WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT
🚨 One of the four people arrested in a bomb making scheme is from Ottawa and Gatineau. The 27 year-old man is the only one who did not live in London, residing instead in Ottawa and Gatineaunand working as a investment advisor. But like the other three, he was an alumnus of Western University. The three men and one woman have various charges against them, including an allegation that they stored chemicals that could be used to make explosives. – Kendra Seguin at CBC
❓By London, we mean London, Ontario. It’s OTTAWAN style that we assume that you, dear reader, are reasonably intelligent and aware of the general vicinity in which you live so we almost never add the province to a town name. We make exceptions when it comes to small towns far away, in BC or Newfoundland, say.
And we refuse to add a QC to microvilles in the Outaouais, regardless if a mention in THE OTTAWAN is probably the first time its name has ever appeared in print.
But London, man. We don’t want to add an ON but even we can’t read that paragraph above without thinking that the alleged mad bombers live in Old Blighty. We’re open to suggestions. hello@theottawan.com
🚌 The Diefenbunker is seeking its 2026 Artist-in-Residence. The bunker/museum says the residency ‘will culminate with an exhibition or a presentation of work completed during the residency, as well as an artist-led tour of the exhibition or a public talk’. Alas, the selected artist will not be allowed to live in the Diefenbunker’s bedrooms deep underground. Deadline is March 6. – Diefenbunker
🚑 The Ottawa Citizen has published five charts to help visualize public service job cuts. They show ‘Planned WFA reductions announced in the last two months’, ‘Percentage of total positions set to be eliminated through WFA’, ‘Planned executive cuts by organization’, ‘Percentage of executive positions to be cut by department (through career transition)’, and ‘Planned public service cuts by method’. – Ben Andrews and Matteo Cimellaro
THE DAILY POLL
Have you ever visted the Diefenbunker?
▪️ “I can only imagine the hell that having a P3 in charge of parking enforcement would be. Chicago got to experience it!”
▪️ “You can only park for a hour or two mainly downtown or face a big ticket. So I think I may take the LRT — but since that service is so bad I just stay home.”
▪️ “It’s wild that car drivers somehow think that free storage of their vehicle wherever they please is their God-given entitlement. In Autowa, housing for cars trumps housing for people.”
▪️ “The stress of the metre running out makes outings and shopping so much less enjoyable!”
▪️ “I do not agree with them because many people are struggling financially now and you can’t even park anywhere free anymore. And it certainly doesn’t encourage people to shop or frequent businesses where you have to consider a parking expense.”
▪️ “Greedy city!”
▪️ “I actually received a ticket for being one minute over the parking expiry. I think the rise in cost is just to fund the rise in salaries and useless spending the City has decided to make.”
▪️ “The person who runs Bylaw enforcement should be the Mayor!”
▪️ “Ah, parking meters! The fine you pay just for the right to shop.”
▪️ “Pay parking is rightly intended to encourage folks to find other ways of getting around. Paying for parking is annoying, but bus fare is cheaper. Don’t be annoyed for the decision you made to drive!”
▪️ “I like paying for parking but please let me pay for enough time so that I can enjoy a nice dinner or watch a movie at the Mayfair :)”
▪️ “Definitely a cash grab, I mean really raising the rates at places that the same city is trying to get people to go to like the Parkdale market! But also totally annoying as who eats dinner in the max time in the meter! Arg!”
▪️ “I don’t have a car, and the parking situation doesn't make me want one ...”
▪️ “It’s actually very fairly priced and with the app, you can totally keep an eye on things.”
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