Hello Ottawa
In Today’s Edition
→ High speed Québec City – Ottawa – Toronto rail plan to be accelerated by four years
→ Don’t forget that the National Gallery of Canada is free from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm tomorrow
→ Deals of the Day from the Black Walnut Bakery, Brookstreet Hotel, Biagio’s, MTN Head, and Au Lit
🎄 Our annual Purdy’s Chocolate Advent Calendar Giveaway Winners
Martha’s mom’s choosin’ hat has decided. Congratulations to OTTAWAN readers Ben O and Emily G!
We’ll contact you soon for a delivery address.
– Martha and Darren
DINING + DRINKING UPDATE
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⚜️ Black Tartan Kitchen in Carleton Place has made Open Table’s Top Best 100 Restaurants in Canada list for the first time. No other Capital region resto made the list.
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🗡️ Do some holiday shopping and sampling at the Grace in the Kitchen Holiday Party on Thursday December 4.
🧀 Road Trip: Back Forty Artisan Cheese's Annual Holiday Open House is more than a shopping opportunity. Warm up by the bonfire, enjoy food and drink from the bistro, and soak up the festive vibe. Saturday December 13.
🍽️ Let Chef Leier and the team at 1 Elgin prepare your Christmas meal. All you have to do is order by December 22 and then swing by to pick it up on December 25.
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🍩 In the Ottawa Citizen, Peter Hum and Sofia Misenheimer divide up the horrible, terrible task to find ‘13 of the best doughnuts in and around Ottawa’. The baker’s dozen are to be found at: Bamm’s Snack Shack, Casa Bonita Coffee & Bakery, Corner Peach, Farinella Rochester, Healthy Food Technologies, Holey Confections, Jabreezy’s Doughnuts, Le Donut Stop, Little German Bakery, Lokma, Lusa Bakery, Maverick’s, and Suzy Q’s.
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Hum also visited new sandwich bar Uncle Carmine’s New York Sandwich Shop, where he was appalled – appalled! – to find arugula on his Reuben (Otherwise, Hum finds the sandwiches top notch).
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Uncle Carmine, aka Les Richenhaller, has a long history in Ottawa, having run Capital City Diner, Grand Central New York Deli, and the Baja Burger Shack.
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🎄 If you can’t wait to drown your Christmas sorrows, Nan’s Parlour, Santa’s Speakeasy at Lowertown Brewery, and Union 613 have already decked out their halls.
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🚰 In the University of Ottawa students’ newspaper The Fulcrum Basant Chawla asks why, after 15 years, bottled water is banned on campus but its vending machines are full of bottled Coke and Gatorade.
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STATISTICS OTTAWA
NUMBER
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100
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The number of ‘good news’ stories that the Ottawa Police Service has higlighted over the past year on its Our Ottawa page.
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OTTAWAN OF THE DAY
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Antoine L Collins
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The Lowertown resident serves as an adjudicator for the Refugee Protection Division with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada but on December 17th, he’ll be releasing his fourth jazz album, Dinner at Antoine’s, at his holiday concert It’s Christmas and I’m in Love at the National Arts Centre’s Fourth Stage.
QUOTE
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“
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We never listen to that kind of music, but the production and stuff they put into it, is quite something
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– Member of the Ottawa band Riishi Von Rex, Michel Delage, approving of the idea that the CBC should participate in the annual Eurovision Song Contest.
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Capri Derenchuk-Ganaden and Fionn McGuire at Capital Current
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SPORTS -
🏒 NHL Ottawa Senators 1 – Los Angeles Kings 2, last Monday
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WHAT’S GOING ON AT CITY HALL
Public Works and Infrastructure Committee
Thursday, November 27 at 9:30 am- Potential Implications of Bill 60 on Cycling Projects and Recommendations for the 2026 Capital Budget
- Draft 2026 Operating and Capital Budgets – Public Works and Infrastructure Committee
- Status Update – Public Works and Infrastructure Committee Inquiries and Motions for the period ending November 18, 2025
WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT
🚄 High speed Québec – Ottawa – Toronto rail plan to be accelerated by four years. The new budget included funds for engineering, regulatory, and permitting work for the Alto project that would see shovels in the ground within four years, instead of eight. Alto’s goal is to run trains at 300 km/h on a dedicated tracks. – Kenneth Chan in Daily Hive
🪧 Another only-in-Ottawa problem: the speed signs that the Province insists the City place in school zones are too big for Ottawa’s standard poles. Now that speed cameras are banned, the Province insists that new school zone speed limit signs be installed. Unfortunately, the signs are larger than the City is used to and the department of public works is baffled about what to do. ‘I’m hoping the province changes their mind and makes them a little bit smaller’, says Beacon Hill-Cyrville ward councillor Tim Tierney. – Josh Pringle at CTV
💸 The Ottawa Carleton District School Board has a $5.4 million deficit this year. Cumulatively, the Board owes $12.1 million which needs to be paid back to the Province. Funding for the Board is calculated by the number of students – the Board estimated that it would have an increase of 1,330 but instead only had 200. Most of the estimated additional students are thought to have transferred to the Ottawa Catholic School Board, which has had an increase of 1,657 students this year. – Joanne Laucius in the Ottawa Citizen
🏒 Sens captain Brady Tkachuk says he’ll be back on the ice this Friday. He has been off since October 16 after surgery to an injured thumb. Tkachuk made the announcement on Wingmen, a podcast that he hosts with his brother Matthew of the Florida Panthers (more proof that everyone has a podcast). – Sportsnet
THE DAILY POLL
Do you regularly listen to podcasts?
🔘 Yes, I find them very entertaining
🔘 Yes, that’s where I get much of my news
🔘 Almost never. Someone really has to beg me to listen to one
🔘 Just no
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Previously in ottawan polls: -
We asked, ‘Will you be attending any Ottawa Black Bears lacrosse matches this season?’
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Commentary
▪️ “I didn’t know we had a Lacross team in Ottawa lol oops!”
▪️ “Canada's National Sport that few follow.”
▪️ “I love lacrosse! The games are so fun. And violent. If the Black Bears are too pricey (they're cheaper than the 67s, for context), try out the Griffins and Knights junior B and C this summer!”
▪️ “The CTC is way too far.”
▪️ “Excited to check out my first game!”
▪️ “I know lacrosse is our national summer sport and all but honestly it's never been given much "exposure" and I don't even know the rules of the game.”
▪️ “I used to go to Rush games in Saskatoon, where the arena size matched the fanbase, and it was a hoot!”HISTORIC OTTAWA LOGO T-SHIRTS
Newbridge Networks T-Shirt
Newbridge Networks was founded by Welsh-Canadian entrepreneur Sir Terry Matthews in 1986.
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?
Please use our easy event submission form✳️ Means change from previous edition
WEDNESDAY
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New festive market alert: visit the indoor Holiday Mini Market in Little Italy, launching today and running every Wednesday through Friday from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at 347 Preston St. (Little Italy)
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In PWHL action, Ottawa Charge meet Vancouver Goldeneyes at the Arena at TD Place. If you’re counting, the Charge played host to 7,300 fans at TD Arena last Friday. Also last Friday, the Goldeneyes welcomed more than 14,000 to their first match in Vancouver. (Lansdowne)
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Grammy Award-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich makes his National Arts Centre Orchestra debut, in a program of Barber, Brahms & Bach. (Downtown)
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Westboro Village gets seriously festive with the launching of Light Up the Village - Shop the Season. Retailers will be staying open later and offering special deals and sweet treats. (Westboro)
Cinema
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ByTowne Cinema: Sentimental Value, After the Hunt
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Mayfair Theatre Jay Kelly, It Was Just An Accident, One Battle After Another
Gigs
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Taproom Trivia. Stray Dog Brewing (Orléans)
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Fusion Ensemble. House of TARG
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Celtic Celebration. Red Bird
- Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings its special blend of prog rock, rock opera, and Christmas music to Canadian Tire Centre. (Kanata)
THURSDAY
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✳️ Road Trip: Almonte comes alive with the Winter Night Market from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Head to Mill Street for the sidewalk sales, treats, and small town fun.
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Grammy Award-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich makes his National Arts Centre Orchestra debut, in a program of Barber, Brahms & Bach. (Downtown)
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National Gallery of Canada is free from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. (ByWard Market/Sussex Drive)
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Experience a winter wonderland blending sparkling lights with vibrant Indigenous traditions at Mādahòkì Farm. You'll find family-friendly festivities such as the Trail of Lights & Traditions, an Indigenous Craft Market, interactive beaded earring and ornament workshops, and cozy Indigenous Christmas feasts all waiting for you. Tonight through December 28 (Nepean)
Cinema
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ByTowne Cinema: After the Hunt, Sentimental Value, The Zone: 2046
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Mayfair Theatre: Jay Kelly, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, On Battle After Another
Gigs
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The Dears. Azrieli Studio at the National Arts Centre
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Barr Brothers. Bronson Centre.
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Dale Ross Album Release show. Art House
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Albert Kaprielian. Night Oat
FRIDAY
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Skyscraper-sized dinosaurs, rides, bounce houses, fossil digs, and adventure await intrepid kids at Jurassic Quest, running today through Sunday at EY Centre. (Near YOW)
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Take the littles to the ‘slightly mischievous’ Mean Green Santa Party at Billings Bridge Shopping Centre. It’s a pizza party with live music, a colouring contest, and other fun stuff for kids. It’s free but limited to 100 participants. From 5:00 pm. (Billings Bridge)
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T.K. Moon provides the live tunes for the Indigenous-owned new business Spirit Berry Craft Supply’s Grand Opening from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm (Centretown)
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Experience a winter wonderland blending sparkling lights with vibrant Indigenous traditions at Mādahòkì Farm. You’ll find family-friendly festivities such as the Trail of Lights & Traditions, an Indigenous Craft Market, interactive beaded earring and ornament workshops, and cozy Indigenous Christmas feasts all waiting for you. Tonight through December 28 (Nepean)
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A married comedy duo explores some Big Stuff, namely, how to coexist when one of you keeps everything while the other wants to throw it all away. GCTC until December 7. (Wellington West)
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Shop for crystals, seek answers from psychics and have your palm read at the Ottawa West Psychic and Crystal Fair (Bells Corners).
Markets, Fairs, and Lighting Ceremonies
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🆓 We hear that the man in red will be visiting Carp Farmers Market Christmas Market today and tomorrow (Carp).
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Shop the Mom Market at Place d'Orléans all weekend for gifts, holiday decor, Christmas-themed photo ops, and more. (Orléans)
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Catch the Kiwanis Parade of Lights and carolling at Watson’s Mill and Main Street. Continues tomorrow (Manotick)
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The weekly Gloucester Holiday Night Market returns for shopping with local businesses, artisans, and makers. (Gloucester)
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The farm becomes a magical winter wonderland at Miller’s Holiday Market (Manotick)
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T&T Supermarket’s Winter Market takes over the parking lot at Hazeldean Mall today through Sunday (Kanata).
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Cumberland Heritage Village Museum brings the holiday season of the 1920s and 30s to life. Look at the displays and try your hand at gingerbread cookie decorating (Cumberland)
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🆓 613Flea brings the magic of vintage to their 613Holiday Night Market at Aberdeen Pavilion. 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm at Aberdeen Pavilion (Lansdowne Park)
Cinemas
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ByTowne Cinema: Sentimental Value, It Was Just An Accident, Spectacle: Pan’s Labyrinth
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Mayfair Theatre: Meadowlarks, The Mastermind, Rocky Horror Picture Show
Gigs
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Nobro with Backseat Dragon, Neon Ghosthouse. SAW Centre
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Matthew Byrne. Fourth Stage, National Arts Centre
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Dallas Smith and his band. Southam Hall, National Arts Centre
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80s Dance Party with The Start, DJ Remi Royale. House of TARG
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Zed (Led Zeppelin tribute band). Shenkman Arts Centre
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Double Experience with The Escape Society, Those Who, Runaway Kit. Rainbow Bistro
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Fever Pitch Hot Jazz. Art House
JUST ANNOUNCED / NOW BOOKING
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Foodie gift idea: Tickets are now on sale for the Canadian Culinary Championship 2026 coming up Friday January 30 to Saturday January 31 at Rogers Centre.
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BUT, ONE MORE THING ...
Guy Quenneville at CBC has the story of the real heroes of the Canadian Premier League championship match at TD Place earlier this month — the turf-clearing team who moved heaven and earth, and tonnes of snow, to keep the game from being cancelled.
RAPID RESPONSE QUALITY CONTROL
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THE END
the ottawan is written and edited every working weekday by Martha and Darren.
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