Thursday December 9, 2021

What Ottawa is Talking About – 9 December 2021

▪️Ottawa Council has passed its 2022 budget, with some controversies. The police will receive an additional $11.5 million over last year, transit riders will pay a 2.5 per cent  increase on fares, and property taxes increase 3 per cent. The transit fare increase, however, will only come into effect after 15 trains have returned to service on the Confederation Line. (Today it's 11) [CBC]

▪️A teacher has been removed from a Chelsea classroom for wearing a hijab. The Western Quebec School Board removed the grade three teacher due to Quebec’s Bill 21, which bars the wearing of religious symbols by government employees deemed to be in positions of authority. The teacher remains employed in other duties. [CTV]

▪️Uh oh, Ottawa developer has bought the building housing the Manx Pub. SerCo has already announced the redevelopment of two other properties in downtown Ottawa, one is replacing a strip mall with a 16 storey rental building on Bank Street and the other is tearing down an office building on Waverley Street for a six storey apartment complex. SerCo bought the Elgin Street building housing the Manx this Autumn.  [Ottawa Business Journal]

▪️Kiddytown is closing after 76 years. The daughters of the founders have been running Kiddytown's two locations and, the business has been open so long, it's them who want to retire. For parents looking for deals, the stores are having a close-out sale. [CTV] [Kiddytown]

▪️Ottawa Kitten Rescue has a bunch of kittens to adopt – and you've already clicked away.

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