Hello Ottawa
In Today’s Edition
→ Mayoral candidate charged for death threats against Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and Premier Doug Ford. No, not that one. Not that one either
→ It’s Dog Day tomorrow at Carp Farmers Market
→ Made in Canada Deals of the Day: Free Mimosa Flower & Nectarine Milk Bath Cube from Dot & Lil and fabric and outdoor cushions from Tonic Living
– Martha and Darren
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PAKENHAMMER OF THE DAY
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Tavis Joron
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Joron led a team of 17 volunteers in the Pakenham Pasta Sauce Project over last weekend to cook 203 litres of tomato sauce to fight food insecurity. Seventy per cent of the sauce was pre-sold to locals, 30 per cent will be donated to local food banks, and local farmers were paid market rate for the tomatoes.
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— Facebook
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QUOTE
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So, one of the things we’ve decided here is that it’s easier just to not give students that temptation
– Carleton University associate professor Chris Jensen on having first-year Humanities students write with pens and paper and read physical books over laptops and artificial intelligence.
— Peter Szperling at CTV
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SPORTS
⚾ FRONTIER New York Boulders at Ottawa Titans
Saturday
🏈 CFL Ottawa RedBlacks at Calgary Stampeders
⚾ FRONTIER New York Boulders at Ottawa Titans
Sunday
⚽ NSL Calgary Wild at Ottawa Rapid
⚽ CPL Atlético Ottawa at Supra du Québec
⚾ FRONTIER New York Boulders at Ottawa Titans
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WHAT’S GOING ON AT CITY HALL
Ottawa Board of Health
Monday, September 21 at 5:00 pm
- Risk Management at Ottawa Public Health
- Comprehensive Health Promotion: Overview
- Delegation of Authority — Contracts Awarded for the Period of January 1 to June 30, 2026
- 2026 Operating Budget Q2 – Board of Health for the City of Ottawa Health Unit Status Report
Agenda
Whose flag is flying at City Hall today? Chile
City Hall flies the flags of embassies and high commissions on their national days.
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WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT
🚨 Mayoral candidate charged for death threats against Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and Premier Doug Ford. No, not that one. Not that one either. Geoffrey Nicholas Griplas, who is on the ballot under the name Geoff Nicholas, was charged with two counts of criminal harassment and two counts of uttering death threats. The alleged threats were posted on social media last week. Griplas previously ran for City Council in 2018 for Ward 1. There are 14 people running for mayor of Ottawa.– Arthur White-Crummey at CBC
🏀 Team Canada and Team USA fight for gold at the women’s 2026 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships tomorrow. The 10:00 am match will be held at TD Arena. After nine days of intense competition, the medal games pit Canada against USA for the Women’s Gold, Germany vs Great Britain for the Men’s Bronze, Netherlands vs Great Britain for the Women’s Bronze, and Australia vs Italy for Men’s Gold, all at the Arena at TD Place. (The Glebe) Tickets available here. – Canadian Paralympic Committee
↪ Sunday is the 19th Army Run in downtown Ottawa and Rockcliffe. Check here for street closures.
🦟 A third case of West Nile virus in a human has occurred in Ottawa. The previous two were reported last week. Ottawa Public Health advises people to take extra precautions against mosquitoes. – Josh Pringle at CTV
🩰 The Nutcracker will go on now that Ballet Jörgen has found a new location. The annual Christmas cracker was put on hiatus after the Meridian Theatres at Centrepointe were closed due to the Canada Day flooding. The Bronson Centre has come to the rescue, scheduling The Nutcracker December 14 and 15. – Ted Raymond at CTV
🛒 Every week @stromanker reads all the local grocery flyers and posts the deals on Ottawa Reddit. This week he highlights bacon ($2.99 for 375 g at Metro), eggs ($4.44 for an 18-pack at Independent and Loblaws), and cauliflower ($1.25 each at Food Basics). – /Ottawa
🗳️ Ottawa Civic Election
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THE DAILY POLL
How often do you use artificial intelligence in your daily life?
Commentary
▪️ “I imagine it will be some kind of a more comprehensive free trade agreement. It may result more stringent regulations of things like they have in the EU. I like these ideas. I hope it’s a mutually beneficial relationship if it happens.”
▪️ “Being able to live and work in the EU sounds amazing TBQH. If that happens …”
▪️ “🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺”
▪️ “Europe has approx. 30 million illegal immigrants. Where do you think they will end up if creepy con man Carney gets his way? Canada will not survive this.”
▪️ “Associate member means very solid trade agreements without integrating with the regulatory ecosystem. Many countries benefit greatly from similar deals and Canada can too.”
▪️ “Kind of weird that your poll does not acknowledge that there is no such thing as an associate member of the EU.”
▪️ “ABBA won Eurovision, and ABBA is great. So by that logic only good things can come from us joining Eurovision. I just realized this question was about the European Union. My answer still stands.”
▪️ “Anything to strengthen Canada’s position vis-a-vis the country of the orange buffoon.”
▪️ “Hmm. Well. Will this get me a family doctor, rent I can afford, or a pension?”
▪️ “Stability has a lot to recommend it and the Eurozone does have that going for it. Also they like and support real cultural activities much more than our southern neighbours do.”
▪️ “We need new alliances as we move away from total dependence on the USA.”
▪️ “This is what hedging our trade portfolio looks like.”
▪️ “Hopefully, this will allow a shorter line at customs and longer stays in Europe.”
▪️ “I trust this government to continue to act in Canada’s best interests.”
▪️ “It’s a great alliance and opportunity to expand our markets.”
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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
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✳️ 🆓 Learn from Anishinabe Algonquin leaders, Knowledge Keepers, Elders and community members about the culture, traditions, history and lands of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation at the first-ever Anishinàbe Algonquin Kìjigon | Anishinabe Algonquin Days / Journées at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building (The Glebe)
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✳️ 🆓 In advance of Lost Baggage Musical Theatre’s upcoming production of A Christmas Carol, directly following the Information Session at 7:00 pm tonight, the company will host a free puppetry workshop from 8:00 pm to 9:15 pm at the Lost Baggage Musical Theatre space at 480 Avalon Place. This short workshop led by Ottawa theatre artist Rebecca Russell will provide a basic introduction to the concepts of puppetry and offer the opportunity for hands-on exploration of exercises. (Cyrville)
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Richmond Fair’s first full day of country fun includes agricultural demos, home craft displays, the midway, and the demolition derby.
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See sky-high performances by aircraft at the Opening Night of Aero Gatineau Ottawa at Gatineau Airport. Canadian Forces Snowbirds, vintage aircraft, and Canadian Forces Skyhawks will perform.
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Yowfest, Ottawa’s multicultural urban music festival brings two days of Urban French, International, and Urban English sounds to the capital. Continues tomorrow at the Hellenic Event Centre (Carleton Heights / Rideauview)
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Manor Park’s Rock the Block is a community party with a pie-baking contest, a free movie screening, local vendors, and food and drink.
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The Main Event in Old Ottawa East entertains the kids with a Movie & Pizza Party from 6:00 pm, followed by Family Movie Night at 8:00 pm (Springhurst Park, Old Ottawa East).
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End another busy week with a visit to the weekly Gloucester Night Market.
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Third Eye Blind headlines CityFolk Festival. (Billings Bridge / Riverside South)
Cinema
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ByTowne Cinema: Restoration: Le Notti Bianche, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Rédemptions, Drawn In: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
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Mayfair Theatre: Tony, The Samurai and the Prisoner, The Room
Gigs
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Kate and Konah + Leighton. Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa
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UB40. History Ottawa
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80s Dance Party with DJ Remi Royal and The Start. House of TARG
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Jon Q Public, Broken by Friday, Audio Visceral, Heavy Lies. Avant Garde Bar
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Joe McLeod & The Public Service Duo. Red Bird
SATURDAY
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✳️ Road Trip: Pick up some native plants and perennials at the Almonte & District Horticultural Society Fall Plant Sale in the Library Gardens. Some tools and home decor will be available as well.
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✳️ 🆓 Learn from Anishinabe Algonquin leaders, Knowledge Keepers, Elders and community members about the culture, traditions, history and lands of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation at the first-ever Anishinàbe Algonquin Kìjigon | Anishinabe Algonquin Days / Journées at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building (The Glebe)
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✳️ Taste of Wellington is Hintonburg and Wellington Village’s biggest street festival, with businesses from Island Park Drive to Breezehill offering food, sidewalk sales, entertainment, and activities, all supporting the work of Parkdale Food Centre, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. This year the action continues with the travelling After Taste party.
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✳️ Road Trip: Go back in time to the 1860s Fall Fair Weekend at Upper Canada Village. See live demos, exhibitions, a Quilting Bee, and other 19th-century activities. Continues Sunday.
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✳️ Meet up with other collectors and fans at Ottawa Anime-Fest at Hilton Garden Inn Ottawa Airport.
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✳️ Seven years in, Old Ottawa East’s A Walk of Art is stronger than ever, and it’s once again set to fill the neighbourhood’s streets today.
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It’s Dog Day at Carp Farmers Market.
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Icelandic indie folk-rockers Of Monsters and Men headline CityFolk Festival. (Billings Bridge / Riverside South)
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To mark Suicide Awareness Month, the Ottawa Blues for Youth fundraiser offers an evening of chat, music performance, door prizes, and auctions. Proceeds will support Parents Lifeline of Eastern Ontario and The Royal’s programs for youth mental health. Gladstone Theatre (Little Italy).
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This year’s West End Studio Tour will benefit Parkdale Food Centre. Visitors can contribute gently used art supplies and financial donations at each stop on the tour. Take the tour today or tomorrow in Westboro, Wellington West, and Hintonburg.
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Ottawa’s tiniest of intimate venues, Gigspace, will be the perfect room for A Tribute to Henry Mancini.
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Visit the Orléans Legion’s Artisan Fall Market for one-of-a-kind items created by local makers.
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🆓 Put the pieces together at the September Puzzle Social. (Greenboro)
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Enjoy a night of music and stories in support of Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary (Westboro)
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The Main Event continues with the Community Party and the Community Garage Sale (Old Ottawa East)
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Aero Gatineau Ottawa continues. (Gatineau Airport)
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Buy something sparkly at Ottawa Lapsmith & Mineral Club’s 58th Annual Gem, Mineral & Jewellery Show and Sale. Nepean Sportsplex.
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Expect all things apple, from cider to pies, plus contests, awards, and door prizes at the 5th annual Stittsville Applefest FUNdraiser.
Cinema
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ByTowne Cinema: Klassic Kids: Labyrinth, 2026 Cat Video Fest, Restoration: Le Notti Bianche, Reel Drag: Mean Girls ft Sunshine Glitterchild & Saltina Shaker
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Mayfair Theatre: The Samurai and the Prisoner, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Gigs
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The Kathleen Edwards gig is cancelled. Refunds where you bought your ticket. History Ottawa
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Hammerfall, Evergreen, Don’t Tell Sarah. Overflow Brewing
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Cargo Cult. Brew Revolution
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The Unreliable Narrators of Canada. The Robo Lounge
SUNDAY
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Support the participants walking in the Dementia Society’s 30th anniversary 1 km Walk for Dementia.
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🆓 Centretown Community Association takes a trip back to the days of the birth of Bytown in the Ottawa 200 Walking Tour. Free, but donations are gratefully accepted. (Downtown)
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Road Trip: Go back in time to the 1860s Fall Fair Weekend at Upper Canada Village. See live demos, exhibitions, a Quilting Bee, and other 19th-century activities.
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Qillaniq is an Inuktitut word that describes how light from the sun or the moon shimmers brightly when reflecting on water. It is also the name of the exhibition co-curated by an Indigenous artist team from the circumpolar world. (ByWard Market)
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Atlético Ottawa meets FC Supra at the Stadium at TD Place (The Glebe)
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Ottawa Rapid meets Calgary Wild at the Stadium at TD Place. (The Glebe)
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There’s an afternoon of short films screening at Arts Court in the final day of Asinabka
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Alice Cooper closes out CityFolk Festival. (Billings Bridge / Riverside South)
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Patterson Creek Park will receive a glow-up courtesy of Ottawa Vegans and Vegetarians, who are meeting up to participate in a session of Cleaning Up The Capital.
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Buy something sparkly at Day 2 of Ottawa Lapsmith & Mineral Club’s 58th Annual Gem, Mineral & Jewellery Show and Sale. Nepean Sportsplex.
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This year’s West End Studio Tour will benefit Parkdale Food Centre. Visitors can contribute gently used art supplies and financial donations at each stop on the tour. Take the tour today in Westboro, Wellington West, and Hintonburg.
Cinema
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ByTowne Cinema: Reading Lolita in Tehran, Exhibition on Screen: James McNeill Whistler, 2026 Cat Video Fest, The Zone: Dark Star
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Mayfair Theatre: Tony, Earth’s Greatest Enemy, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Gigs
🌽 Get something fresh and local for dinner from an area market today:
MONDAY
Cinema
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ByTowne Cinema: Rédemptions, Staff Picks: The Worst Person in the World, 2026 Cat Video Fest
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Mayfair Theatre: The Samurai and the Prisoner, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Tony
JUST ANNOUNCED
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What does meaningful reconciliation actually look like — and what role do women have to play in advancing it? The Honest Talk will host a live evening with Indigenous author Rose LeMay and award-winning Anishinaabe journalist Tanya Talaga in a conversation about the issues facing First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women in Canada today. Wednesday September 30 at the National Arts Centre’s Azrieli Studio (Downtown).
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DEALS OF THE DAY
BUT, ONE MORE THING ...
Prolific author Paul Theroux has, at 85, written what he says is his final travel book, True North: On the Road in Canada.
As it turns out, he visited Ottawa when our truck-loving guests were on the streets downtown in 2022. The New York Times review of True North this week said:
He took a trip to freezing Ottawa in early 2022, after he heard that truckers protesting anti-pandemic measures had descended on Canada’s capital in what they called a “Freedom Convoy.” Some of the organizers issued a written demand to replace the government. He wandered through the chaos, agape at the rare sight of Canadian disorder.
The non-convoy Canadians who talked to Theroux were almost unanimously appalled. He also notes that though about 20 percent of Canadian truckers are Pakistani or Sikh, you wouldn’t know it from the protesters he saw. As it happened, nearly half the donations for the trucker protests came from the United States. As an article in The London Review of Books put it in April 2022, “Americans were directly funding a movement whose stated goal was to overthrow the democratically elected government of a neighboring country.”
Theroux’s view of the Convoy, eh, whatever. But we didn’t know about that London Review of Books piece, ‘Nothing ever happens in Ottawa’, written a mere two months after the truckers were given the heave-ho.
Written by poet and playwright Richard Sanger, who died five months later at age 62, it’s a great piece that looks into the minds of the participants and doesn’t find much there.
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RAPID RESPONSE QUALITY CONTROL
Comment of the Week: ‘Love the Pure Spring story. Lived here all my life and had no idea it was a local company.’
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THE END
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THE OTTAWAN is written and edited every weekday by Martha and Darren.
Is there something that Ottawa should know about? Email us at hello@theottawan.com. We read every single email.
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