Wednesday, February 23, 2022

HELLO OTTAWA  

Yesterday, we chided local broadcasters CTV Ottawa, CBC Ottawa, and radio station CFRA for running paid programming and game shows rather than cover the Trucker siege over the weekend. (CBC showed the Olympics.)

Many readers took umbrage at us, citing the excellent coverage on CBC Newsworld and CTV News Channel. Some readers namechecked particular reporters doing fine work.

We love you, Umbraged Readers. But those are not our local broadcasters, are they? First, they are cable only, unavailable to those without cablevision. Second, they are not available on basic cable – you pay extra. Also: we don't have cable.

Those local broadcasters, using the public airwaves, ignored the siege and we maintain this was a dereliction of duty – not by their own reporters who wanted to cover it – but by bean counters who chose not to.

Please don't unsubscribe.

As for the Trucker siege aftermath, it's more like we're in simmer mode. It's not boiling over but we're not quite done yet.

First up: the New Edinburgh resident Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has revoked the Emergency Act. Now everything can go back to 10 days ago when the City and the Province had everything in hand.

Premier Doug Ford has also revoked the Provincial State of Emergency, effective 5 pm today.

The leak of donors names to the GiveSendGo crowdfunding site has revealed that at least one dozen police officers from Ottawa Police Services, Toronto Police Services, and the Ontario Provincial Police gave money to the Trucker siege.

A senator from Nova Scotia was filmed blaming the people in Ottawa for the siege, citing our 20 hour work weeks and six figure salaries. He also thanked one of the protestors and insulted his own wife. 

Having realized that people can actually watch videos, Michael MacDonald, with an annual salary of $168,000, apologized.

We were looking at the Ottawa wastewater report and, to our eyes, it looks like positive tests of COVID-19 went up after the Truckers arrived, slowing a downward trend. Let us know what you think: [email protected]heottawan.com

Two openings downtown that were delayed by the siege are happening: The National Arts Centre is reopening Friday, including its restaurant 1 Elgin and the Main Library on Metcalfe reopened today.

And something we can all support, downtown resident Jess Rawk is selling Make Ottawa Boring Again t-shirts, with proceeds to Cornerstone Housing for Women, Minwaashin Lodge, and the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. [The official t-shirt site]

We'll see you tomorrow – Martha and Darren

? Is there something that Ottawa should know about? Email to us at [email protected]. We read every single comment.

STATS

Weather: ?️ 70 per cent chance of flurries. High of -5°, low of -20°. 

Number: $800,000. The amount that the Ottawa Food Bank needs to raise so it can relocate to a larger space in the autumn. The new Bantree Street location will include capacity for frozen food, which it has so far had to reject. [Ottawa Food Bank] [Donate]

Ottawan of the Day:  Paul Hutt. Hutt is the new Chief of the Ottawa Fire Services, announced today. He'll get up-to-speed quite quickly as he was previously the interim Chief. [Jon Willing Twitter]

Quote: ‘Any attempt to replicate exactly what occurred in Ottawa will fail because the conditions have dramatically changed with experience. For example police won't be escorting vehicles to parking spots on the streets lining the Capitol building’ – Twitter user Peter Brake, responding to a CBC story on a proposed Trucker siege on Washington, DC.  [Twitter]

Sports: NHL Minnesota Wild 3 – Ottawa Senators 4, last night

FOOD + DRINK UPDATE

▪️Dominion City Brewing is showing its love for the people of downtown and Centretown with free shipping to these neighbourhoods on orders over $50. Use the code HEARTCITY when you order. 

▪️Spark Beer has launched “How about Italy”, an Italian style Pilsner. Described by the brewery as a dry beer with “a blast of citrus,” it’s made with malt from Mississippi Mills Malt. Available now for $3.75 per 355ml can. 

▪️The draw date for the Ridge Rock Brewing Kegerator Raffle is almost here. On March 2nd a lucky winner will receive a two-tap kegerator (and all the associated equipment including a C02 tank), 20L of the beer of their choice, and a team signed Chicago Blackhawks jersey. Tickets cost $20 each, and only 200 are available. 

▪️Ottawa officially gets a do-over of Valentine’s Day. City Council today voted to make March 14 Valentine’s Day again because Ottawa restaurants got screwed over by the Trucker siege. 

▪️NarCity says these 11 new and not-yet-opened restaurants are the ones to watch: Starling (Feb 24), Red Bird (Mar 7), Dhurvees (Just opened), Ramen Isshin(Just opened), Maverick's Donuts (Soon in Barrhaven and Orléans), Paper Tiger(Just opened), Le Poisson Bleu (Just opened), The King Eddy (This shouldn't count – they moved, not reopened), Dessert First (June), Oddburger (Who knows?), and Lavender Grill (Sometime this month).
 

SHOPPING

Now is the time to consider a lighting or decor refresh: Get 15% off everything at the Modern Shop until February 28th, using the code FLASHSALE. Visit the shop at their new location, 280 Catherine Street, or order online.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Information is as of this morning. Changes are relative to yesterday.
 

ONTARIO

Ontario COVID Page    Ontario Vaccine Rates 

QUEBEC

Quebec COVID Page     Quebec Vaccine Rates

OTTAWA

Ottawa Public Health     Ottawa Vaccination Rates.    Ottawa Wastewater 
 

OUTAOUAIS 

As of February 15, 2022 Updated Weekly

Outaouais Public Health    Quebec Vaccination Rates
 

EASTERN ONTARIO HEALTH UNIT

The Health Unit is changing the way they report. In the meantime, they are reporting only selected information. 

Eastern Ontario Health Unit.   Daily Stats  

COVID-19 NEWS

⭕ The Bytowne Cinema has announced that it will continue to require vaccine passports and masks post March 1st. After that date, passports and masks are optional for businesses that previously required it. [Ottawa Cinema]
 

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

▪️OC Transpo is launching a webpage that will update all incidents reported to the Transportation Safety Board. OC Transpo has been accused in the past of not reporting items to the Safety Board – they have changed that and say they report everything – and of not informing the public. OC Transpo has not, as yet, created the webpage.  [CTV]

▪️We are not in the pocket of the Zibi developers but they are now renting their first apartments. We continue to think that this is an interesting project, one that seems to have taken the environment and transit into consideration: compare Zibi to the new Ottawa Hospital or the Tewin project, both of which seem to consider transit and trees irrelevant. The apartments are heated by recovering energy from the nearby Kruger Products tissue plant. However, rent starts at $1425 for a one-bedroom, which isn't great. [Ottawa Citizen] [Rental page from which we do not get a kickback]

▪️The Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition has their annual general meeting virtually today. As we all recall, when the City of Kanata was created, 40 per cent of the land that is taken up by the ClubLink golfcourse was supposed to be greenspace in perpetuity. Forty years later, Kanata is absorbed into Ottawa, and ClubLink wants to develop part of the golf course as houses. The Coalition is devoted to making all the parties keep to their greenspace agreement, as seen through various legal opinions and lawsuits. 7 pm tonight.  [Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition]
 

            

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