Hello Ottawa

WEDNESDAY DRINKING AND DINING UPDATE

• 🧀 Kids eat free on Wednesdays from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Ridge Rock Brewing in Carp. 

• 🧀 Red Apron’s Canada Day menu is easy and stress free: Roast Enright Beef, Sliced Cheddar Cheese, Fancy Mustard, Bread & Butter Pickles, Cobs sandwich buns, Broccoli Salad, and Potato Salad. They've also got wine and dessert add-ons too, should you require them. Order for pick up on Tuesday June 30.  

• 🍩 The photo on this New York Times story about franchisees suing Tim Hortons features a Gatineau location – but, as the caption notes, the owner is not one of the people suing Timmy’s.

• Nonetheless, despite the gossamer thin connection to THE OTTAWAN’s balliwick, details that have come out of the lawsuit are fascinating.

• • Timmy’s has 62 different ‘price clusters’, and what you pay in one area can be different from another.

• • The Tim’s Rewards program is set up so the company makes up in other products the losses made from ‘free’ coffees.

• • Franchisees must ‘repaint their shops every year and renovate them every five years’, ‘owners turn over royalty payments based on sales every week (with steep late fees for delayed payments)’, they ‘pay Tim Hortons to advertise the opening of new restaurants although they have no say over what the company does with that money’.

• • Most franchisees make between 9 to 14 per cent profit. (That is an excellent return in the restaurant business).

• 🐔 Orléans South-Navan ward councillor Catherine Kitts is worried about the traffic disruption a new Chick-fil-A will cause in Orléans. The new location opens tomorrow at 4280 Innes Road.

• 🏵️ Alessa Hickman in NarCity Ottawa says these are ‘9 of the best Ottawa restaurants that should be on every visitor’s list in 2026’. They are: Le Mien Craft Noodle, The Green Door, The Whalesbone, Gyubee Japanese Grill, Chesterfield’s Gastro Diner, Corner Peach, Sansotei, Umbrella Bar, and Ayla’s Social Kitchen.

Let the bells ring and the banners fly: after an extraordinarily long and harsh winter, it’s finally Pick Your Own Strawberry Season in the region. Remember to check availability before you set out:

• 🍓  Shouldice Farm 

• 🍓  Avonmore Berry Farm (Avonmore)  

• 🍓  Millers Farm, Market & Garden Centre 

• 🍓  Dentz Farm (near Iroquois) 

• 🍓  Rochon Garden 

• 🍓  Rideau Pines Farm (North Gower)

• 🍓  Ferme Proulx Farm (Cumberland)  

• 🍓  Kinburn Berries 

• 🍓  Orléans Fruit Farm  

STATISTICS OTTAWA

NUMBER

• 3,600

• The number of students that will be affected as OC Transpo cancels 105 school route trips from its schedules. 

• OC Transpo took on the routes during COVID 19* but is now placing responsibility back upon the the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority and the Consortium de transport scolaire d’Ottawa in order to free up 20 buses. 

• – Arthur White-Crummey at CBC      List of the 105 routes

• * Yes, yes, COVID 19 still exists. You don’t need to write to us.

OTTAWAN OF THE DAY

• Alyah Holmes

• The artist’s four-foot-tall beaver statue is one of 50 installed across Toronto as part of the FIFA World Cup festivities.

• Holmes’ statue is installed in the Old Town area of Toronto.

– Peter Szperling at CTV

QUOTE

“

• I’m really encouraged by that level of engagement

– National Capital Commission chief executive Tobi Nussbaum on news that the Federal government will announce the fate of 24 Sussex Drive within the next few weeks. Nussbaum says that he does not yet know what the decision will be.

– Ashley Burke at CBC

PLEASE SUPPORT THE OTTAWAN

WHAT’S GOING ON AT CITY HALL

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

THE DAILY POLL

How do you feel about datacentres?

🔘 They are the future and opposing them is like opposing power transmission towers

🔘 I’m opposed, they take up space and make noise and draw far more electricity than can be supplied by the public

🔘 If one has customers for electricity, why would you turn them away

🔘 If these are such great ideas, let the datacenter builders finance their own power plants

🔘 I’ll ask Google, Siri, and ChatGPT for good arguments against them

• 
  Previously in OTTAWAN polls:

• What do you think of a ring road bypassing Ottawa?

  • 37% Yes, there is no reason to route traffic right through the centre of Ottawa

  • 20% No, it would cut through green space and make that part of Ottawa worse

  • 21% More, and better, O Train lines would take traffic off the the streets making a ring road unneeded

  • 22% All planners should have ‘Induced Demand’ tattooed on their forehead before taking up their positions because they seem to forget that all new freeways fill within a few years

  • 
    Commentary

▪️ “I grew up in Winnipeg and love a ring road! That, plus fully functioning public transit, would simplify the commute and give us options to get around.”

▪️ “It’s shocking how many City staff and councillors refuse to acknowledge induced demand--borderline malpractice?”

▪️ “Call it an O ring or whatever you want but find alternatives to reduce traffic through the centre cord especially for transport and construction vehicles.”

▪️ “It seems unnecessary and the people who complain are often the most privileged. It takes a long time to get to your cottage? I don’t know if you can hear the tiny violins playing for you right now.”

▪️ “I assume all the people who voted for the induced demand tattoo also wanted to vote for more and better train lines.”

▪️ “King Edward used to be a beautiful Boulevard and now it’s a disgrace. I would like to get the huge inter-provincial trucks out of the downtown.”

▪️ “It’s about time!”

▪️ “You live in Orléans and want to go to your cottage in the west? Sounds like you are a poor decision maker. It’s not the responsibility of taxpayers to make that easier for you.”

▪️ “It’s long overdue.”

▪️ “Improvement in public transport would be great, but no one is taking that to their cottage. Ever. Do like us southsiders do. Take Anderson Rd to Leitrim to Limebank to Strandherd/Fallowfield to your choice of northbound roads to the 417. Simple.”

▪️ “No new highways. The city would be better off adding two new bridges over the Ottawa river east and west.”

▪️ “This should have been done years ago.”

▪️ “Transit has utterly failed to keep up with the city’s expansion. Traffic jams would be fewer with better transit.”

HISTORIC OTTAWA LOGO T-SHIRTS

Ogilvy’s Department Store T-Shirt Charles Ogilvy Limited began as dry goods shop on Rideau Street in 1897, and ended its reign as Ottawa's greatest department store in 1992. Help support the ottawan by buying one of our historic logo t-shirts. Shop for t-shirts

THE ROLLING THREE DAY CALENDAR

Is there an event we should know about?
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✳️ Means change from previous edition

WEDNESDAY

• The Tipsy Scholars lecture at Art House, The Quiet Habits of Sustainable Loneliness, examines ‘the quiet, often invisible habits that sustain loneliness in everyday life’. (Centretown)

• Release all that pre-Canada v Switzerland match tension with Lunchtime Yoga at Britannia Park. (Britannia Heights) 

• 🆓 Councillor Stephanie Plante and the Swiss Embassy present a watch party of Canada v Switzerland at the Vanier HUB. 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm at 267 Marier Ave (Vanier)

• 🆓 No ticket is required at these Ottawa Jazz Festival shows today:  Sage Reynolds plays improvised music and his own compositions at noon with friends from across the country at CF Rideau Centre, Level 2 in front of the Dining Hall (ByWard Market), while Pimento plays spicy Latin jazz at Confederation Park at the same time. Rowan Bell Petrusic Trio plays jazz at the World Exchange Plaza at 4:00 pm (Downtown). 
  
  Elsewhere at Ottawa Jazz Festival: Charley Rose Trio brings the "Dada Pulp Tour" to to the NAC's Fourth Stage (Downtown), the Plastic Waste Band plays the Main Stage at Confederation Park (Downtown), find the Orrin Evas Trio at the NAC's Azrieli Studio (Downtown), and MA:Q plays the Elgin St Stage, Confederation Park. 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: La Femme la plus riche du monde (The Richest Woman in the World), Sing-Along! Grease, Restoration: Amores Perros  

• Mayfair Theatre: A Private Life, Tuner, The Adolescence of Utena

Gigs

• The Lockmasters. Dominion Tavern

• Wednesday Band Open Mic. Atomic Rooster

• Kenmujo, Hypersex Banshee, Runner-Up, Leach. Avant-Garde Bar

THURSDAY

• 🆓 Options Housing is proud to present Voices of the Land – an Ottawa200 community event celebrating Indigenous culture, teachings, and connection to the land. See live Hoop Dancing, traditional ribbon shirt teaching, drumming, and medicine bag making.  

• Be part of the Stuff You Should Know podcast, live from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa.  

• 🆓 Take the kids to see the RCMP Musical Ride Sunset Ceremonies. It happens each evening until Sunday June 28 at the RCMP Stables (1 Sandridge Road). 

• 🆓 Metcalfe Plaza (at Sparks St) comes alive with Hip-Hop, R&B, and surprises from DJs Rojo, John Arano, Messmeupbeats and Spinny, From 5:00 pm; get dinner and drinks from vendors on site. (SOPA)

• 🆓 Today’s free programming at Ottawa Jazz Festival: Atcheleh Aryee Quintet (noon in Confederation Park), Graves/Jordan/Pond (noon at CF Rideau Centre Level 2 in front of the Dining Hall), Ambre McLean (noon at World Exchange Plaza), Kellylee Story & Song Series (4:00 pm at Peter Hearndorf Place, National Arts Centre). Ticketed shows: Brittany Davis & Black Thunder (6:30 pm Fourth Stage, National Arts Centre), Mark Ferguson Quartet (6:30 pm at OLG Main Stage, Confederation Park), Avishai Cohen Big Vicious (7:00 pm at Asrieli Studio, National Arts Centre), Nick Schofield (7:30 pm at Elgin St Stage, Confederation Park), DOMi & DJ Beck (8:30 pm at OLG Main Stage, Confederation Park), Norma Winstone with the Atlantic Jazz Collective (9:00 pm at Fourth Stage, National Arts Centre), Avishai Cohen Big Vicious (9:00 pm show at Azrieli Studio, National Arts Centre), The Free Label (10:30 pm Elgin St Stage, Confederation Park). 

• Stittsville Front Porch Concerts are trying again tonight; let's hope there's better weather than last week. 

• Sound healer Sara Zeineddine will join Rebecca White Raven in the Sunset Yoga and Sound Healing at Britannia Park. Suggested donation $25. Bring your own mat and bug spray. 

• It’s coached student night as Improv Embassy All-Stars take over Avant-Garde Bar. Come and support the students and special guests Boy Stinko, SHHH!, and The People's Choice. (Sandy Hill)  

• It’s curation-free and 100% of the ticket sales go back to the artists: Welcome to the Ottawa Fringe Festival, which fills all of Arts Court's theatre spaces, nooks, and crannies until June 28. 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: The Sheep Detectives, Japanese Film Week: Shoplifters, Moonrise Kingdom 

• Mayfair Theatre: Tuner, The Birdcage, Raging Bull 

Gigs

• Faiyez and the Wasted Chances. Dominion Tavern

• Afterlight: Piano and Vocals. The Robo Lounge

• Catalyst 15: KI vs Upper Regions, Juno Club, Nivek, Marsh, Jas Nasty. House of TARG

• Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, Fédéric D. Oberland. Fono

• Don’t Play With Me. LIVE on Elgin

FRIDAY

• Vegans Who Snack will fulfill all of your animal-loving snack dreams from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Parkdale Market. (Hintonburg) 

• Konpa & Kizomba night at Pure Havana is beginner friendly. (Downtown)  

• We think that starting the weekend with a free Ottawa Jazz Festival Friday noon gig called ‘Funk-A-Tron 5000’ is a fantastic idea. There are more free gigs throughout the afternoon. Paid events roll out with daltonists (the experimental trio who are inspired by colour blindness); Cree and Salish singer-songwriter Fawn Wood, Bobby Previte’s Pocket Orchestra, Toronto-based, Ethiopian/Eritrean singer-songwriter Witch Prophet, Grammy nominated musician and actress Willow, hard-to-define Tomoki Sanders, Seattle Rhythm and Blues band The Dip, and of course, late night jamming with John Geggie, Roddy Ellias, and José Monchito Garcia. 

• The Reverend Horton Heat plays Overflow Brewing but if you want to get down to their "psychobilly" swagger, act fast. Tickets are selling briskly. (Heron Gate)  

• Miguel de Armas plays Cuban jazz at The Robo Lounge. (The Glebe)  

• Talk about the city’s problems and potential solutions at the Strong Towns Ottawa chapter monthly social gathering at Braumeister Bierhalle. (Hintonburg)  

• Learn about local butterfly populations at the Pinhey Sand Dunes Sanctuary for Butterflies and Pollinators, today through Sunday. (Merivale Industrial Park) 

• Doggos are welcome at the Ottawa Titans Bark in the Park event. On the field, the New Jersey Jackals will be paying the Titans a visit. 

• Dance like it’s the carefree 90s again at Friday I’m in Love. (ByWard Market) 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: The Sheep Detectives, Tuner, Linda Linda Linda, Drunken Cinema: Predator  

• Mayfair Theatre: The Richest Woman in the World, Project Hail Mary, The Rocky Horror Picture Show 

Gigs

• Perry & The Wobbly Pops, Motherland. Irene's Pub

• Symply Skynyrd. Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

• 80s Dance Party with DJ Remi Royale and The Start. House of TARG

• Elise Boulanger Music and special guest Sophie Grenier. Art House

• Sussex. Rainbow Bistro

JUST ANNOUNCED / NOW BOOKING

• Extend your Canada Day festivities with the Canadian Cocktails Workshop from Split Tree Cocktail Co. Thursday July 2 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. (Westboro)

DEAL OF THE DAY

Need a new hoodie? How about one that's made in the area, and is currently 50% off? Get your Forest Hoodie by Blondie Apparel now.   Feel patriotic down to your feet with Canadian-made J.B. Field Canadian Maple Leaf Bamboo Crew Socks

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BUT, ONE MORE THING ...

The National Capital Commission has launched its Capital Cottage page, which lists all of its local swimming holes and the amenities provided. We also learned that the new East Wharf Dock at the foot of Majors Hill Park is now open for swimming.

RAPID RESPONSE QUALITY CONTROL

THE END

THE OTTAWAN is written and edited every working weekday by Martha and Darren. Is there something that Ottawa should know about? Email to us at hello@theottawan.com. We read every single comment.