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HELLO OTTAWA

🎂 This edition of the ottawan marks the fourth birthday of our daily encapsulations of everything that is going on in Ottawa.  

When we started this newsletter on April 1, 2020 we couldn't know much we were going to learn about Ottawa and Gatineau, about COVID waste water, about the shape of O Train wheels, and about you, our loyal readers. Thank you for coming along for the ride so far. 

Here’s to the next four years.

– Martha and Darren

TODAY’S LINE UP

•  Ottawa Stats
•  City Hall Agenda
•  What Ottawa is Talking About
•  Events
•  Deals of the Day

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OTTAWA STATS

Ottawan of the Day

• Tamara Pastukh
• – Pastukh has led the creation of L'Ukrainka, a new library for Ukrainian-language literature. Patrons who would like to read The Lord of the Rings or Steve Jobs’s biography in Ukrainian can reserve their books online and pick them up at the Lesia Ukrainka School on Melrose. (CBC) (The Library)

Quote

• “

• We value the history that happened here,
  and we value the people, past and present, who continue to preserve and interpret it

• – Jordan Vetter, Marketing and Communications Manager of the Diefenbunker, which won Heritage Visitor Attraction of the Year (Eastern Division) at the 2024 Canadian Business Awards. (Canadian Business Awards) (The Diefenbunker)

Sports

• 🏒 NHL Ottawa Senators 3 – Winnipeg Jet 2 last Saturday

CITY HALL AGENDA

What’s going on at City Hall

Ottawa City Council
Wednesday, April 3 at 10 am

• 11.1 2023 KPMG Financial Statement Audit Plan
• 11.2 Office of the Auditor General (OAG) - Audit of Affordable Housing
• 11.3 Office of the Auditor General (OAG) - Semi-Annual Report on Follow-Up Procedures
• 11.4 Office of the Auditor General (OAG) – 2023 Report on the Fraud and Waste Hotline
• 11.5 Office of the Auditor General (OAG) – 2023 Annual Report
• 12.1 Designation of the Église évangélique baptiste d’Ottawa at 284 King Edward Avenue under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act
• 12.2 Bill 23: Implementation of Changes to the Ontario Heritage Act – Heritage Register Removal Report #2
• 12.3 Designation of 2 Peter Street under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act
• 13.1 Ottawa Paramedic Service Implementation of the Medical Priority Dispatch System
• 13.2 Motion – Councillor S. Plante - Problematic Properties Webpage
• 14.1 Urban Flood Information Report
• 15.1 Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan
• 15.2 Corporate Sponsorship and Advertising Policies
• 16.1 2024 Tax Policy and Other Revenue Matters
• 17.1 Planning and Housing Committee Report 24
• 18.1 Built Heritage Committee Report 12
• 18.5.1 Motion - Councillor W. Lo – Curbside Weeds

📋 Agenda

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

🐈 Pregnant Airport Cat

•  Our fortnight-long nightmare is over, as Athena the pregnant cat has been found. The missing moggie has escaped from her carrier at the Ottawa Airport after travelling from Winnipeg to a new shelter here in the capital. Furry Tales Cat Rescue says a worker found Athena in a restricted area near the fuel tanks. (Josh Pringle at CTV)

🏃 Mayor Mark Sutcliffe

•  Kitchissippi resident Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is joining a Team Ottawa trip to London UK, where he’ll also run the marathon. Ottawa Tourism, Invest Ottawa, and Run Ottawa will be promoting Ottawa as a place to do business. (Josh Pringle at CTV)

🚌 Société de transport de l'Outaouais

•  The transit authority in Gatineau is recommending a $90 per year charge on licence plates to fund its services. The board of the Société de transport de l'Outaouais has recommended the City of Gatineau levy the charge to raise an annual $15 million. The recommendation comes now as Québec has newly permitted municipalities to levy the tax. (CBC)

🌷 Tuliip Festival

•  Reduced government funding has meant financial struggles for the Canadian Tulip Festival. In 2022, the Festival had an annual budget of $800,000, it is now down to $550,000. Funding by the City has been cut in half to $50,000. (Arthur White-Crummey at CBC)

🚨 Ottawa Valley

•  The man who killed three women in a one day rampage across the Ottawa Valley has died in prison. Nathalie Warmerdam, Anastasia Kuzyk, and Carol Culleton were all murdered by Basil Borutski in 2015. Borutski was convicted in 2017. (Joanne Laucius in the Ottawa Citizen)

🤡 April Fools

•  CTV has a round-up of April Fools gags in Ottawa.
  
  👉 OC Tranpo joked about Bark and Ride, a daycare at stations where workers can safely leave their dogs to play. (Isn't it just like OC Transpo to not notice that their joke is actually a terrific idea.) 
  👉  The Canada Science and Technology Museum said it is bringing back the McDonad’s caboose for kid’s parties. (We’re not sure where the joke is here.)
  👉  The Bytown Museum announced that an anonymous donor – whose picture was pixelated – dropped off a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill by Yousuf Karsh. (Okay, this is funny. That portrait was stolen from the Château Laurier in 2022.)
  👉 The National Capital Commission announced that it would install four new versions of the rubber crow sculpture that caused controversy last summer. (Not sure why they want to insult the real life artist Gerald Beaulieu, who created the original, but that's the National Capital Commission for you.)
  👉 The Canadian Museum of Nature said hippos were invading its dioramas. (Okay.)
  👉 The Library and Archives Canada has made up some footage of Canada's first Rubik's Cube champion from 1924. (Fair.)
  👉 The Ottawa Public Library said that it was offering teddy bears for library card holders to borrow. (This was meant to be funny, but like the OC Transpo joke it's actually a cute idea.)
  👉 Beacon Hill-Cyrville ward councillor Tim Tierney says a new bylaw will eliminate all 27 pickleball courts and ban new ones unless they are 125.3 metres from private property. (Now, that is how you do an April Fool’s gag.)
  
  (Josh Pringle at CTV)
• 👉 The City of Ottawa announced that it has given the Key to the City to Lil' Sebastian, the miniature horse from the television comedy, Parks & Recreation. We can only dream that we will ever have such a celebrity visit Ottawa.

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MORE FROM THE OTTAWAN

• 🍺 Our Ottawa-Gatineau Craft Brewery Map

•  

• 🏆 The Best Of Ottawa Awards 2023

•  

• 🎧 Best Podcasts from Ottawa

EVENTS

Is there an event we should know about?
Please use our easy event submission form

Today

•  The Improv Embassy’s Longform course is eight weeks of fun training that culminates in a class show. Tonight and every Tuesday until May 21. $330.

•  Ottawa Chamberfest presents mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska with Charles Richard-Hamelin on piano.

•  It’s another edition of Humanist Ottawa’s Skeptics in the Pub. Meet at The Lieutenant’s Pump (361 Elgin St) for a friendly and open-minded chin-wag.

•  Drop in for a Kizomba dance class for $25. Bronson Centre room 103 (Mac Hall).

•  ByTowne Cinema: Perfect Days, Hey Viktor! Poor Things

•  Mayfair Theatre: American Fiction, Poor Things, They Live
  
  Gigs

•  Trivia Tuesday by Trivia Hall of Fame: Irene’s Pub Restaurant and Royal Oak Pubs at Bank & Gloucester, Orléans, Hunt Club at Uplands, Centrepointe

•  Trivia Night. Pour Boy

•  Týr, Trolfest, Aether Realm, The Dread Crew of Oddwood. Brass Monkey

•  Harry Potter Trivia Night. The Prescott

•  Life Drawing at Art House Café

•  Open Mic Night. Pour Boy

•  Open Mic Bight. LIVE on Elgin

Tomorrow

•  Doors Open for Music at Southminster United Church’s noon concert celebrates the Voice of The Cello.
   
•  ByTowne Cinema: Shayda, Perfect days, Poor Things
   
•  Mayfair Theatre: Poor Things, American Fiction, Stopmotion

  
  Gigs

•  Pinball Women Ottawa Monthly Tournament. House of TARG

•  Courage4. Montgomery Scotch Lounge

•  Trenchlung, Mesothelioma. Avant-Garde Bar

•  Trivia by Trivia Hall of Fame: O’Grady’s Outpost and Royal Oak Pubs at Bank & McLaren, Stittsville, Barrhaven

•  The Prime Rib Big Band. Irene’s Pub Restaurant

•  Danielle Allard, Melissa Lamm, Alanna Matty. LIVE on Elgin

•  Jazz Nite with Django Libre. Queen St. Fare

Thursday

•  The WordPlay Jamnasium is back, with an improv event for any level of experience.

•  The University of Ottawa Theatre Club presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream, until Sunday at the Arts Court Theatre (2 Daly Ave).

•  ByTowne Cinema: Poor Things, Interactive! Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Perfect Days

•  Mayfair Theatre: American Fiction, Ottawa Film Society screenings

  Gigs

•  Trivia by Trivia Hall of Fame: Southside Tap and Grill, Royal Oak Beechwood

•  They Grieve, Glacier, Vaste, One Hundred Moons. House of TARG

•  RedFox. Montgomery Scotch Lounge

•  Bollux, Top Shelf Band present 80s Dance Music vs. 70s Punk. Rainbow Bistro

•  The Australian Bee Gees Show. Shenkman Arts Centre

•  DZ Deathrays, Karma’s Pain, Choirz. Brass Monkey

•  Land of Talk. National Arts Centre Fourth Stage
   

Just Announced / Now Booking

• Ottawa Senators and BGC Ottawa have collaborated on summer camps for kids ages 6-8 and 9-12. The kids will enjoy day trips to Ottawa museums and other cool venues, weekly themes and challenges, sports, and more. $275 per child per week (or $220 for weeks that include a stat holiday). Registration is now open.

• The Experimental Farm’s Plant Sale is booked for Sunday May 12. Meet speciality growers and vendors, ask the Master Gardeners of Ottawa-Carleton all of your gardening questions, and shop for Mother’s Day gifts. Free to attend but donations to Friends of the Central Experimental Farm will be gratefully accepted.

• Snoop Dogg will be coming to the Canadian Tire Centre on June 11. Tickets will be on sale this Friday at 10:00 am.

DEALS OF THE DAY

BUT, ONE MORE THING ...

Norimitsu Onishi in the New York Times has a feature on how newcomers from Africa are revitalizing the remote mining town of Rouyn-Noranda, due north from here. Two newcomers, Carlos Sodji and Sylviane Senou, a young couple from Benin, saved what some consider the world’s best poutinerie, Chez Morasse.

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