Ottawa news

• Council OKs $4.6B Stage 2 transit contracts, the largest infrastructure approval in Ottawa's history

  06-03-2019 23:20 via ottawacitizen.com
  Ottawa’s $4.6-billion Stage 2 transit expansion is a go.
  City council voted 19-3 on Wednesday to sign contracts with two construction groups to extend the Confederation Line LRT to Trim Road, Algonquin College and Moodie Drive, and extend the Trillium Line to Limebank Road and the Ottawa International Airport.
  Kiewit and Vinci, under the name East West Connectors, will construct the Confederation Line extensions, and SNC-Lavalin, under the name TransitNEXT, will construct the Trillium Line
  
  Read more

• 'It's women who have to incur the cost': City to review fee to change name through 'gender lens'

  06-03-2019 22:52 via ottawacitizen.com
  The city plans to review the fees it charges for its services to make sure they are gender neutral, including the $44 it charges to register a name change.
  Coun. Diane Deans questioned the name change fee during budget deliberations this week at the finance and economic development committee, since women are the ones most likely to have to change their name, either through marriage or divorce.
  “In most cases when a (name) change is made, it’s women who have to incur the cost,”
  
  Read more

• Ottawa will not renew funding to aid group sending homeopaths to Honduras - CityNews Toronto

  06-03-2019 22:35
  Ottawa will not renew funding to aid group sending homeopaths to Honduras  CityNews TorontoMONTREAL — The Canadian government has decided against renewing funding for a Quebec-based organization providing controversial homeopathic ...
  
  Read more

• What to know about three bridge repair projects starting in Ottawa soon

  06-03-2019 22:11 via ottawacitizen.com
  Three of the five bridges across the Ottawa River are due for repair jobs of varying sizes, and the lane closures will begin in April.
  One bridge, the Chaudière, will close completely to cars and trucks, though not to pedestrians, cyclists and buses.
  Public Services and Procurement Canada provided a summary Tuesday with these details:
  • Portage Bridge: “April to June 2019: One northbound lane closed at all times. A second northbound lane closed overnight and occasionally during
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Ottawa council approves $4.7B LRT extension despite calls for delay, more transparency - Ottawa Business Journal

  06-03-2019 22:05
  Ottawa council approves $4.7B LRT extension despite calls for delay, more transparency  Ottawa Business JournalOttawa city council has approved two multibillion-dollar bids to develop the second phase of its light-rail transit network following a vigorous debate on the tight ...
  
  Read more

• What to know about three bridge repair projects starting in Ottawa soon - Ottawa Citizen

  06-03-2019 22:03
  What to know about three bridge repair projects starting in Ottawa soon  Ottawa CitizenThree of the five bridges across the Ottawa River are due for repair jobs of varying sizes, and the lane closures will begin in April.One bridge, the Chaudière, will ...
  
  Read more

• Ottawa offers up name suggestions for new icebreakers - CBC.ca

  06-03-2019 21:47
  Ottawa offers up name suggestions for new icebreakers  CBC.caOn Wednesday, Coun. Jeff Leiper reached out to the Twitterverse for name suggestions for the city's new sidewalk machines. Ottawa did not disappoint.
  
  Read more

• Ottawa city council approves funding for stage 2 of LRT - Global News

  06-03-2019 21:29
  Ottawa city council approves funding for stage 2 of LRT  Global NewsThe city will prepare to spend $4.66 billion on the next step of the new LRT system as council voted to pass the budget at their meeting on Wednesday.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• OC Transpo crash victim who watched seatmate die sues for $6.3 million

  06-03-2019 20:27 via ottawacitizen.com
  A civil servant who suffered grievous injuries to her right leg in the OC Transpo bus crash at Westboro Station — and watched her seatmate die — has filed a $6.3-million lawsuit against the city.
  Lynn Ellis, an administrative support assistant at Transport Canada, sat towards the front of OC Transpo Bus 8155 on the afternoon of Jan. 11.
  Her “bus friend,” Anja Van Beek, 65, a Treasury Board employee, was beside her, according to Ellis’ lawyer, Derek Nicholson.
  Van Be
  
  Read more

• Ottawa house prices jump 8.6 per cent amid listings shortage

  06-03-2019 19:38 via ottawacitizen.com
  The surprise is that Ottawa house and condo resale prices aren’t moving up faster. February data published this week by the Ottawa Real Estate Board showed just 2,413 residential listings at the end of February — down 20 per cent from a year earlier, and a remarkable 37 per cent below that tally from Feb. 28, 2017.
  For condos, the collapse in the number of listings was even more extreme — these were off 31 per cent compared to Feb. 28, 2018 and down nearly 50 per cent over the
  
  Read more

• Ottawa house prices jump 8.6 per cent amid listings shortage - Ottawa Citizen

  06-03-2019 19:26
  Ottawa house prices jump 8.6 per cent amid listings shortage  Ottawa CitizenFebruary data published this week by the Ottawa Real Estate Board showed just 2413 residential listings at the end of February — down 20 per cent from a year ...
  
  Read more

• Leslie Park PS, closed for declining enrolment, finds new life as a French public school

  06-03-2019 19:19 via ottawacitizen.com
  Leslie Park Public School, which was closed by the English public board because of declining enrolment, will reopen as a French-language school.
  The Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario plans to rent the building at 20 Harrison St. in the west end of Ottawa. A school for 290 students will open next fall, said board chair Lucille Collard.
  Enrolment may be declining in English-language schools in the west-end neighbourhood, but there’s demand for French educa
  
  Read more

• Police seek suspect after assault at a restaurant in Barrhaven

  06-03-2019 19:10 via ottawacitizen.com
  Ottawa police are seeking the public’s assistance to identify a man who is believed to have been involved in an assault at  a Barrhaven restaurant early in on Feb. 10.
  According to police, a man walked into a restaurant located near the intersection of Strandherd Drive and Greenbank Road around 12:15 a.m. and waited in the lobby.
  Police said the man waited until a food order was ready to be served. He then grabbed the food and tried to leave.
  An employee of the restaurant confronted t
  
  Read more

• Glavin: SNC-Lavalin affair a sordid tale yet democracy hasn't crumbled

  06-03-2019 19:01 via ottawacitizen.com
  The flag is still flying on government buildings. There are no troops in the streets. The CBC is still broadcasting and the House of Commons committees are still functioning. Mail is still being delivered, and all those other little things Canadians take for granted are still being attended to. They carry on in their delightfully banal ways despite an Ipsos Reid poll’s troubling finding that two-thirds of Canadians say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has lost the moral authority to
  
  Read more

• Young: Fix the discrimination in the Indian Act now

  06-03-2019 18:26 via ottawacitizen.com
  The burnish is off Justin Trudeau’s sunny ways, professions of feminism and commitment to a new day for Indigenous peoples. But if Trudeau cares to restore some of his integrity around these issues, there is one clear route forward. Taking this path is long overdue, has been urged by Canadian courts, and, now, by a United Nations committee of human rights experts. Canada must fix the 150-year-old status registration discrimination against Indigenous women enshrined in the federal Indian Ac
  
  Read more

• Lafontaine: Philpott understood that truth comes before reconciliation

  06-03-2019 17:51 via ottawacitizen.com
  I first met Jane Philpott on a cold winter morning in 2015, not long after she was sworn in to her first cabinet post as minister of health. I was working with three Saskatchewan First Nations to address the opioid crisis, and it was their hope that I could communicate the reality on the ground to the newly minted minister. Sitting around the table were Philpott, her political staff and senior bureaucrats.
  Knowing her background as a physician, I framed our issues around a lack of quality improv
  
  Read more

• Cops seek suspect after assault at Barrhaven restaurant - Ottawa Sun

  06-03-2019 17:38
  Cops seek suspect after assault at Barrhaven restaurant  Ottawa SunOttawa police are seeking the public's assistance to identify a man who is believed to have been involved in an assault at a Barrhaven restaurant early in on Feb ...
  
  Read more

• Dining Out: Chilaquiles offers homey, budget-friendly Mexican fare in Vanier

  06-03-2019 17:14 via ottawacitizen.com
  Chilaquiles381 Montreal Rd., 613-699-7100, chilaquiles-restaurant.business.siteOpen: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed SundayPrices: main courses up to $14.50Access: steps to front door
  Here’s my only regret about putting February behind me: It’s no longer mole month at Chilaquiles.
  That’s mole, as in the rich and sometimes heavenly Mexican sauce. It was a special offered on the blackboard last month at the eight-month-old Montr
  
  Read more

• House Works: Canadian winters are high season for mould, a health hazard

  06-03-2019 16:46 via ottawacitizen.com
  Canadian winters present plenty of challenges, and one of the most widespread is indoor mould growth.
  Unlike warmer parts of the world where mould grows mostly during humid, summertime weather, Canadian winters are the primary mould season for us here. And since windows are closed and we spend lots of time indoors, household mould can also bring significant indoor air quality issues, too.
  Understanding the causes of winter mould growth and the solutions is something that can make a big differenc
  
  Read more

• WATCH: These are the 10 tallest structures on earth - Ottawa Citizen

  06-03-2019 16:28
  WATCH: These are the 10 tallest structures on earth  Ottawa CitizenThe CN Tower is likely Toronto's most famous landmark.It's not like it's hard to miss. It's the city's tallest structure, and it's the tallest freestanding structure in the ...
  
  Read more

• Ontario doctors' contract to increase health spending by $1.5 billion: watchdog - Ottawa Citizen

  06-03-2019 15:38
  Ontario doctors' contract to increase health spending by $1.5 billion: watchdog  Ottawa CitizenTORONTO — Ontario's budget watchdog estimates that a new contract with the province's doctors will increase health spending by $1.5 billion over four years.
  
  Read more

• Ottawa’s latest rules risk ruining cannabis-infused beverages before they’re even legal - Financial Post

  06-03-2019 15:28
  Ottawa’s latest rules risk ruining cannabis-infused beverages before they’re even legal  Financial PostDried cannabis and oils are currently legal in Canada and edible cannabis, which includes beverages, are scheduled to become legal for sale by October 2019.
  
  Read more

• Commuting by wheelchair in Ottawa - CBC.ca

  06-03-2019 14:45
  Commuting by wheelchair in Ottawa  CBC.caAnaLori Smith says contending with snow and the cumbersome ParaTranspo system makes the commute that much more difficult for young professionals living ...
  
  Read more

• Traffic: No major snags on the roads, closure alerts Wednesday

  06-03-2019 14:35 via ottawacitizen.com
  Traffic police report a surprisingly calm commute in the early going, although that could change in a second.
  One minor collision near Innes and Anderson in the east end was cleared up very quickly, while a stalled car on northbound Bronson Avenue was taken care of before it could cause any major difficulties.
  Southbound Bank Street was closed near McLaren Street at about 8:30 a.m. as Ottawa firefighters had to contain a fire in a dumpster behind a building on Gilmour Street.
  OPP warned drivers
  
  Read more

• Ottawa should create a new national drug agency: pharmacare council - CBC News

  06-03-2019 14:15
  Ottawa should create a new national drug agency: pharmacare council  CBC NewsCanada should create a new arm's-length drug agency to oversee national pharmacare and create a list of approved, covered drugs, says a new report from the ...
  
  Read more

• Pellerin: A plan to make suburban Ottawa about more than long commutes

  06-03-2019 13:54 via ottawacitizen.com
  Maybe you didn’t notice the news. Unless you live in Nepean or work in the business, you probably don’t care all that much that the City of Ottawa last week gave the go-ahead for a new filmmaking complex and creative centre to be built in a big old field across from the Nepean Sportsplex.
  I live nearby (my jogging path runs by it), and for a while there I was very active in indie film production. But that’s not why I’m excited.
  I like this development very much because it
  
  Read more

• Today's letters: Wilson-Raybould affair should give us hope

  06-03-2019 13:51 via ottawacitizen.com
  A sense of pride, not disgust
  The Jody Wilson-Raybould saga has had the interesting and ironic effect of renewing my faith and rekindling my passion as a Canadian citizen.
  The scandal has revealed Ottawa’s seamy underside, the sordid behind-the-scenes machinations. But it has also demonstrated the potential for principle and policy to prevail over personality and politics. That should be our takeaway – a sense of pride, not a feeling of disgust.
  Wilson-Raybould’s firm and unwav
  
  Read more

• Health Canada looking into Canopy Growth's sponsorship of charity event - Ottawa Business Journal

  06-03-2019 13:46
  Health Canada looking into Canopy Growth's sponsorship of charity event  Ottawa Business JournalHealth Canada is looking into whether two cannabis companies' sponsorship of a children's charity event last October is in violation of promotion restrictions ...
  
  Read more

• Traffic: No major snags on the roads, road work alerts Wednesday afternoon

  06-03-2019 13:30 via ottawacitizen.com
  Traffic police report a surprisingly calm commute in the early going, although that could change in a second.
  One minor collision near Innes and Anderson in the east end was cleared up very quickly, while a stalled car on northbound Bronson Avenue was taken care of before it could cause any major difficulties.
  On the Quebec side, a stalled car was causing difficulties on westbound Autoroute 50  near Pont des Draveurs/Exit 138.
  OC Transpo was reporting generally on time service.
  And here&rsq
  
  Read more

• Cold front stays an extra day (wind chill of -30 tonight!) but weekend's looking pleasant

  06-03-2019 13:27 via ottawacitizen.com
  Hope you like crisp weather.
  A cold front that was meant to have left the region already is hanging around for another day or so.
  Wednesday expect a mix of sun and cloud and highs around -8 C, with moderate winds making for a wind chill of around -29 in the morning and -12 Wednesday afternoon.
  A few more clouds are expected this evening, with a low of -22 C, which could feel like -30 if you’re out and about.
  Thursday’s looking like another chilly one, with a high of -8 C, and a morni
  
  Read more

• Bagnall: Anti-corruption laws and the LRT: an awkward balance

  06-03-2019 13:17 via ottawacitizen.com
  On the face of it, this doesn’t look good.
  We’re not talking about the 35-per-cent jump in estimated costs for completing the first two phases of Ottawa’s (now) $4.7-billion light rail transit project, though that’s bad enough.
  What some are just as quick to question is the composition of the team responsible for building out the Trillium line and supplying the 72 passenger vehicles. Here, we’re talking about SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal engineering giant, and Alstom,
  
  Read more

• Pellerin: A plan to make life in Ottawa's suburbs about more than dreary commutes - Ottawa Citizen

  06-03-2019 13:00
  Pellerin: A plan to make life in Ottawa's suburbs about more than dreary commutes  Ottawa CitizenThe Gréber report was awfully swell in the last century, but it's no longer adequate to guide the growth of a modern, high-tech city.
  
  Read more

• NAC Orchestra's biggest ever creative project inspired by lives of four Canadian women

  06-03-2019 13:00 via ottawacitizen.com
  Life Reflected
  NAC Orchestra
  7 p.m. Friday, Southam Hall, National Arts Centre
  Tickets: $35 and up, available at nac-cna.ca and ticketmaster.ca
  Life Reflected, the biggest creative project ever undertaken by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, didn’t start out as a feminist manifesto, according to musical director Alexander Shelley.“Back when we created it, our question was how to commission music and narratives that tell a story about Canada that is interesting and deep and meaningf
  
  Read more

• 'It felt like torture': Accused killer Lennese Kublu describes the police interview that led to charges in her mother's death

  06-03-2019 12:55 via ottawacitizen.com
  Exhausted and crying, Lennese Kublu, 18, kept telling the Ottawa detective she didn’t want to talk or answer questions about the Jan. 10 killing of her mother in the townhouse they shared on Penny Drive.
  She did so 60 times during a police interview, according to sources close to the investigation. She asked to leave, but they wouldn’t let her. Nor would they let her speak with a lawyer.
  The detective questioned the Inuk teen for nine and a half hours on Jan. 25 at police headquarter
  
  Read more

• Scheer makes election promise to remove GST from home-heating bills - Ottawa Citizen

  06-03-2019 11:03
  Scheer makes election promise to remove GST from home-heating bills  Ottawa CitizenOTTAWA — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is promising to remove federal sales tax from Canadians' home-heating bills as part of an early election ...
  
  Read more

• MP presses Ottawa to halt move of Winnipeg artifact collection - Winnipeg Free Press

  06-03-2019 10:00
  MP presses Ottawa to halt move of Winnipeg artifact collection  Winnipeg Free PressOTTAWA — Winnipeg MP MaryAnn Mihychuk believes she'll convince her government to renege on plans to move local artifacts to an Ottawa suburb — but ...
  
  Read more

• Budget, LRT Phase 2 on Council Agenda - CTV News

  06-03-2019 09:36
  Budget, LRT Phase 2 on Council Agenda  CTV NewsOttawa Councillors are scheduled to vote today on more than $8 billion in spending plans today, including the contract for phase 2 of Light Rail Transit.
  
  Read more

• Senators rally in the third period for a point, lose their first shootout of the season - Ottawa Sun

  06-03-2019 05:07
  Senators rally in the third period for a point, lose their first shootout of the season  Ottawa SunRemarkably, it was the first shootout of the season for the Senators.
  
  Read more

• Public school parents fear schools won't be ready for children with autism

  06-03-2019 03:45 via ottawacitizen.com
  Children with autism won’t be ready for schools, and schools won’t be ready for them, parents told the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustees on Tuesday night.
  A small delegation of parents attended a meeting of the board’s committee of the whole concerned about whether their children will have the necessary supports once changes kick in to the way autism therapy is funded on April 1.
  The controversial changes mean that many parents anticipate that their children curren
  
  Read more

• Bekah D'Aoust reveals herself as victim in high-profile sexsomnia case

  06-03-2019 03:45 via ottawacitizen.com
  A Carleton Place woman has become the latest sexual assault survivor to discard the protection afforded her by the courts in order to speak her truth in public and to put a face on the all-too-common crime.
  Bekah D’Aoust, 31, said she wants to help other abused women face the legal system and exercise their rights as victims.
  “I can’t tell you how many friends, how many people I’ve met, who have told me they’re victims, too,” said D’Aoust in an interview
  
  Read more

• Public school parents fear schools won't be ready for children with autism - Ottawa Citizen

  06-03-2019 03:43
  Public school parents fear schools won't be ready for children with autism  Ottawa CitizenChildren with autism won't be ready for schools, and schools won't be ready for them, parents told the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustees on ...
  
  Read more

• Montsion trial judge issues caution after courtroom 'security risk' from public gallery

  06-03-2019 03:33 via ottawacitizen.com
  The judge in Const. Daniel Montsion’s manslaughter and assault trial has unsealed two versions of controversial CCTV video, while at the same time issuing a stern warning over a “security issue” after a member of the public gallery confronted the accused inside the courtroom Tuesday.
  A day after the first two versions of surveillance video showing the July 24, 2016 fatal arrest of Abdirahman Abdi were screened in court, the judge said a member of the public crossed over from th
  
  Read more

• SNC-Lavalin CEO urged Ottawa to change anti-corruption rules - CBC.ca

  06-03-2019 02:01
  SNC-Lavalin CEO urged Ottawa to change anti-corruption rules  CBC.caThe head of SNC-Lavalin told the Canadian government it had to change its anti-corruption rules "as expeditiously as possible" in a 2017 letter to the minister in ...
  
  Read more

• Key video released in Ottawa police officer's manslaughter trial - CBC.ca

  06-03-2019 01:55
  Key video released in Ottawa police officer's manslaughter trial  CBC.caA crucial video in the manslaughter trial of Const. Daniel Montsion has been released to the public, though it has not been accepted as evidence and most of it ...
  
  Read more

Follow @OttawaCA_News on Twitter!