Ottawa

> Tamara Lich, Chris Barber accused of orchestrating 2022 demonstration that took over downtown Ottawa It started more than a year ago, took nearly 50 days in a courtroom and may not be decided until next year, but the trial of two leaders of the 2022 "Freedom Convoy" protest in Ottawa finally ended Friday.

> Tamara Lich and Chris Barber pleaded not guilty to mischief, intimidation, obstruction and other charges.

> Crown prosecutors called 16 witnesses and presented hours of video evidence and numerous social media posts in an effort to prove their case.

I seriously hope these two racist assholes get what they deserve, but with Lawrence Greenspon as their lawyer, who knows.

> The "Roaring Lion" has been found.

> A 1941 portrait of British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill by famed Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh, which was reported stolen from the lobby of Ottawa's Fairmont Château Laurier hotel in August 2022, has been located in Italy, sources tell CBC News.

> Ottawa police investigators, who tracked the photo down, say it is set to be returned to the hotel

>Ottawa's photo radar cameras have issued a record number of speeding tickets to drivers this year, as the city of Ottawa continues to expand the automated speed enforcement program in community safety zones, school zones and "high speed locations."

>New data shows the 40 photo radar cameras have issued 229,105 tickets in the first seven months of 2024. The automated speed enforcement camera program resulted in 220,789 speeding tickets in 2023, 127,939 tickets in 2022 and 80,944 tickets in 2021.

>Twelve new cameras have been activated so far in 2024, and work is underway to install 20 new photo radar cameras(opens in a new tab) across the city by the end of the year. Staff have estimated the city will issue one million tickets a year through the photo radar and red light camera programs.

>The busiest photo radar camera is on King Edward Avenue, the busy road for motorists travelling between Ottawa and Gatineau over the Ottawa River. The camera issued 36,210 tickets in the February to July period.

The 10 busiest photo radar cameras in Ottawa in July

• King Edward Avenue southbound, between Bolton Street and St. Patrick Street: 7,096 tickets
• Walkley Road, between Halifax Drive and Harding Road: 2,873 tickets
• Bronson Avenue, between Raven Road and Sunnyside Avenue: 2,220 tickets
• St. Laurent Boulevard, between Noranda Avenue and Clarke Avenue: 1,838 tickets
• Cedarview Road, between Fallowfield Road and Jockvale Road: 1,772 tickets
• Katimavik Road, between Castlefrank Road and McGibbon Drive: 1,602 tickets
• First Avenue, between Chrysler Street and Percy Street: 1,504 tickets
• Hunt Club Road, between Pike Street and Lorry Greenberg Drive: 1,495 tickets
• Bayshore Drive, near Woodridge Crescent: 1,474 tickets
• Fisher Avenue, between Kintyre Private and Deer Park Road: 1,323 tickets

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> On Saturday at about 11 a.m., Ottawa police were called to the area of Wellington Street West and Holland Avenue following reports of suspicious activity involving a pickup truck. The vehicle was later located, abandoned, in an alley beside Reid Park, near Sherwood Drive, in the Civic Hospital neighbourhood. > > > Inside the truck’s cab, police found three calves and a dog. > >Police initially suspected the calves must have been taken from the nearby Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, but they later confirmed the animals did not originate there. > >It’s not yet known where the calves came from, why they were in the truck or what happened to the person who abandoned them. The Ottawa police refused to provide more information, saying its official investigation is ongoing.

Slow news day in Ottawa.

Visitors can mine for pieces of history on NCC land on a prime spot on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River.

On select dates throughout August, the NCC is opening the doors for the curious to get their hands dirty to check it all out for free.

“This is one of 14 Indigenous archaeological sites within Lac Leamy Park,” said Maika. “This is one of the ones under the most threat from climate change, active erosion and changing water levels on the Ottawa River, so we’re trying to learn as much as possible about this site before it’s completely gone into the river.”

Last August, Maika says about 1,000 people showed up for the 20 days the site was open. During last week’s heat wave, the daily count was around 20, slightly higher on the weekend. Crowds are largest around the noon hour.

>Orléans East-Cumberland Coun. Matt Luloff was charged with impaired driving earlier in July. How will the legal process unfold and what does it mean for Luloff’s future as a city councillor?

>Luloff, a second-term councillor, also serves as Ottawa Public Library Board chair and was the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for Orléans riding in the next federal election until he stepped down from that candidacy on July 10, citing personal reasons.

>According to the charges filed in court, Luloff, 40, was arrested and charged on Saturday, July 6.

>He was charged with two counts related to impaired driving, the filing shows. The first charge alleges Luloff was operating a motor vehicle while impaired. The second charge alleges that Luloff, “within two hours after ceasing to operate a (vehicle) had a blood-alcohol concentration that was equal to or exceeded 80 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood.”

>The allegations have not been tested in court.

>Luloff’s defence lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, signed an “enhanced designation of counsel” on July 9. That means a defence lawyer can appear in court on Luloff’s behalf.

>Ottawa’s wastewater surveillance program will continue after the Ontario government ends funding on July 31, a memo from Board of Health chair Catherine Kitts says.

>In a memo sent to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and council members Wednesday, Kitts said the surveillance initiative, operated and managed under Robert Delatolla’s team at the University of Ottawa, will remain as it is while discussions about longer-term solutions continue.

>The province announced earlier this year that it would stop funding for the highly regarded program as of the end of July — at a savings of around $15 million.

>Provincial officials said then that the federal government was expanding its own wastewater surveillance initiative and they wanted to avoid overlap. The federal government currently has four wastewater surveillance sites in the Toronto area and has said it wants to add four or five more. Ontario’s program, one of the world’s most extensive, gathers information at more than 50 locations.

>In the memo, Kitts said the city “has been assured that, although provincial funding sunsets on July 31, the University of Ottawa has secured funding to continue this program as-is for the coming months.”

>Meanwhile, she said, Ottawa Public Health Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches had sent letters to federal and provincial public health officials “seeking to collaborate to ensure the uninterrupted continuation of high-quality wastewater surveillance in Ottawa.”

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Ontario Provincial Police in Ottawa caught a novice driver reaching speeds of 160 km/h on Highway 417 on Sunday morning.

An OPP spokesperson said officers stopped the G2 driver shortly before 9:30 a.m. near the Kanata Avenue exit.

The speed limit in the area is 100 km/h.

"This speed is never okay, but even more dangerous when you're an inexperienced driver," OPP said on social media site X.

The driver was charged with stunt driving and received an automatic 30-day driver's licence suspension and a 14-day vehicle impound.

If convicted, they will face a minimum $2,000 fine, six demerit points and a one year driving suspension.

I guess it's getting closer?

Temporary tent-like structures to house hundreds of asylum seekers in Ottawa could appear in Alta Vista or Barrhaven by the end of next summer, city councillors for those wards say.

The city plans on building two "Sprung Structures" — the trademark name of one company that could potentially provide the shelters — each with capacity for 150 asylum seekers. They would be part of what the city has referred to as a "welcome and stabilizing centre" for asylum seekers upon their arrival in Canada.

The city has submitted a $105-million funding request to the federal government to pay for the facility and its operation. That amount includes a request of $32.6 million to cover capital costs.

City staff began looking at 93 potential sites, narrowing that list down to 10 and eventually three. They considered a range of criteria including easy access to public transit.

I'm looking for a meditation class that I can attend on a weekly (once or twice) basis. I found a lot of classes around that have a religious or philosophical flavor or ones that include yoga with meditation. I suffer from chronic pain and alexithymia and I feel like guided mindfulness meditation (Like the ones available through the Headspace app) to be very helpful. Anyone knows if there are any classes like that in the area?

Hey Ottawa! Bit of a long shot, but does anyone here know of a Pathfinder Society playgroup in town? I'd love to find one to join. Thanks!

Ottawa city councillor Clarke Kelly says he is not apologizing after a Kinburn daycare owner alleged he screamed and swore in front of children during a dispute that saw police called to the scene on Wednesday afternoon.

"This morning, councillor Kelly took it upon himself to enter chambers where a small summer camp group was doing crafts and started yelling profanities at staff, threatening that camps has to go and using vulgar language and names towards staff and children," the email said.

"He then proceeded to confront another staff outdoors to have toddlers (who were walking past a window outside) to have them remove their hands and get out of the area, in an aggressive manner trying to cause an escalated confrontation."

"I did use some profanity with the owner. I will admit that wasn't my finest moment as councillor and that I should have collected myself before going out there to have that conversation, but I don't think that gives her the right to lie and tell people things that I did not do."

"Which is absolutely mystifying to me. How could a couple of F-Bombs scare an adult so much that they called the police? And she did that," Kelly said, referring the Bolton.

"Just been incredible that someone would call the police for me on that."

"[…] I'm not sorry for showing my frustrations over what has been happening around here. The daycare operations are getting in the way of my ability to serve my constituents."

Kelly says the dispute was the culmination of almost two years of issues between the daycare and Kelly's constituency office.

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Hi I am looking for this fruit. Any idea which shop I can find Bilimbis?

A member of the Skyhawks, Canada’s military parachuting team, crashed into a cement pillar on landing. They’re facing serious, but non-life threatening injuries.

You know it's bad when even Ford is tired of you.

Several of Ottawa's school boards are getting significant investments to build new schools in the city's suburbs.

By far the largest pot of money announced last week by the Ontario government will go to the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB), which is receiving more than $117 million to be divided among four school-related projects.

On the French side, the province is investing more than $40 million with the* Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est *(CECCE) so they can build a new secondary school in Riverside South.

Meanwhile, the Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario (CEPEO), the French-language public school board, will see nearly $15 million for a new Leitrim-area elementary school near Kelly Farm and Barrett Farm drives.

It's also getting more than $52 million for secondary schools in Orléans and Clarence-Rockland, Ont.

No announcement was made Friday regarding funding for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, the largest board in the city.

>Ottawa's vacant unit tax (VUT) is raking in millions more than expected, leaving some residents and one city councillor wondering whether it's a fix for the housing crisis or simply a cash grab.

>The tax charges one per cent of the assessed value of homes left unoccupied for six months or more within one year. It's meant to push property owners to either put those units up for sale or rent them to address the city's housing shortage.

>When council approved the tax two years ago, it was expected to bring in about $6.6 million per year. But city staff now say last year's revenue haul came to $11.5 million.

>Orléans East-Cumberland Coun. Matt Luloff, a longstanding critic of the tax, asked staff for that information through a formal inquiry. He didn't like what he heard.

>"I don't think that this program is truly doing what it was meant to do, which is to free up rental units — not to become a new income source for the City of Ottawa," said Luloff.

>Luloff said he hasn't seen a clear measure of whether the tax is actually getting vacant homes back on the market. He also asked staff for more detailed information about how the revenue is being spent.

>Staff responded that all of the money goes to fund affordable housing initiatives, minus about $2.3 million spent to administer the program, though they promised to get Luloff additional details.

Spotted by the Rideau River near Brantwood Park, a known turtle nesting area..Please give them space and respect the turtles! 🐢♥️

>Premier Doug Ford's government is scrapping Ontario's program for sampling wastewater to monitor the level of COVID-19 in the population.

>The program measures how much of the virus that causes COVID-19 is circulating around the province and is run by a dozen universities and research sites, through funding from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

>In a statement, a provincial official said the move will "avoid duplication" with a federal program.

>"The federal government conducts wastewater surveillance across Canada and is moving to expand its sampling to additional sites in Ontario," said Environment Ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler in an email to CBC News.

>"Ontario is working to support this expansion while winding down the provincial wastewater surveillance initiative," he said.

>Public health officials are criticizing the move as short-sighted.

>At a time when tick populations are increasing, the Ottawa area is becoming a hotspot for one of the lesser-known illnesses spread by black-legged ticks.

>Anaplasmosis can cause fever, headache, muscle aches, chills and severe respiratory illness, among other symptoms. If not treated, it can be life-threatening, especially in people with compromised immune systems. It is less common than Lyme disease, also spread by black-legged ticks. Both are treated with antibiotics.

>Those are two of the potentially severe illnesses spread by ticks that are now being closely monitored by public health officials in Ontario as disease-carrying ticks spread through the province. They also include babesiosis, a bacterial infection, and Powassan virus, a rare disease that causes encephalitis and severe illness.

>The increased scrutiny comes as health officials are warning that Canadians are at increased risk of tick-borne diseases because of climate change. This week an Ottawa woman succumbed to complications from Powassan virus she has struggled with since she was infected by a tick near her home in Alta Vista in 2021.

>Ottawa Public Health spokesperson Emily Morrison says people should take precautions to avoid being bitten by ticks. There are many health benefits from being active and outdoors during warm weather, said Morrison, who is program manager of environmental health at Ottawa Public Health, “however, if you will be in outdoor areas suitable for black-legged ticks, it is important to be aware of the risks of ticks and tick-related diseases, and how to protect oneself.” Tick habitats include wooded areas and areas with tall grasses.

>A "frustrating" refusal by the province has not weakened the city's resolve to launch a taxis-as-ambulances pilot project, Ottawa's paramedic chief told reporters on Wednesday, explaining that an opportunity may be hiding in what the ministry didn't say.

>The City of Ottawa proposed the pilot last autumn as a way to offset the hours paramedics are waiting at overcrowded emergency rooms. These delays lead to "code zero" events where no ambulance is available for calls.

>The trial would have allowed paramedics to send patients with non-serious injuries to hospital in a taxi instead.

>"That kind of creative solution is exactly what we need," said Mayor Mark Sutcliffe. "So, I was a little bit surprised by the fact that the province wasn't in agreement."

The suit seeks roughly $4.5 billion in total damages from Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc. and ByteDance Ltd., which operate the platforms Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok respectively.

"The mix of public and Catholic school boards, and private schools in both urban and rural regions of Ontario demonstrate this is a universal issue that affects those from diverse cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds," the news release said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford publicly criticized the suit after it was filed, calling it "nonsense" and questioning the legal fees the boards could end up paying in a protracted court battle against some of the richest companies in the world.

Neinstein LLP, the Toronto-based firm representing the school boards and private schools, said in March they will not be responsible for any costs related to the suit unless a successful outcome is reached.

People in Gatineau like to brag about how good it is over there, but use all of Ottawa's services. You can't suck and blow at the same time.

Looks like more flights out of Ottawa!

Ottawa residents have four months to adjust their garbage disposal habits before a new three-garbage item limit is imposed on curbside waste this fall.

The City of Ottawa will implement the new three-item limit on Sept. 30, as part of a plan to reduce the amount of waste heading to the landfill and extend the life of the Trail Road Landfill.

"If changes aren’t made to waste disposal habits, the Trail Waste Facility Landfill could reach capacity between 2034 and 2035," staff say, noting a new landfill or waste-to-energy facility could cost between $350 and $500 million.

The city says a garbage item could be a garbage bag, a 140-litre container or a bulky item.

>Ottawa's light rail trains will continue to skip St-Laurent station on Tuesday, as engineers complete repairs on delaminated ceiling tiles above the platform.

>A memo to council sent Monday afternoon said trains will continue to run through the station, but will not stop.

>The station has been closed to commuters since Friday morning after routine inspection found "a few of the suspended ceiling tiles above the platform were disrupted," according to Richard Holder, director of engineering services at OC Transpo.

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>This is not the first time damage to the concrete has been found at the station. A freedom of information request obtained by CBC earlier this year showed inspectors found "severe" and in some cases, "very severe" damage to the concrete tiles in 2020.

>CBC reported the city did not patch up some problem areas for years after the issues were observed in 2020.

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> "The evidence establishes that the City knew that its failure to properly enforce the 2012 Bylaw would likely cause harm to the taxi industry. > > "A multinational giant was invading Ottawa, and because of the City's unpreparedness and its lack of efforts to develop a plan to enforce the 2012 Bylaw, the City's enforcement efforts against Uber drivers were ineffective."

>Northern lights are expected to illuminate Ottawa's sky Friday evening as a powerful geomagnetic storm ushers in the weekend.

>On Thursday, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a geomagnetic storm alert in anticipation of this rare event.

>Geomagnetic storms are classed by severity from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme). The upcoming storm is classified as a "severe" G4, according to the SWPC. It's the first G4-level alert declared by the agency since January 2005.

>Robyn Fiori, a scientist with Natural Resources Canada, said the storm actually arrived in Ottawa around 1:30 p.m. Friday.

>"I definitely think there's a chance that we'll still see some Aurora tonight, and it's also possible that activity will reduce during parts of the day and then maybe start up again [Saturday] night," Fiori said.

>The sky over Ottawa is expected to start clearing around 7 p.m. and clear completely by 11 p.m., according to Environment Canada.

>Fiori advises Ottawa residents interested in viewing the northern lights to get out of the city and find an area of clear sky with minimal light pollution.

>"The Aurora is something you can actually see from quite far away. In some cases, you can see it when it's up to 3,000 kilometres away from you, so your exact location isn't quite as important as the sky just being clear and the light pollution being reduced," Fiori said.

>Fiori said geomagnetic storms typically last from one to six hours, but based on observations, this particular storm is predicted to last longer.

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>As the City of Ottawa looks to take over responsibility for parking ticket disputes next year, one councillor wants to look at a sliding scale of penalties that would give low-income drivers a break.

>Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard is asking city staff to examine options, like gearing fines to the driver's income or the value of their vehicle.

>"The person that drives the Ferrari and parks at Lansdowne, they may be much more able to afford a parking ticket or may even take that on just knowing they might get a parking ticket there, than someone who's going to a protest for basic income," he said.

>"We've had people in our office very upset and crying about going to a basic income protest and getting a ticket there. Their ability to pay was much less than that person in the Ferrari."

>He made the proposal just after council's finance and corporate services committee voted in favour of a new penalty system that would take parking ticket challenges out of the courts.

>City staff said the current system is "jammed up," and replacing justices of the peace with council-appointed adjudicators will mean faster disputes for residents. Menard also saw it as a chance to experiment.

>He said the sliding-scale model is already used for speeding infractions in Finland. While basing fines on income could require co-operation with federal bodies, like the Canada Revenue Agency, Menard thinks there might be alternatives.

>"There's other proxies, the blue book values of vehicles for example, that could be looked into," he said. "That's why we're asking staff to explore the options."

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>A bit of Sunday rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of thousands of walkers and bikers who turned out for the CN Cycle for CHEO, raising a record-breaking $2.175 million for childhood cancer research and care.

>“We didn’t just break the record, we smashed it,” Steven Read, president and CEO of the CHEO Foundation, said in an interview.

>Now in its 17th year, the CN Cycle for CHEO features 15 km, 35 km or 70 km cycling routes, along with two km and five km walking routes for people of all ages.

>Tamy Bell was the top individual fundraiser, raising more than $61,000. She’s the mother of Griffin Bell, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2018 at just 16 months old. He died in March, at the age of six, after a lengthy battle with the aggressive childhood cancer.

>Bell was also part of Griff’s Gang, a 613-person team that raised a record-smashing $323,469.

>“Last year, he was with us,” Bell said, her voice cracking with emotion as she addressed the large crowd, who stuck around for the speeches despite the rain that returned after a short pause during the event.

>“He ran the whole five K.”

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I now have warm coffee. 😀