See the 8 day forecast at the ottawan weather

HELLO OTTAWA

Last minute gift ideas

1. Go downtown and shop in person for locally made jewellery, hats, mitts and more at Eclection in the Byward Market. The shop is open seven days a week.
    
2. Take your beer loving friend to a sipping experience in January or February. The Spark Beer Sippin’ Sessions will be a pleasant hour of sipping and stories as the brewers take you through the beer making process.
    
3. Hop in the car and visit Ashton Brewing Company, where you’ll find very nice merch fit for every craft beer fan. 113 Old Mill Road, Ashton Ontario
    
4. MacAusland Wool Blankets from PEI are on sale at Maker House.
    
5. Your DJ friend will love the Wooden Record Ledge ($29.95) from M.H. Woodshop. Available at Maker House.
    
6. Flowers Talk Tivoli has cute pins with sayings like “You Grow, Girl” ($7.50), plant stakes in cute shapes ($10..00), ornaments (various prices), and Canadian made chocolate (One More Cocoa, $12.50). They’re open for IRL shopping Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at 282 Richmond Road.
    
7. This week is your final opportunity to purchase the Taste of Local Gift Box from the Beechwood Market Farm Store (open 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm at 1805 Gaspé).
    
8. For the friend or family member who loves getting stuck into a juicy tell-all book over Christmas, Secondhand Stories has a good selection selection of Memoirs and Biographies, none costing more than $5. They also have cookbooks, fiction, and more. Your payment supports Secondhand Stories’ animal sanctuary.

– Martha and Darren

🎄the ottawan Christmas pages

•  10 Gifts Under $20
•  10 Local Experiential Gifts for Hard-to-Buy-For Loved Ones
•  Our constantly revised Christmas Markets, Festivals, and Parades page
•  2023 Canadian-made advent calendar list
•  10 Made in Canada Christmas Gifts.
•  9 Locally Made Christmas Gifts. Please send your nominations for a locally made item to 'giftguide@theottawan.com'.

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

Sports

• 🏒 NHL Ottawa Senators 3 – Vegas Golden Knights 6 last night
• 🏒 NHL Ottawa Senators 4 – Dallas Stars 5 last Friday

CITY HALL AGENDA

What’s going on at City Hall
 

Nothing more until the new year.

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

🚨 Israel – Hamas

•  An Ottawa youth has been arrested on terrorism charges that allegedly targeted Jews. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police made the arrest but, because the suspect is a minor, are not releasing much information. However, the Mounties alledge that the suspect ‘instructed someone, directly or indirectly, to carry out a terrorist activity against “Jewish persons”’ and communicated ‘instructional material related to an explosive substance’. (Daniel LeBlanc at CBC)
  
  The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs wants police to investigate the suspect’s father’s posts on Facebook made in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attack. Translations from Arabic ‘refer to Zionists and Jews in a derogatory manner, while one says to get rid of all Israelis’. (Stewart Bell, Mercedes Stephenson, Mackenzie Gray & Mike Drolet at Global News)
  
  ➕ Related The provincial Special Investigations Unit has been called after an Ottawa Police Service officer shot at the driver of a stolen car. Before the shots, the driver reversed the car, hitting an officer; after the shots, the driver hit a police car. The police officer was uninjured, the fate of the driver is unknown.

🚨 Ottawa Police Services Board

•  Remember when Ottawa Police Services board chair Gail Beck resigned on Friday for ‘personal reasons’. Those personal reasons turned out to be the fact that her son was arrested over what the Ottawa Police called the ‘Largest Drug Bust’ in Ottawa’s history. (Luke LeBrun in Press Progress)

⛺  Encampments

•  A private developer will be installing heated tents for people without houses in Gatineau starting today. Twenty-eight tents will be erected in front of the Robert-Guertin arena in Hull. Camping beds, a source of electricity, toilets, and heated showers will be available. The site will be created by by Devcore Construction and managed by campaigners Itinérance Zéro. (William Eltherington at CTV)

🛠️ Planning Department

•  The City has a new interim general manager of Planning, Real Estate and Economic Development, replacing the previous interim general manager of Planning, Real Estate and Economic Development. Civil engineer Vivi Chi has spent 35 years with the City in its two forms, Region of Ottawa-Carleton, then the amalgamated City of Ottawa. The previous interim general manager, Don Herweyer, is retiring after 36 years. Chi will hold the position until a permanent general manager is hired. (Ottawa Construction News)
  
  ➕ Related Two proposed residential towers are on pause after the Province rolled back its greenbelt expansion. The Province had unilaterally increased building heights on minor road corridors as part of opening part of the greenbelt to development. After rolling back the greenbelt reduction, the building heights were also reduced. The two developments are at 725 Somerset St. West and 1495 Heron Road.

⚕️ Matthew Perry

•  The actor Matthew Perry's death is being blamed on ‘acute effects’ of ketamine. Perry, whose mom was press secretary for then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, drowned in a pool at his Los Angeles home in October. The Los Angeles county medical examiner said that he had not abused drugs for 19 months but a combination of ketamine, which can be used to combat depression, and buprenorphine, which can be used to treat opioid abuse disorder were at ‘general anesthesia’ levels while he was in the pool. (Jenna Benchetrit at CBC)

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MORE FROM THE OTTAWAN

• 🍺 Our Ottawa-Gatineau Craft Brewery Map

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• 🏆 The Best Of Ottawa Awards 2023

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• 🎧 Best Podcasts from Ottawa

EVENTS

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

Today

Find Ottawa’s most comprehensive list of Christmas Markets, Festivals, and Parades on our website.

•  Tonight, take in a Canadian supergroup’s festive show. A Lunch at Allen’s Christmas features Murray McLauchlan, Cindy Church, Ian Thomas and Marc Jordan performing the hits they wrote for themselves and other bands.
•  You know everything there is to know about the Harry Potter movie universe. Bring that knowledge to Boston Pizza Barrhaven (1681 Greenback Road) for the Prisoner of Azkaban trivia night.
•  The Magic of Lights continues at Wesley Clover Parks.
  
  
  Gigs

•  Bluegrass Mondays featuring Open Stage with the House Band. Red Bird

•  Open Mic Night. Art House Café

•  Karaoke Mondaze. Atomic Rooster

Tomorrow

•  Free soup: Students from Chef Ric’s Food Services Training Program will be joined by members of the Byward Market District Authority in serving free hot soup on the George Street Plaza in front of the market building from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm.

•  It’s not often that you get to hear 150 young musicians play holiday tunes, classical, and jazz favourites. Hear some feel good music for free at the OrKidstra Centre Hub Holiday Concert (donations are welcome). 6:30 pm at 355 Cooper Street.

•  Settle in for the stories as Bear & Co present Dylan Thomas: A Child’s Christmas in Wales (& Carol Sing). At GCTC until December 21.

•  The Magic of Lights continues at Wesley Clover Parks.
  
  
  Gigs

•  Crisis Party, Passenger Princess, Lazy Brats, Big Now. House of TARG.

•  Open Mic Night. LIVE on Elgin

•  Open Mic. The Brass Monkey
   

Wednesday

•  The Magic of Lights continues at Wesley Clover Parks.
  
  Gigs

•  Laila Biali. National Arts Centre

•  Trivia with DJ Geoff Paquet. Spark Beer

•  Jennifer Castle. LIVE on Elgin

•  Jazz Jams with the Peter Hum Trio. Montgomery Scotch Lounge
   

Just Announced / Now Booking

•   If a roast chicken is your ideal Christmas dinner, Maker Feed Co has a Christmas dinner for two you’ll want to hear about. It’s a half slow roasted chicken with all the trimmings, and all you’ll need to do on the big day is reheat it in the oven for 10 minutes. Order it now for $69.99 (for two) and pick up between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm on December 24. If your group is larger you can order more portions.

•  Think ahead to Boxing Day. You’re feeling a little let down after the excitement and food of the past few weeks. You need a distraction. How about an electrifying live music performance, charting the rise of legendary band The Temptations? Ain’t Too Proud brings the hits and Tony-award winning dance numbers to the NAC December 26 through 31.

DEALS OF THE DAY

BUT, ONE MORE THING ...

Ottawa Urbanism Book Club organizer Derrick Simpson made a trip to Toronto to last week and had some positive things to say that Ottawa could learn from.

RAPID RESPONSE QUALITY CONTROL

Comment of the week: ‘Loved the Sens vs Leafs moments!’

THE END

the ottawan is written and edited every work day by Martha and Darren.

Is there something that Ottawa should know about? Email to us at hello@theottawan.com. We read every single comment. 

We’ll see you tomorrow.

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