Friday, 16 January 2026
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⛄ High -13° Low -15° and snow overnight ☀️7:38 am 🌛 4:47 pm

Hello Ottawa

In Today’s Edition

→  Appeal Court rules that use of Emergency Act for the Convoy was illegal

→ Four days of things to do

→  Deals of the Day on a Sears Craftsman saw by the Ottawa Tool Library, activewear from Loko Sport, and frozen meals by Urban Element

– Martha and Darren

STATISTICS OTTAWA

NUMBER

  • $640 million

  • – The amount of money that the Queensway Carleton Hospital is seeking from the province to double the size of its emergency room and add 90 inpatient beds.

  • Emma Weller at CBC

  •  

OTTAWAN OF THE DAY

  • Victoria Williston 

  • Williston has been appointed as the new executive director of the ByWard Market District Authority, with immediate effect. Williston was previously the communications and marketing manager.

  • Marissa Galko in the Ottawa Business Journal
     

QUOTE


SPORTS

  • 🏒 NHL Ottawa Senators 8 – New York Rangers 4, last Wednesday

 

Also, this evening, a rare interleague match between the Ottawa 67s and Les Olympiques de Gatineau. The Battle of the Ottawa River will take place at TD Place Arena at 7:00 pm.

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    WHAT’S GOING ON AT CITY HALL

    No meetings Monday

    Agenda

    WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

    🛻 Using the Emergency Act to deal with the Convoy was illegal, rules the Federal Court of Appeals. The Federal government had appealed a 2024 win brought by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Constitution Foundation, and other groups that the use of the Emergency Act was unwarranted. The Appeal Court said ‘As disturbing and disruptive the blockades and the convoy protests in Ottawa could be, they fell well short of a threat to national security’.– Catharine Tunney at CBC

     

    🗑️ City Council has approved negotiating to buy the Capital Region Resource Recovery Centre – a landfill – from its private owners. Owned by the Taggart and Miller developer families, the property has authorization to operate for 30 years. The current Trail Road is expected to be full within 10 years. – Anna Dodd in Compass Ottawa


    🚇 Train service in Ottawa, Toronto, and Montréal all partially closed yesterday because of the snowstorm, raising questions such as ‘didn’t the builders know they are in Canada?’. Experts say each transit system has design flaws.   – Verity Stevenson at CBC 

    ↪ The Alto High Speed plan includes the possibility that it would reuse the downtown Union Station for passenger service. Union Station is currently being used by the Senate during Parliament renovations and VIA Rail service has long been moved to the less convenient Tremblay Road location. Unfortunately, the page on the Alto website that shows this possibility has been down for the past two days.

     

    THE DAILY POLL

    Are you in favour of returning train service to Union Station?

    🔘 Yes, it should never have moved

    🔘 Yes, it allows better access to downtown and O Train lines

    🔘 No, we shouldn’t separate Alto and VIA Rail lines

    🔘 No, downtown is busy enough

    🔘 Let’s bring back the Britania Beach streetcar whilst we are at it


    • Previously in ottawan polls:

    • We asked, ‘Are you a fan of  Heated Rivalry?’

      • 8% Love it

      • 7% Not a fan

      • 50% I don’t subscribe to Crave, so I can’t watch it

      • 35% Never seen it but since a main character is from Ottawa, I love it


    • Commentary

    ▪️ “I am about to watch episode 3 – not for everyone – I fast forward thru stuff that makes me uncomfortable – it is ground breaking as you can see the love between the 2 characters & how they have to hide it all!”​​​

    ▪️ “Great show and eagerly waiting for Season 2 to be broadcast. Wonder if it will prompt any real world NHL players to come out of the closet??”​​​ 

    ▪️ “I’ve heard great things about it, but I’d rather do other things than sit and watch a show or movie these days.”​​​

    ▪️ “Loved it! However, and not to be a prude, the sex scenes were a bit much.”​​​

    ▪️ “I did catch the two lead actors on the Golden Globes award show. They don’t look like hockey players.”​​​

    ▪️ “Based on all the hype I will have to try to check it out.”​​​

     

     

    We asked, ‘Are you taking a snow day today?’

    • 10% Yes, I'm taking advantage of outdoor activities / nesting inside the house

    • 52% Nope. Went to work/school as usual

    • 32% Pffft. This isn’t a snow storm. When I was a kid, etc, etc, etc

    • 6% I’m crawling on the 401 and won’t be back for hours


    Commentary

    ▪️ “Better to be safe at home rather than in the ditch somewhere.”

    ▪️ “Just much harder to shovel the driveway than when I was younger.”

    ▪️ “I miss my bed.”

    ▪️ “On of the few downsides of working from home; no snow days. But I do get to take snow shovelling breaks!”

    ▪️ “Definitely a snow day, honestly except for hospitals and first responders, why should anyone go out. No other job is worth risking one’s life. Going to sit by the fire and binge on cheesy movies.”

    ▪️ “I am FORCED to work today.”

    ▪️ “Wow seven/eight inches is just about right. LOL.”

    ▪️ “There are no snow days when you work from home. :-(”

    ▪️ “But actually the weather has been wayyyy worse and nothing — would rather have freezing rain days vs this kind of ‘snow’ day.”

    ▪️ “I work from home. Hadn’t even noticed.”

    ▪️ “I’m a student in an online program. I can work from anywhere. But because my kids are home today, I’m not really working that hard!”

    ▪️ “The downside of remote work — snow days don’t exist.”

    ▪️ “Medical appointments are rarely cancelled. So, I had to head out in the morning. First round of shovelling has been completed. ;)”

    ▪️ “My workplace closed due to the weather so it was a pajama day and it was awesome. Walked my dog twice and the weather was bad. Even he didn’t want to be out in it!”

    ▪️ “Cancer appointment for my hubby, had to go. Took twice as long but safe.”

    ▪️ “Slow but safe drive to work today, but days like this are why inflexible RTO policies are nonsense. Only those that need to be should be on the roads. Fewer accidents and less work disruption when we could work remotely.”​​​

    HISTORIC OTTAWA LOGO T-SHIRTS

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    Northern Electric was founded in Montréal in 1895, growing into one of the world’s largest and most important telecom companies. Nortel hung up the phone in 2013. It's campus on Carling Avenue became the new home of the Department of National Defense.

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    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

    FRIDAY

    • ✳️ 🆓 The winter edition of Ottawa Comiccon is here, with a brand new Festival Hobby hitching a ride. Bring your passion for card collecting (including sports cards, Pokémon, and Magic) to the latter. Expect cosplay, guests, artists, and ticket deals for the upcoming September 2026 edition of Ottawa Comiccon. Continues Saturday at EY Centre (Airport)  

    • ✳️ Seven vintage clothing and homewares vendors will be setting up shop at Next Door, for a relaxed shopping experience. Shop noon to 6:00 pm today (Friday) and 11:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturday and Sunday (Corso Italia)

    • Ottawa folk singers Nick Bellerose, Catherine D Kong, Gabriel Comba, and Austin Campbell perform in the Snowdrift Sessions at Art House. 

    • Natasha Mumba’s Copperbelt takes audiences from a high-powered mining firm in downtown Toronto to Zambia's Copperbelt region for a story about secrets, power structures, and familial expectations. Until January 24 at the National Arts Centre (downtown) 

    • Road Trip: Drive to quaint Pakenham for the Frost Festival, which opens with a family dance tonight. 

    • Nine female and gender-nonconforming artists present works in a new photo-based show, Slumber Party, at SPAO. (Little Italy) 

    Cinema

    Gigs

    • Ska Night with Sound One, The Oscillators, DJ Bjorn Late. House of TARG

    • SNAFU, Throne, Sunset Hate, Blood Moon Occulation. Dominion Tavern

    • Cara Q. Carleton Tavern

    • Bent Up Good. Night Oat

    SATURDAY

    Cinema

    • ByTowne Cinema: Father Mother Sister Brother, The Choral, No Other Choice, Phenomena 

    • Mayfair Theatre: Father Mother Sister Brother, When Harry Met Sally …, Saturday Night Sinema 

    Gigs

    • The Time Beings. Carleton Tavern

    • Still Life and Street, Small Leap, Countdown 2 Earplugs. Avant-Garde Bar

    • James Keelaghan. Red Bird

    • Shawn Tavenier. Hard Rock Ottawa

    • Scally Cap Brats, The Stress, Street Code, Over the Hill, The Defamed. House of TARG

    • Out by Lucy, The Satisfactory. Rainbow Bistro

    • Mood Indigo. Night Oat

    SUNDAY

    Cinema

    • ByTowne Cinema: Father Mother Sister Brother, The Choral, No Other Choice, The Zone: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence 

    • Mayfair Theatre: Goon, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack 

    Gigs

    • The Sunday Night Revue. Irene’s Pub

    • Blues Sunday with Brother Paul and Blues Revival. Atomic Rooster

    • Moratorium, Pity Fountain, Look Upon The Heart. LIVE on Elgin

    • James Keelaghan. Red Bird

    • Fear, MVILL Crimes, Steve Adamyk Band. Overflow Brewing

    MONDAY

    Cinema

    Gigs

    • Soul Rhythms. National Arts Centre

    • Karaoke Mondays. Atomic Rooster

    • Geek Trivia. Level One Game Pub

    • The 5-Star Monday Band. The Laff

    JUST ANNOUNCED / NOW BOOKING

    • 🆓 Ottawa Tool Library’s new OTL Art Up! series launches with a session by artist and electric guitar maker Rob Stevenson. OTL says the series will be focused on "local artists making cool things!" and we can't think of too many things that are cooler than handmade guitars. 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm (Carlington). 

    • Imagine it’s a cold evening in February, and you’re sitting in a tropical paradise with your person, about to tuck into an uber romantic dinner. Now, imagine booking it right now for either Friday February 13 or Saturday February 14, in the Robert Plante Tropical Greenhouse. 

    MADE IN CANADA DEALS OF THE DAY

    Ottawa Tool Library is selling a Sears Craftsman 10" Mitre Saw with its own accessory kit for $80.

     

    Save 20% on activewear from Loko Sport, but only until Sunday.

     

    Order by 2:00 pm on Tuesday January 20 to save 20% on Urban Element Frozen Meals. Use the code FROZEN20 at checkout.

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    Comment of the Week: ‘Snow day? Cop out’

    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.

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