Ottawa news

• Family recalls "sunshine" Christina Voelzing in killer's sentencing

  16-04-2018 23:48 via ottawacitizen.com
  “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey.”
  Sherryl Fraser sang to an Ottawa courtroom Monday at the sentencing hearing of the man who killed her daughter.
  Christina Voelzing, 24, was shot on Easter Sunday 2016 caught in the middle of an intensifying armed feud between two men she had dated. One of them, Behnam Yaali, a former high school boyfriend, shooting into the doorway of her Bells Corners house, fired the bullet that killed her.
  “My su
  
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• Egan: Looks like LRT actually works. But did $2B buy a nickel of excitement?

  16-04-2018 23:23 via ottawacitizen.com
  The first LRT train travelled through the downtown tunnel on the weekend, right to the edge of Tunney’s Pasture.
  One would have thought, $2 billion and five-plus years later, this would be cause for celebration. Where was the magnum of champagne being rapturously smashed on the bow (the bumper?) of the train — the ribbon-cutting by Watson-Naqvi-Chiarelli-McKenna Inc., the appearance of the town crier and Dave Smith?
  Instead, we had a tweet from the mayor on a Saturday afternoon. Then
  
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• Gatineau city council to vote on plans for light rail transit

  16-04-2018 23:18 via ottawacitizen.com
  Mere months before the opening of Ottawa’s Confederation Line LRT, Gatineau city council will decide on Tuesday whether it will give the green light to planning its own light rail system.
  Council is largely basing its decision on input from its municipal transit agency, the Société de transport de l’Outaouais. A second study will be made available in the next year and will elaborate on potential routes and budget estimates. It could also elaborate on how it would affect
  
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• Reevely: Leaving Liberals for dead, Andrea Horwath out-lefts Kathleen Wynne with a smile on her face

  16-04-2018 23:10 via ottawacitizen.com
  Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals are done for and the only question is whether Ontarians want Doug Ford or Andrea Horwath to replace her, said, er, Andrea Horwath in presenting the Ontario New Democrats’ election platform Monday.
  The election hasn’t been called yet, officially, but it’s due June 7 and all the parties are already charging hard. The NDP’s platform is titled “Change for the Better,” which dismisses the Liberals with the first word and the Progress
  
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• Our own @_MarkSutcliffe made his way through a cold and wet @bostonmarathon earlier this afternoon. twitter.com/_MarkSutcliffe…

  16-04-2018 22:46 via twitter.com
  Our own @_MarkSutcliffe made his way through a cold and wet @bostonmarathon earlier this afternoon. twitter.com/_MarkSutcliffe…
  
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• Municipal governments need to decide how far to go on cannabis regulations, guide says

  16-04-2018 22:42 via ottawacitizen.com
  While the federal and provincial governments grapple with the implications of new pot legislation, municipalities are still sorting out a wide range of costly issues, from bylaws to land-use regulations.
  City governments will need to decide if they should regulate small residential marijuana ops and establish registries of homes legally growing the plants when new federal cannabis laws come into effect, according to the national advocate for municipalities.
  In its Municipal Guide to Cannabis Leg
  
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• Legal Weed 101: Class on cannabis law coming to University of Ottawa

  16-04-2018 22:05 via ottawacitizen.com
  By Maggie Parkhill 
  A new law-school class on marijuana that’s budding at the University of Ottawa is being touted as the first of its kind in Canada.
  Two professors will be teaching a brand-new course called “Cannabis Law” in the January 2019 semester. A similar course will be offered in French in September.
  “When we looked at this, we saw one of the most important public policy issues unfolding in our time,” says Adam Dodek, the dean of law at uOttawa.
  The ai
  
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• Two firefighters fall through floor of Stittsville home while battling blaze

  16-04-2018 22:04 via ottawacitizen.com
  Two Ottawa firefighters fell through the floor of a home in Stittsville while battling a blaze on Monday, sparking an emergency rescue operation to pull the pair from the fire.
  A spokeswoman with Ottawa Fire Services said the two were part of a rescue inside the home on 24 Snowberry Way between McCuaig Drive and Henry Goulburn Way around 12:30 p.m.
  The men were helping pull one of the home’s residents from the fire. The resident, a man who has not been identified, was treated at the scene
  
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• Firefighters injured in #Stittsville house fire went though the floor in the home as it collapsed beneath them. Bot… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  16-04-2018 21:57 via twitter.com
  Firefighters injured in #Stittsville house fire went though the floor in the home as it collapsed beneath them. Bot… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Falling ice & tree branches creating hazards in #GatineauPark. The park is closed til further notice. #ottnews… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  16-04-2018 21:55 via twitter.com
  Falling ice & tree branches creating hazards in #GatineauPark.The park is closed til further notice. #ottnews… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Desi Linden wins Boston Marathon, 1st US woman since '85 ottawamatters.com/world-news/des… https://t.co/Shx9vnABJO

  16-04-2018 21:40 via twitter.com
  
  Desi Linden wins Boston Marathon, 1st US woman since '85ottawamatters.com/world-news/des… https://t.co/Shx9vnABJO
  
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• There's been no word on the severity of the injuries suffered by two @OttFire firefighters. #ottnews twitter.com/OttawaMatters/…

  16-04-2018 21:14 via twitter.com
  There's been no word on the severity of the injuries suffered by two @OttFire firefighters. #ottnews twitter.com/OttawaMatters/…
  
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• Humboldt shows we need an independent federal safety agency for roads

  16-04-2018 21:05 via ottawacitizen.com
  The crash of the Humboldt Broncos bus at a nondescript intersection in rural Saskatchewan highlights gaps in the federal government response to an event that has deeply touched the soul of the nation.
  Beyond the unprecedented outpouring of support to the victims and their families, it has become clear that no agency of the government of Canada has a mandate to conduct an in-depth safety investigation of this crash, or of any other road crash, no matter how tragic its outcomes are.
  A technical sa
  
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• JUST IN: The freezing rain warning has ended for the capital region. BUT - Environment Canada has issued a rainfall… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  16-04-2018 20:43 via twitter.com
  JUST IN: The freezing rain warning has ended for the capital region. BUT - Environment Canada has issued a rainfall… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• More #icestorm2018 updates: twitter.com/OttawaMatters/…

  16-04-2018 20:34 via twitter.com
  More #icestorm2018 updates: twitter.com/OttawaMatters/…
  
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• Parents being asked to pick up their kids immediately. #ottnews twitter.com/OCDSB/status/9…

  16-04-2018 20:24 via twitter.com
  Parents being asked to pick up their kids immediately. #ottnews twitter.com/OCDSB/status/9…
  
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• .@hydroottawa says 43,000 customers out of power in 200 outages across the city right now. Get a full update on out… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  16-04-2018 20:03 via twitter.com
  .@hydroottawa says 43,000 customers out of power in 200 outages across the city right now. Get a full update on out… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Transit customers can load Presto cards at Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws by end of May

  16-04-2018 19:10 via ottawacitizen.com
  Transit customers can buy Presto cards and load funds at dozens of Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore locations by the end of May, the City of Ottawa says.
  Metrolinx, the provincial Crown agency that runs the Presto system, has reported success with expanding Presto services at Shoppers stores in Toronto.
  Ottawa transit customers who prefer to load their Presto cards in person have had to go to OC Transpo or city client service centres. Soon they’ll be able to bu
  
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• Freezing rain a threat to early migrating birds

  16-04-2018 18:58 via ottawacitizen.com
  The ice storm is likely to kill some early migrating birds while forcing others to hunker down against the twin threats of cold and lack of food.
  It came at just the wrong time, said birder Bruce Di Labio. On Saturday, he was starting to see some early arrivals among insect-eating species: eastern phoebes, yellow-rumped warblers and tree swallows.
  In any other year, this would be the right time for them to arrive.
  “But then, boom! This wave of freezing rain,” he said Monday.
  “I
  
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• National Gallery confirms it wants painting by David, will sell Chagall

  16-04-2018 18:34 via ottawacitizen.com
  The National Gallery of Canada has confirmed it plans to buy Saint Jerome Hears the Trumpet of the Last Judgment, painted in 1779 by Jacques-Louis David.
  The gallery plans to finance the purchase by selling The Eiffel Tower by Marc Chagall, but until Monday it had not confirmed rumours that the David painting was what it wanted to buy.
  The painting of Saint Jerome had been on display in the National Gallery from 1995 to 2013, until the Musée de la civilisation in Québec City r
  
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• Genovali: Kinder Morgan case ignores fragility of the B.C. coast

  16-04-2018 18:10 via ottawacitizen.com
  Is Canada’s national interest best aligned with a Texas pipeline company? The suggestion of bailing out U.S.-based Kinder Morgan and investing tax dollars to access public assets in a sunset industry, while momentous questions of Canadian law are still before the courts, is nothing short of absurd.
  Kinder Morgan and the province of Alberta have manufactured a crisis in which the goal is to pressure the federal government to force-feed British Columbians the Trans Mountain expansion. The pu
  
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• Cochrane: Trans Mountain is a warning that investors can no longer ignore Indigenous rights

  16-04-2018 18:10 via ottawacitizen.com
  In November, 2016, the late Secwepemc leader Arthur Manuel wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warning him not to unilaterally approve The Trans Mountain pipeline. Manuel asserted the jurisdiction of the Secwepemc as the rightful titleholders for 518 kilometres – about half – of the pipeline route. Secwepemc approval could not be obtained simply by reaching agreements with a few federal Indian Bands in Secwepemc territory. Consent had to come from the people.
  It is unclea
  
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• Dixon: A rational carbon culture includes the Trans Mountain pipeline

  16-04-2018 18:09 via ottawacitizen.com
  The current debate about expanding the Trans-Mountain pipeline through Alberta and British Columbia hands Canadians a unique opportunity to avoid three big mistakes that have crippled many other western democracies: political polarization; divisive debates on what to do about climate change; and expensive solutions to the global warming problem that don’t work and may actually harm the environment.
  First, the bad news: Human emissions of carbon dioxide are fuelling a plague of disasters: H
  
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• Coming up at 10:30: @cmaconthehill joins @MarkDayNews with a look ahead at the week in Canadian politics: 📻: 13… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  16-04-2018 16:25 via twitter.com
  Coming up at 10:30: @cmaconthehill joins @MarkDayNews with a look ahead at the week in Canadian politics: 📻: 13… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Larochelle and Sniderman: End the mandatory victim surcharge

  16-04-2018 16:01 via ottawacitizen.com
  There is a long tradition of legislators leaving hard questions to judges. When convenient, politicians facing a problem can dodge or delay. By contrast, when a judge is thrown a hot potato, hands must burn – and, hopefully, justice gets done.
  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government stalled for 18 months after introducing a draft law to abolish the requirement of a so-called “victim fine surcharge” on those who commit any kind of criminal offence.
  The mandatory surchar
  
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• A Mazda 3 was taken from a property on River Road. twitter.com/OttawaMatters/…

  16-04-2018 15:58 via twitter.com
  A Mazda 3 was taken from a property on River Road. twitter.com/OttawaMatters/…
  
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• Coming up NEXT on the 10 O'Clock Talk: @anne_kingston & @1310Andrew join @markdaynews live: Listen: 📻: 1310 💻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  16-04-2018 15:57 via twitter.com
  Coming up NEXT on the 10 O'Clock Talk:@anne_kingston & @1310Andrew join @markdaynews live: Listen:📻: 1310 💻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Coming up at 9:45: @WendyBoomer joins @MarkDayNews with the latest entertainment news: 📻: 1310 💻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  16-04-2018 15:40 via twitter.com
  Coming up at 9:45:@WendyBoomer joins @MarkDayNews with the latest entertainment news: 📻: 1310 💻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• Royal Canadian Navy ships to return Tuesday from African deployment

  16-04-2018 15:29 via ottawacitizen.com
  Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships Kingston and Summerside return to Halifax on Tuesday from their overseas deployment. The vessels are returning from Op PROJECTION, following engagements with West African nations to build partner capacity, promote maritime security, and foster relationships in the Gulf of Guinea region, according to the Royal Canadian Navy.
  
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• Coming up at 9:30: @MollyMcKew joins @MarkDayNews on Russia, Trump, Facebook and more.. Listen: 📻: 1310 💻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

  16-04-2018 15:25 via twitter.com
  Coming up at 9:30: @MollyMcKew joins @MarkDayNews on Russia, Trump, Facebook and more..Listen:📻: 1310 💻:… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
  
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• POLL: How sick of winter weather are you?

  16-04-2018 15:17 via twitter.com
  POLL: How sick of winter weather are you?
  
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• Messy Monday weather causes slick roads and power outages across Ottawa

  16-04-2018 15:16 via ottawacitizen.com
  Winter-like weather has refused to loosen its grip on the nation’s capital as a fierce storm continued to pelt the city with ice rain on Monday morning.
  A freezing rain warning remained in effect Monday, as Environment Canada warned that roads and sidewalks would be treacherous and slippery during the morning commute. There were also warnings about electrical outages and downed power cables across the city, which are breaking under the weight of the ice.
  A broken power line caused a road c
  
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• ALERT from @OCDSB: Steve McLean Public School closed today due to power outages. https://t.co/GGCiAhF1ZS

  16-04-2018 15:00 via twitter.com
  
  ALERT from @OCDSB: Steve McLean Public School closed today due to power outages. https://t.co/GGCiAhF1ZS
  
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• Today's letters: The bill for language training

  16-04-2018 13:00 via ottawacitizen.com
  Why are we paying for language training?
  Re: NRC foots VP’s $90K French bill, April 13; Cash in a filing cabinet and 20 TVs in storage, April 12.
  Congratulations for publishing stories exposing the terrible waste of Canadian taxpayers’ money by senior bureaucrats. 
  French and English have been official languages in Canada for a long time and it is not unreasonable to expect senior executives to speak both. The Canadian education system and media have for years provided plen
  
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• Ground zero in the battle to stop the Phoenix pay virus from spreading

  16-04-2018 13:00 via ottawacitizen.com
  No one thought it would come to this.
  Miramichi and Shediac should have been working in tandem. Instead, two years after the launch of the unfortunate Phoenix pay system, these New Brunswick towns find themselves in an awkward embrace of technology and management gone wrong.
  Miramichi of course is the epicentre of the government’s frantic effort to fix Phoenix — the deeply flawed decade-long project to modernize and consolidate a pay system that affects 300,000 government employees,
  
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• Freezing rain likely to make Monday morning commute a messy one

  16-04-2018 13:00 via ottawacitizen.com
  The messy winter storm that has threatened Ottawa all weekend arrived Sunday afternoon with freezing rain and ice pellets that were making streets and sidewalks slippery.
  The City of Ottawa urged people to drive, bike and walk “with caution”. The city confirmed staff would be salting and plowing “as necessary throughout the day/night.” There were 120 city trucks salting streets Sunday evening, the city added.
  Ottawa police and Ottawa Paramedic Services reported one road c
  
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• Cass: The deportation of Lucy Granados shows how hollow government 'compassion' is

  16-04-2018 13:00 via ottawacitizen.com
  On Friday morning, Canada deported Lucy Granados, a single mother who has lived in Montreal for nine years.
  She was deported because, although her immigration application was pending, she was “undocumented” in Canada (that is, living here without immigration status).
  Lucy came to Canada in 2009 after fleeing gang-related violence in Guatemala. Her refugee claim was denied in 2012, but she opted to stay rather than face danger upon return. During her nine years in Montreal, Lucy becam
  
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• Alexander: How to start closing the Indigenous prosperity gap

  16-04-2018 12:30 via ottawacitizen.com
  On March 27,  a 17-year-old Ojibwa — I’ll call her Jane –went missing from her foster home in Winnipeg. On April 11, a police patrol found her on the street, apparently unharmed physically. But if, thankfully, good policing worked this time, the ongoing despair and humiliation of marginalized Indigenous Peoples continues every day, everywhere. There’s an ongoing problem of sex-trafficking vulnerable girls in conjunction with force-fed drug and alcohol addiction.
  Jane
  
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• BREAKING: All school buses in Renfrew County are cancelled due to the weather. Schools remain open. https://t.co/hEV0mRnGVZ

  16-04-2018 10:48 via twitter.com
  
  BREAKING: All school buses in Renfrew County are cancelled due to the weather. Schools remain open. https://t.co/hEV0mRnGVZ
  
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• BREAKING: All school buses in #Ottawa are cancelled today due to the weather. Schools remain open. #ottnews https://t.co/ETfsczFjgj

  16-04-2018 10:20 via twitter.com
  
  BREAKING: All school buses in #Ottawa are cancelled today due to the weather. Schools remain open.#ottnews https://t.co/ETfsczFjgj
  
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• New centre will host Caribbean special forces units, says Canadian general

  16-04-2018 07:00 via ottawacitizen.com
  Canada’s top special forces commander says a new centre just opened in Jamaica will be used to provide training for specialized units from around the Caribbean.
  The Caribbean Special Tactics Centre or CSTC was officially opened at the Jamaica Defence Force Moneague Training Camp. The opening took place on March 26. Canada financed the project which cost around $2.5 million. “It will be a rally point for Caribbean special forces to come together,” Maj. Gen. Mike Rouleau, head of
  
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• Phoenix and taxes: Practical tips for the public servant

  16-04-2018 02:00 via ottawacitizen.com
  April 30th is fast approaching. Your T4 is a mess. So is your revised T4. In public service terms, you’ve been “Phoenixed.” What do you do now?
  Don’t miss that deadline
  “The first piece of advice is try to make sure you file on time with as accurate information as you can have at the time,” said Steve Hindle, vice-president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. “It’s in your interest to avoid any late filing penalties.
  
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• UN rejects Russian attempt to condemn US aggression in Syria ottawamatters.com/world-news/un-… https://t.co/T31JKMwGkE

  16-04-2018 01:00 via twitter.com
  
  UN rejects Russian attempt to condemn US aggression in Syriaottawamatters.com/world-news/un-… https://t.co/T31JKMwGkE
  
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• OC Transpo makes your destination clear by going mixed case

  16-04-2018 00:42 via ottawacitizen.com
  OC Transpo has unlocked its caps. For exterior bus destination signs, that is.
  As of April, destinations displayed on the LED signs above bus windshields began appearing in mixed case (upper and lower case) rather than all capital letters.
  Pat Scrimgeour, director of transit customer systems and planning, confirmed in an email Wednesday that the new format would “improve legibility” and help riders read destinations more easily, “especially from a distance.”
  The change al
  
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• Freezing rain likely to continue until Monday morning

  16-04-2018 00:01 via ottawacitizen.com
  The messy winter storm that has threatened Ottawa all weekend arrived Sunday afternoon with freezing rain and ice pellets that were making streets and sidewalks slippery.
  As of mid afternoon, police and Ottawa Paramedic Services reported one road crash, on River Road near Roger Stevens Drive. A pickup truck slid off the road around 1:20 p.m. and slammed into a tree and the male driver, who suffered chest injuries, was taken to Kemptville District Hospital.
  Environment Canada predicted the f
  
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• France urges Russia to join peace push after Syria strike. ottawamatters.com/world-news/fra… https://t.co/lJBLYlhNFS

  16-04-2018 00:00 via twitter.com
  
  France urges Russia to join peace push after Syria strike.ottawamatters.com/world-news/fra… https://t.co/lJBLYlhNFS
  
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