Hello Ottawa

STATISTICS OTTAWA

NUMBER

• $33,787

• The average amount of money that could be cut from developers fees in Ottawa if a City plan is implemented. That would drop the average amount of fees that a developer would have to pay to the City to $28,781.

• While the idea is to reduce the cost of building homes, there would be no requirement by developers to pass on the savings. The plan would cost taxpayers $17 million.

• – Arthur White-Crummey at CBC

OTTAWAN OF THE DAY

• Mathieu Chatelain

• The Rockland father of four is training to run 100  km in 24 hours to raise $100,000 for the Ottawa Hospital.

• Chatelain says the fundraiser is in gratitude to the Hospital, which performed lifesaving work on his father decades ago.

– Leah Larocque at CTV       Donate

QUOTE

“

• Perhaps it was too late in the day

–  Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, saying that he understands why some residents were ‘surprised and upset’ about the late night unannounced fireworks the other day. Sutcliffe says that he has been ‘focused on the storm cleanup’ and didn’t know what City staffers had planned.

– CBC

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WHAT’S GOING ON AT CITY HALL

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

THE DAILY POLL

What do you think about the fireworks situation?

🔘 Obviously, if a big show is rained out, the fireworks should be set off in secret later that week

🔘 The same people approved Lansdowne 2.0, so ...

🔘 The same people that approved the O Train project, so ...

🔘 The same people approved construction in Byward Market in the middle of summer tourist season, so ...

🔘 The Night Mayor should have been consulted

• 
  Previously in OTTAWAN polls:

• How do you feel about public access to toilets in Ottawa?

  • 71% There should be more clean, public-provided toilets across the city

  • 7%  It’s not up to the City to provide a series of toilets, only where it makes sense

  • 5% There are plenty of coffee shops and hotels where one can make a quick stop

  • 11% There is a direct relation between public facilities and clean streets

  • 6% Obviously THE OTTAWAN is jealous and wants a Golden Plunger award of its own

  • 
    Commentary

▪️ “More toilets please!! 🚽 We have a lot of unhoused people in this city, where are they supposed to go, especially overnight when libraries and coffee shops are closed? Access to safe clean toilets also affects families or people with disabilities like me.”

▪️ “Perhaps the city could replace dome planned tree plantings with toilet installations.”

▪️ “Many people have medical conditions that require them to find washrooms often. Many cannot afford to go into coffee shops and such.”

▪️ “It’s a public right — the Right of Release and Relief.”

▪️ “Some areas of this city reek of urine and I don’t think the smell would be as pungent if people had access to clean toilets! Everyone deserves a nice place to pee.”

▪️ “Tourists and citizens alike should have access to clean public toilets.”

▪️ “Follow the lead of Australia, France and Japan and provide LOTS more free and accessible public toilets so I don't feel like a freeloader when ‘sneaking in’ to use a toilet in a restaurant/eatery.”

▪️ “Public Toilets should be avaibable at all outside sports factilites where there is no resonable / close access to one like a Tim’s or McDonald's, etc. Not everyone wants to ‘p’ in the bushes.”

▪️ “Public bathrooms and access to clean drinking water — both without having to pay — should be a basic human right.”

▪️ “I heard an interview on CBC Radio 1 awhile back on this subject, and the interviewee said that Ottawa is one of the worst cities, globally, for its lack of public toilets.”

▪️ “So many establishments say for customer use only so we do definitely need more public washrooms and the City of Ottawa ones at parks and beaches need to be open earlier.”

▪️ “It’s that or people act like the clownvoyers and shit in the streets. That was fun huh? Also you spelled sense wrong :)”

▪️ “And a map of available locations.”

▪️ “Civilized cities have public toilets available. Their removal is part of our culture’s suburbanization, where it's assumed that people spend most of their time at home, in private places. We need to reverse suburbanization.”

▪️ “Many coffee and restaurants do not allow someone to use their facilities unless you make a purchase. So we need public facilities that are well maintained.”

▪️ “I am tired of encountering biohazards in random places downtown.”

▪️ “Only in strategic locations, like Parliament Hill. roflmao.”

HISTORIC OTTAWA LOGO T-SHIRTS

BNR T-Shirt Bell Northern Research was founded in 1971. In 1996, it was purchased by Nortel and eventually shared that companies fate. The BNR campus in Ottawa was fondly deemed the 'Big Nerd Ranch', and is now the headquarters of the Department of National Defence. 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

TUESDAY

• Partnered with Ottawa 200, Music and Beyond Festivalpresents another in its Music of 1826 series of concerts. Bytown 200 -  A Musical Journey Through Ottawa’s History explores Ottawa's origins through archival images, music, and narration. Noon at Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre(Centretown).   At 2:00 pm, the Festival continues as Les Bonéades perform at Church or St. Barnabas (Centretown). At the same location at 7:30 pm, Tom Allen & Friends present Brahms in New York, a program that speculates what the composer's life would have been like had he moved to New York. The day’s programming is rounded out by Trumpet Celebration: From Handel to Hollywood at Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre (7:30 pm).  

• Got a free Tuesday afternoon? Check out Robo Social Club from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Meet people, play games, and relax over coffee or lunch. (The Glebe)  

• 🆓 For the fourth summer, the Faerie Picnic PopUp will fly in Strathcona Park, thanks to the aerial artists at Cirquonscient. The hour long show is suitable for families. Bring a picnic blanket. (Sandy Hill) 

• Bring your own mat to City Hall Yoga (noon to 12:45 pm. (Downtown)

• Prog rockers Cohered and Cambria play Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa. (Gloucester) 

• The Wood Terrace Series at National Arts Centre is free. Tonight: Rum Ragged plays folk music. (Downtown)  

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: The Invite, Marie Antoinette: 20th Anniversary. 

• Mayfair Theatre: The Sheep Detectives, Maddie’s Secret, The Furious

Gigs

• Benin International Musical. National Arts Centre

• Trivia Night. Royal Oak Stittsville.

WEDNESDAY

• Every evening at 5:15 pm in the non-winter months the cows at Canada Agriculture and Food Museum make their way from the barn to the pasture. During the 5/15 Farm Run humans will also be making their way along farm roads, but for a cause. While it’s too late to get a personalized running bib, and the kids’ 1K is sold out, adults can still register to run, and a portion of your running fee will be donated to The Good Companions.

• As new day dawns at Music and Beyond Festival, Lucy Landymore delivers a Masterclass in Percussion and Writing for Vibraphone, for percussion and composition students. Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre (Centretown). At 2:00 pm Cameron Crozman (cello) and Meagan Milatz (piano) play Enescu, Louie, Debussy, and Rachmaninoff at Church of St. Barnabas (Centretown) Russian pianist and composer Arsentiy Kharitonov plays a diverse program (Church of St. Barnabas (Centretown), and Paradora Tango Ensemble with Tangodeoro will announce their program from the stage at Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre (Centretown). 

• Ottawa Lebanese Festival returns to St. Elias Antichian Orthodox Cathedral, running until Sunday (July 19). Entry costs a reasonable $3 per person (or $10 per 4-pack), but you'll get in for free if you go before 5:00 pm. There are multiple opportunities to sample the cuisine and you'll also find a market for shopping, a midway for playing, a stage for entertainment, and tours of St. Elias Antichian Orthodox Cathedral.

• 🆓 Road Trip The Almonte 5 Wednesdays in July concert series is a chance to slow down and enjoy local music under the evening sky. It's free, but donations collected at the event support not only the festival but a citizen-led park. This week, Spencer Scharf takes to the stage at 6:00 pm, followed by Nick Straccini at 7:00 pm. 

• Natasha Bedingfield headlines Bluesfest. 

• The 2026 season of Summer Maze Days at Saunders Farm starts today. Families will want to check out the maze and other activities such as the puppet show, play structures, wagon rides, and splash pad. Other attractions, the zipline and the Bear Factory are available at an additional cost. 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema:  The Invite, Steal This Story, Please! 

• Mayfair Theatre: Maddie’s Secret, Pinocchio  

Gigs

• Steve Boudreau Trio. The Robo Lounge

• Jazz Jam (with the Beeched Wailers). Irene’s Pub

• Hip Hop Jam. Red Bird

• The Space Between, Bella Donna. House of TARG

THURSDAY

• Beer and Bites brings pairings of beer from Brauwerk Hoffman (Rockland) and food from St-Estèphe to Vanier Sugar Shack.(Vanier) 

• Festival Parasol opens at Hôtel-Casino du Lac-Leamy for four days of themed entertainment. Today's theme is country; you'll move like a pro when you take the line-dancing class at 6:00 pm (Gatineau)   

• 🆓 At today’s Songs from the Shed on Sparks St., May Davis and Jim Ray McDonald perform from noon to 1:30 pm. (Downtown) 

• Today’s programming at Music and Beyond Festival begins with a recital by Lucy Landymore at noon (Centretown). At 2:00pm The Delinquent Monk: Paris through the eyes of Francis Poulenc explores the music of Paris between 1928 and 1945. (Church of St. Barnabas). Hear the big sounds of Hannaford Street Silver Band at Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre at 7:30pm. (Centretown). The Juno award-winning Pro Coro Canada choir performs at St. Matthews Anglican Church in the Glebe. 

• The Speed Puzzle Competition is no genteel evening at the card table; this is competitive puzzle solving that is helped along with beer, food, and teamwork. At the Royal Oak at Bank and Maclaren. 

• At Bluesfest, Lord Huron headlines. 

• The Goulbourn Museum is offering the chance to create your own 19th century top hat or fascinator at the Village Hat Shop, today through Sunday. 

• Ottawa Rapid plays Halifax Tides FC at TD Place. (The Glebe) 

• 🆓 This week Lansdowne Park Movie Nights is screening Night at the Museum. Be there round about sunset.(The Glebe)  

• 🆓 Next Door at Night’s Ottawa Mystic Market has vendors, readings, and, naturally, a mystical vibe. (Wellington West)

• Shop from the well chosen vendors at this week’s Hintonburg Night Market. 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: Steal This Story, Please! The Invite, Gummo 

• Mayfair Theatre: The Sheep Detectives, 40 Years of Fuckin’ Up, The Furious 

Gigs

• The Burningtree, Emerg, The Son, Idioglossia. Avant-Garde Bar

• The Deserves. The Robo Lounge

• Sad Girl Café. GigSpace

• Irene’s Thursday Blues Sessions with Guest Host Terry Gillespie. Irene’s Pub

JUST ANNOUNCED / NOW BOOKING

• What’s it like being a flower farmer? Find out at Ferme des Petites Victories' Flower Farmer for the Day: Harvest & Arrange Workshop in Luskville on August 8. 

• The  Smut Slam Style Fundraiser is looking for storytellers and audience members. July 20 at Club SAW. Participants can also bid on silent auction items. (Downtown)

DEALS OF THE DAY

Black is back at M0851, as in, black bags are 30% off for a limited time. Meanwhile, you'll find deals in other colours on the website's sale pages. For example, we spotted an sweet card holder in orange leather for $29.00. Love!

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BUT, ONE MORE THING ...

Ottawa bureau chief of the New York Times, Ian Austen, takes us inside the the National Research Council of Canada’s  fire safety lab and watches them burn things in order to save them.

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.