a massive housing development on
   the site.
   Clublink ultimately prevailed.
   Curry says it was only Friday morning when she saw the email
   from Minto sitting in her inbox.
   “With only moments to spare, I drove over to the golf course as
   fast as I could to see what was going on,” she told CBC News on
   Saturday.
   “And I arrived just in time to see a fairly major bulldozer —
   [a] land-moving machine — making its way down the fairways.”
     * Supreme Court won't hear Ottawa's appeal in Kanata golf
       course case

   While ClubLink came out on top in the legal battles, Mayor Mark
   Sutcliffe has stated the city will not grant any of the
   easements — a legal right that lets one party use another's
   land for a particular purpose — that the housing development
   might need.
   Stormwater concerns, Curry said, are top of mind for many
   nearby residents, who believed the section of land would
   continue to be open space in perpetuity, part of the language
   of the original contract.
   She said ClubLink told her in follow-up emails that a company
   had been contracted by Minto to clear snow and create a
   drivable path, making way for eventual soil testing.
   Staff also confirmed the work as described is permitted as long
   as no trees are removed, the easements are left alone and
   there’s no large-scale earth work, Curry added.
   Still, she said the short notice from the developer was
   upsetting.
   “None of us at that point would know what was going on,” Curry
   said. “That is not the way we work with developers. So it was
   very disappointing to just get a few hours' notice.”
     * Golfers rush to play final rounds at Kanata golf course
       slated for redevelopment

   Neither Minto Homes nor ClubLink responded to a request for
   comment on Saturday.
   Barbara Ramsay, chair of the Kanata Greenspace Protection
   Coalition, calls the whole debacle “a stick in the eye."
   “They are angry because they realize the city continues to
   oppose their initiative,” Ramsay said. “And the proof is in the
   pudding.”

   Image | Barbara Ramsay

   Caption: Barbara Ramsay, chair of the Kanata Greenspace
   Protection Coalition, calls the lack of ample notice from the
   developer “a stick in the eye” to both the councillor and her
   own organization. (Hillary Johnstone/CBC News)
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   Many people who live nearby are concerned that mercury
   contamination on the site will become a larger problem if the
   land is disturbed, Ramsay said.
   She said her organization believes Friday’s incident goes
   beyond communication issues.
   “How do you think the community here feels sitting with
   bulldozers now starting to move —  we're told it is only snow —
   so they can get their trucks across the property to do testing,
   to do core testing?” Ramsay said.
   “But in fact we don't know if if they are disturbing the
   settled mercury. Who is overseeing this?”
   On Wednesday, Curry will bring forward a motion at council,
   reminding city staff that 192 conditions for the development,
   laid out by the Ontario Land Tribunal, must be enforced.

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