It's far from the perfect relationship, but it was apparent at Saturday's Rural Summit that Ottawa's urban and rural residents are slowly resolving their differences.
Three years after the first Rural Summit, the event at Confederation High School focused the main issues identified during the community consultations that took place in rural communities in January.
Back in 2005, Ottawa's rural residents said they didn't feel their needs were understood by the mostly urban council. They said communication between the two groups had to improve.
"I don't think many voices were being heard, nobody knew who to talk to. We were always shut out ... but now, we're all here to mean business," said rural resident Penny McNeely.
Many of the attendees agreed services have improved since 2005, and so has the dialogue.
"I think there's a much more constructive attitude around the table, not a lot of posturing. People are identifying more of the problems and seeing if they can work around them with the current system of governance," said rural resident Ken Holmes.
Rural residents voiced their concerns about ParaTranspo services, the process to obtain a burn permit, ways to improve local involvement in decision making and the condition of the city's roads and drainage network.
The development of a rural affairs office was arguably the summit's biggest success, with front-line staff trained to deal specifically with rural issues.
"Having that office there as a point of contact so that people ... know who to turn to, I think it's a benefit," said Derrick Moodie, City of Ottawa rural affairs officer.
While the idea of de-amalgamation still hovers around in the background, most residents admit significant changes have been made. The city is already planning a third summit to deal with new issues that might arise.
With a report from CTV's Carole Anne Guay
