Friday, 31 October 2025 |
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In Today’s Edition
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Best of Ottawa Awards 2026. Sunday is the final day to nominate your favourites. Thank you to everyone who has already made nominations in Dining, Drinking, Shops & Services, Culture, Media, and People & Places. |
– Martha and Darren
NUMBER
The number of Federal public employees who will be part of the testing phase of the government’s new Dayforce payroll system.
They will be the first group to be free of the beleaguered Phoenix payroll system which has caused financial headaches for thousands of employees for the past decade.
OTTAWANS OF THE DAY
The Carleton University researchers have launched an audio project called ‘Sounds Like Canada’, capturing the Canadian identity.
Sounds include ‘audio from the ‘Freedom Convoy’, traffic, construction, and the latest rendition of the ceremonial guard procession’.
To listen to the soundwalk, download the Echoes app at the Google Play Store or App Store, then follow these instructions.
QUOTE
– Kanata North councillor Cathy Curry on the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s complaint that Lansdown 2.0 will reduce capacity at TD Arena by 3,000 seats.
Mark Walter owns the both the league and the Ottawa Charge.
SPORTS
🏒 NHL Ottawa Senators 4 – Calgary Flames 3, yesterday
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Finance and Corporate Services Committee
Monday, November 3, 2025 at 9:30 am
Ottawa Board of Health
Monday, November 3, 2025 at 5:00 pm
🖼️ The Churchill portrait thief has lost an appeal of his sentence, and will try again at Supreme Court. Jeffrey Wood was convicted of stealing the Yousuf Karsh portrait of Winston Churchill, ‘The Roaring Lion’, from the Château Laurier hotel between Christmas 2021 and early January 2022. He was eventually tracked down, in part, by using his own name on an Amazon delivery of the cheap, replacement poster and sentenced to two years in prison. Wood’s lawyer argued that the judge had erred in ‘improperly relying on international law’. – CBC
🚨 Seven people have been charged with faking credentials to work with vulnerable people. The Elder and Vulnerable Adult Unit of the Ottawa Police Service say the seven forged things like diplomas in order to gain employment as personal support workers. However, instead of getting hired, they were reported to the police. – Natasha O’Neill at CityNews
🦉 An owl was freed by the Ottawa Fire Service from a pickup truck grill last Wednesday. Having discovered an owl had somehow got its head caught in the front grill, the truck’s owner drove it – yes – to the nearest fire station, No. 33 at McCarthy Road and Paul Anka Drive. Firefighters safely released the calm owl, whereupon the ‘large bird took a beat, mustered its dignity and flew away’. – Ottawa Citizen
🌪️ The shopping plaza destroyed by a tornado in 2018 is about to reopen after a rollercoaster rebuilding effort. Dunrobin Plaza in West Carleton once housed a beloved grocery and butcher, LCBO, Canada Post, and a pizzeria – all destroyed in September 2018. However, although the property owner attempted to rebuild, the insurance money was insufficient, leaving the building unfinished for the past few years.
New Toronto-based owners have now paid to finish it off, and a pharmacy, a dentist, a different pizzeria, and a Tim Horton’s are expected to open in 2026. – Marissa Galko in the Ottawa Business Journal
🍔 The annual Ultimate Burger Battle launches tomorrow, with dozens of restaurants competing for the honour of People’s Choice. The battle is a fundraiser for United Way, which will receive $2 from each burger sold.
Competing this year are:
How many trick-or-treaters do you expect tonight?
Previously in ottawan polls:
We asked, ‘Will you miss the Westgate Shopping Centre?’
Commentary
▪️ “Having Bayshore in the west end, is more than enough. I rarely go to shopping malls so was very surprised to see how busy Bayshore was on a weekday. Shopping malls do offer neutral social gathering places that don't involve liquor.”
▪️ “Very sorry to see it go as I have good memories of watching movies there in the late 70’s and early 80’s.”
▪️ “It was the first shopping centre I'd ever been to, so a little nostalgic as well.”
▪️ “Since all the malls are closing where will people in the buildings they are putting there shop?”
▪️ “I didn’t go there hardly at all the last 20 years or so ... but I feel like people are obsessed with on-line/Amazon shopping now. I have NEVER ordered anything thru Amazon! :)”
▪️ “Once Leishman bookstore and Marianne’s bra store was gone, so was my reason to go.”
▪️ “We are losing the ‘third spaces’ where we can casually hang out.”
▪️ “How I miss Shirley Leishman, Cozzy Coverings, and Monkey Joe’s car shows!”
▪️ “What/where is the Westgate Shopping Centre? That ought to tell you how useful and popular physical stores are at this moment in history.”
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✳️ Means change from previous edition
Seventeen Voyces and organist Matthew Larkin perform the haunting soundtrack to the classic silent film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Repeats tomorrow.
Meet new people at the Halloween Social Mixer at The Office.
There’s another chance to experience Monster Mixtape, at which National Arts Centre Orchestra plays an eerie Halloween movie soundtrack. Costumes encouraged.
Check out the traditional food, music, and sugar skull art at the ByWard Market Day of the Dead festival.
We’re relying on our readers to confirm if 1D Studios’ Studio B Horror, where it feels like you’re living inside a B movie, is ‘Ottawa’s most immersive haunted house’, because we’re too scared to go.
Take a scary wagon ride through the forest, then gather your courage to explore not one but two haunted structures on site at Skreamers.
Saunders Farm advises you to ‘bring friends you can outrun’ when you book tickets to this year’s Fright Fest.
Tickets are dwindling for tonight’s Stittsville Haunted Heritage Tour, a 90 minute stroll down Main Street Stittsville and six spooky stories about the ancestors of the area.
ByTowne Cinema: Dial M For Murder, The Mastermind, It Was Just An Accident, Halloween, Frankenhooker
Mayfair Theatre: Blue Moon, The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Gigs
Desert Island Big Band. LIVE on Elgin
80s Halloween Dance Party. House of TARG
Social Suicide. Avant-Garde Bar
Neon Ghosthouse. Club SAW
Marie Patenaude Trio. Night Oat
🎃 Halloween’s over, so what will you do with your pumpkin?
🆓 3rd Kanata Scouts invite you to drop off your gently used pumpkin at the back parking lot of the Eva James Memorial Community Centre anytime on Saturday. At 6:30 pm there will be a magical Pumpkin Walk in the forest.
Used jack-o-lanterns will get a second life in the 2025 Stittsville Pumpkin Parade.
🎃 Road Trip: In Almonte, the pumpkin drop off begins at 4:00 pm at the Alameda promenade. While the pumpkins illuminate the path, participants can make a donation to enjoy baked beans by Neighbourhood Tomato Friendship Oven.
Bring your own pumpkin and tool to the Osgoode Township Museum Pumpkin Smash (the smashed bits will become compost for the museum's garden).
Ottawa South Eco-Action Network created a handy resource for finding farms and centres that could benefit from your used pumpkin
🎄 Church Bazaars, Christmas Markets, and Craft Fairs
Rideau Park United Church 2203 Alta Vista Drive, Christmas Treasures Bazaar.
Road trip: Christmas in the Valley Artisan Show at the John Levi Community Centre, 182 Bridge St (upper hall), Almonte.
St Bartholomew Anglican Church ‘Infamous Bazaar’ in New Edinburgh
✳️ Maker House returns to its pop-up location in Place d'Orléans, and will be open during mall hours until the end of December. Shop for your Made in Canada gifts and stationery.
🆓 Julie Daniluk RHN will give a free lecture about the latest science and practical tools to help identify and address hidden triggers of inflammation. After Q & A, Daniluk will be signing copies of her book Meals that Heal Inflmmation. Pre-registration required.
Seventeen Voyces and organist Matthew Larkin perform a live soundtrack to the classic silent film The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Renowned Italian violinist Elisa Citterio opens Thirteen Strings’ 50th anniversary season with Human Passions, a program of Italian Baroque music.
Global Pet Foods at 1204 Wellington St West is celebrating 15 years in business with in-store festivities like loot bags for dogs and cats, a scavenger hunt with prizes, raffle baskets, and a photo booth.
Visit The Spaniel’s Tale bookshop, where writer Coltrane Seesequasis will sign copies of The Threads of Time, his second book in a planned four-volume story of a young wolf named Silversong.
Meet the vendors who could make your wedding dreams come true, at the Ottawa Wedding Show (EY Centre, today and tomorrow).
Latin Nights’ Post Halloween dance party by Agua Dance takes over 3Brasseurs at 240 Sparks (Corner of Bank and Sparks streets).
Yoga, breathwork, ecstatic dance, and circus arts converge at Ecstatic Circus: 3rd Annual Conscious Halloween Dance Party at Ottawa Circus School.
Check out the traditional food, music, and sugar skull art as the ByWard Market Day of the Dead festival continues.
Nightmare on Queen Street ‘25 by Lez Go offers lesbians the chance to meet new people and dance the night away. Costumes encouraged.
Ottawa Choral Workshops opens its new season with a presentation of Maurice Duraflé's Requiem, Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens.
Experience the Kimono Fashion Show at Canadian Museum of History.
ByTowne Cinema: It Was Just An Accident, The Mastermind, Big Trouble in Little China
Mayfair Theatre: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Blue Moon, Queens of the Dead
Gigs
Post Halloween Post Hardcore with F!TH, Gallowspine,QWAN, Tourelle.27 Club
The Gruesomes, Muck and the Mires, DJ Shanker. House of TARG
The Paul Weber Band. Red Bird
Otis Strange. Avant-Garde Bar
Pandemonium Fright Fest 2. Dominion Tavern
The Cr-Afterlife Second-Hand Craft Supply Market is where crafters, makers, and DIY peeps go to stock up on supplies, re-ignite their creativity, and enjoy the community vibe.
Riverside Park Community Association will be dropping pumpkins from a 50 foot fire fighting ladder. Bring a donation for the Brookfield Community Food Cupboard (or cash).
Alta Vista Community Association Kids Halloween Party 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at Alta Vista Park.
100 vendors are ready to impress you at the Orléans Comic Book & Novelty Show.
Staying in the East end, the Heart of Orléans Market hits all the Holiday feels with baked treats, gift ideas, locally-made crafts, distilleries and breweries, and more.
Wear that Halloween costume one more time at Covered Bridge Brewing’s Dio de Los Muertos family day. Expect Mexican-inspired specials from the food trucks, activities for the kids, and great beer for the grown-ups.
Monkey Rock plays a Halloween Monkey Rock Music party at Overflow Brewing. It's perfect for kids aged two to 10.
ByTowne Cinema: Diam M For Murder, It Was Just An Accident, The Mastermind, Restoration: Misery
Mayfair Theatre: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Blue Moon, Queens of the Dead
Gigs
Roxanne. Atomic Rooster
Tony Turner. Red Bird
The Sunday Night Revue. Irene’s Pub
Open Mic. Moose McGuire's Orléans
Plain Jane and the Crossroad Blues Band. Rainbow Bistro
The public forum on the Lansdowne 2.0 Proposal starts at 6:30 pm at Salvation Army Barrhaven Church, 102 Bill Leather Drive, Nepean K2J 0R3. You can register or just walk in.
Everyone’s invited to the Anytime Fitness Lyon Grand Opening Party at 440 Laurier Ave W. Start the party season with an EVOLT 360 degree body scan, take a fitness challenge, and enjoy refreshments.
It’s time that you put your knowledge of the shoulder pad decade to good use. Start the week with a triumphant showing at Boston Pizza Barrhaven’s 80s Music Bingo Night.
Develop your Improv skills at the weekly Wheel of Whatever by Wayward Improvised Theatre. This week's class is an introduction to directing Maestro.
Take the beginner Lindy Hop class from Ottawa Vintage Swing, and get ready to own the dancefloor at your office holiday party.
ByTowne Cinema: The Mastermind, It Was Just An Accident, Big Trouble in Little China
Mayfair Theatre: Blue Moon, If I had Legs I’d Kick You, Queens of the Dead
Gigs
Karaoke Mondays. Atomic Rooster
Questionable Behaviour Trivia. Heart & Crown Barrhaven
Ottawa New Music Creators are launching their new festival on November 7 and 8, at the Ottawa Art Gallery Alma Duncan Salon. The inaugural Ottawa New Music Festival will feature performances by pianist Katherine Dowling and composer/violinist Shanti Sivarulrasa on Friday and Architek Percussion and Sarah Albu on Saturday. Buy tickets to the separate events or choose the 2 for 1 deal.
The third annual Minoshkite Indigenous Music & Arts Festival 2025 hits Bronson Music Theatre November 13–14. Experience performances by top artists and meaningful programming in partnership with the Downie Wenjack Fund and Canada's Music Incubator.
Book your hockey-mad son or daughter into one of the Sens 2025 Holiday Speciality Clinics happening December 22, 23, and 27.
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Use the code HOMETEAM to save 10% all weekend on Canadian-made womenswear at Beddome. |
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Regular readers of THE OTTAWAN know of our love for the tiny Ottawa River ferry service that connects West Carleton.
Nicholas Kohler in the Ottawa Citizen has a colourful sketch of the town on the other side, Quyon, as it welcomes hundreds of ‘trippy’ electronica music lovers this weekend and next at the Festival Fantôme.
Two interesting items gleaned from the piece:
What did you think of today’s ottawan? |
Comment of the Week: ‘The video of the Parliament Bldgs. being restored was excellent’
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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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