STATISTICS OTTAWA

NUMBER

• 26

• – The number of items about the 2026 OC Transpo budget listed by Stittsville ward councillor Glen Gower in his newsletter, the majority of which are positive.

• Glen Gower Newsletter

•  

OTTAWAN OF THE DAY

• Trinity Lowthian

• The 23 year-old, a Team Canada wheelchair fencer and University of Ottawa master’s degree student in human kinetics with a specialization in sport management, has been selected as a 2026 Rhodes Scholar.

• Lowthian was selected as one of two Rhodes Scholars-elects from Ontario and one of 11 from across Canada.

• Martin Cleary in Ottawa Sports Pages
   

QUOTE

• “

• What is Chicago?

• – The wrong response given by a contestant on the television game show Jeopardy last night to the clue ‘Mark Sutcliffe, who studied political science at Carleton University there’ in the category of ‘Capital City Mayors’.

• The mayor of Ottawa, Mark Sutcliffe, has posted the video clip on his Instagram.

• Josh Pringle at CTV
   

 

SPORTS

• 🏒 NHL Ottawa Senators 6 – Columbus Blue Jackets 3, yesterday

• 🏒 CHL Les Olympiques de Gatineau 4 – Le Phoenix de Sherbrooke 6, yesterday

• 

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  WHAT’S GOING ON AT CITY HALL

  No more meetings this week

  Meetings and Agendas

  

  WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

  🚄 The Ottawa – Montréal leg of the new high speed rail project will be the first to be constructed. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon announced this morning that ‘the relatively short, flat and straight section is the most logical option for development’ of the Alto High Speed Line. The exact route has not been announced. Construction is expected to begin in just over three years. 

  As of today, the stops on the full line would be Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Laval, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Québec. – CBC 

  ↪ If when built, it will take only 58 minutes to travel from Ottawa to Montréal. This is in comparison to the 12 hours it took passengers to get from Brockville to Ottawa yesterday after a mechanical problem.

   

  🌻 The Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library will be giving away free seeds from native wildflowers tomorrow. The library says native seeds require ‘virtually no watering or weeding so they are much less work than gardening with non-native plant’ and ‘can help restore ecosystems and re-establish corridors of habitat for wildlife’. The Library will be dispensing from the Tony Graham Recreation Complex, 100 Charlie Rogers Place from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. – Leslie McKay at Stittsville Central 

   

  🏗️ The renovation of Parliament’s Centre Block has turned a corner. For the past several years, crews have been digging under the building and installing steel piles to temporarily hold up the Centre Block. Now work begins to install over 500 seismic isolators which will separate the building from the ground and help protect it from earthquakes. Also, starting in the spring, a steel scaffolding frame will envelope the Peace Tower hiding it from view. The entire project, started in 2018, is expected to finish in 2031. – Ottawa Construction News 

   

  🚨 Court Circular

  ◼️ A man in Bell’s Corners has been charged with criminal harassment by repeated communication and criminal harassment by threatening conduct after placing posters around the area targeting a specific woman. At least eight posters were placed on light poles and mailboxes.  – Ted Raymond at CTV

  

  THE DAILY POLL

  Have you finished your Christmas shopping?

  🔘 Yes, it is well in hand

  🔘 No, and I don’t need the stress from you OTTAWAN

  🔘 Of course not. It’s not yet Christmas Eve

  🔘 I won’t be partaking in this

  🔘 I think you mean Hanukkah shopping

  • 
    Previously in ottawan polls:

  • We asked, ‘How satisfied are you with the city budget?’

    • 2% I think it is well balanced

    • 11% I think it was poorly considered

    • 14% Why have City councillors? No imaginative decisions were made

    • 14% Not enough was cut from the budget

    • 60% If the City collected beer cans and wine bottles, it would bring in some money

  • 
    Commentary

  ▪️ “What a GREAT idea! Don’t saddle it with lots of bureaucratic processes!”
  
  ▪️ “Classic mayor finding ‘savings’ by kicking much needed maintenance down the road for pretty much everything.”
  
  ▪️ “Taxes PLUS levies are around 5%, driving up rents and property taxes.” 
  
  ▪️ “Sutcliffe is worst mayor.”
  
  ▪️ “The focus can’t be holding the line on property taxes at the expense of services and city-funded initiatives that would benefit everyone in the long run.”
  
  ▪️ “Parts are fine and I understand it, but why in the world would they change the O Train times to every 6 minutes between 9 & 3 and leave it every 10 minutes before that when people are going to work? Should be the opposite!”
  
  ▪️ “I did not read the budget, so I don’t have an opinion on that; however, I think they could definitely raise some money with the bottles and cans!”
  
  ▪️ “People can’t afford this city constantly upping their taxes because of hairbrained ideas like Landsdowne!!! Tourists won’t be going there!”
  
  ▪️ “You can’t just keep spending what you don’t have. Thankfully, I’m old, so I will not be alive when it all crashes.”
  
  ▪️ “A little creativity by city council rather ‘rubber stamp’ what city staff provide would help to reduce costs going forward. It’s the same approach year after year after year.”
  
  ▪️ “I’m still mad about Lansdowne 2.0.”
  
  ▪️ “I want to pay more taxes so we can all get decent services.”​​​

  

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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

  • DJ Remi Royale and The Start bring the 80s Dance Party to House of TARG. They say it’s ‘The most authentic 80s dance party in the universe!’ (Old Ottawa South)  

  • The difficult to categorize but highly entertaining The Storyville Mosquito by Montréal's Kid Koala settles in for a series of shows at National Arts Centre. (Downtown)   

  • Get your skates on for the live DJ sessions on Friday and Saturday evenings at Ottawa Christmas Market’s Patinoire Skating Rink. (Lansdowne) 

  • Queers & Beers: HoliGay edition at Bar Robo is as much about ugly sweaters as it is heels and glam. Bar Robo (Downtown) 

  Cinema

  • Bytowne Cinema: Peter Hujar’s Day, Bugonia, The Secret Agent, Drunken Cinema: Die Hard  

  • Mayfair Theatre: Sentimental Value, The Librarians, Eyes Wide Shut 

  Gigs

  • The Dreadnoughts, The Creepshow, The Filthy Radicals. Overflow Brewing

  • Rockin' With the Docs. Rainbow Bistro

  • Bat Sabbath, Sliptomb, Pissfits. The 27 Club

  • Boreal. Red Bird

  • Lynn Miles - Winter. Irene’s Pub

  • Kallisto, Quite Alright. Avant-Garde Bar

     

SATURDAY

• Pique winter edition at Arts Court, featuring the Queertopia Kiki Ball is a ‘Genre-bending hip hop, ambient-glitch, conceptual installation’. (Downtown)  

• 🆓 The creative folks at Square Lemon are showing a free Christmas Ornaments Workshop in the middle of the Ho Ho Holiday Craft Market. (The Glebe). 

• Get your skates on for the live DJ sessions on Friday and Saturday evenings at Ottawa Christmas Market’s Patinoire Skating Rink. (Lansdowne)

• Support the Westboro Region Food Bank charity drive with a non-perishable food item or hygiene product. (Westboro Village) 

Cinema

• Bytowne Cinema: Sing Along! White Christmas, The Secret Agent, Peter Hujar’s Day, Fargo 

• Mayfair Theatre:  Comedy & Christmas Chaos, Sentimental Value, The Room, Saturday Night Sinema  

Gigs

• Prog Rock Evening. Avant-Garde Bar

• Jazzin’ The Holidays. GigSpace

• Operatic Revelry. Rainbow Bistro

• Dumai Dunai, Raphael Weinroth-Browne, the Reverb Syndicate. House of TARG

SUNDAY

• The RA Winter Market has a Kids Zone where littles can craft to their hearts' content. 

• Attention, sharks: the Fundraiser Poker Tournament at Moose McGuire’s Orléans starts at noon sharp. RSVP now to get in on the action. (Orléans)

• The entire family can burn off excess seasonal energy at the Monkey Rock Year End Rock Show. Choose from shows at 11:00 am, 2:00 pm and 4:30 pm. Overflow Brewing (Brookfield Gardens) 

• Motel Chelsea's Breakfast with Santa offers a meet-and-greet with the man in red, crafts for the kids, a letter-writing station, and more. (Chelsea, QC)

• Algonquin poet Albert Dumont launches his new book of poetry at Christ Church Cathedral (Sparks St.) 

• Bring a donation for West Carleton Food Centre to the Carp Santa Claus Parade.  

• Loosen up at the Sunday Giggle Games - 90 Minutes of Silly Adult Games at the Hintonburg Public House.

• Soak up the European vibes at the Ottawa Christmas Market (Lansdowne). It’s open til 8:00 pm tonight. 

• Enjoy a nice spot of tea and a scone at Working Title Kitchen’s  Holiday High Tea. (Lowertown)  

• It’s country-cozy time at Christmas in the Valley with Wayne Rostad & Friends. Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe (West End)   

• 🆓 Have a hoot in the ReStore Holiday Photo Booth pop-up at 250 City Centre Ave (Centretown West) 

• 🆓 NAC Orchestra’s FanFair is more than a concert; the musicians present a fundraising bake sale in support of Ottawa Food Bank and Snowsuit Fund, and OrKidstra play a pre-show concert. It all happens at Southminster United Church. (Old Ottawa South) 

• Boston Pizza in Barrhaven invites you to meet the green guy himself at the Grinchmas Lunch Party! (Barrhaven) 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: Klassik Kids: The Muppet Christmas Carol, Bugonia, The Secret Agent, Staff Picks: The Squid and the Whale 

• Mayfair Theatre: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Eyes Wide Shut 

Gigs

 

• Craig Cardiff. LIVE on Elgin 

• Lynn Miles. Irene’s Pub

• Femininomenon. The Laff

MONDAY

• Hear the Bard’s words set to music as Musica Viva Singers perform Winter's Tales: Shakespeare for the Seasons. (Centretown)  

• 🆓 Start the week with SoulRhythms at National Arts Centre (Downtown)  

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: Peter Hujar’s Day, The Secret Agent, Bugoni

• Mayfair Theatre: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Okean Elzy: Stormwatch, Safe 

Gigs

• Jonas Brothers. Canadian Tire Centre

• Karaoke. Atomic Rooster

• The 5-Star Monday Band. The Laff

• Geek Trivia. Level One Game Pub

JUST ANNOUNCED / NOW BOOKING

• Fantastic foodie gift idea: Hemispheres: A Wine Dinner of Extremes brings Chef David Godsoe and David Foran of Cru Wine Merchants together to create an intimate four-course  journey. January 28, 2026 at Restaurant e18hteen. (Byward Market) 

• How about a New Year’s Eve party with friends, or just one other special person. The three-course dinner with optional wine is the final NYE event for Play Food & Wine as it winds down permanently.