City left residents without leadership during convoy, inquiry hears

Good morning!

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For our first episode, we’ve got an interview with mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney about their policies and priorities. 

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— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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Weather Report

Monday: 11 🌡️ 5 | 🌧

Tuesday: 7 🌡️ 2 | 🌦

Wednesday: 8 🌡️ 2 | 🌧

WEEKLY LOOKOUT

Convoy inquiry: Mayor Jim Watson will take the hot seat at the Emergencies Act inquiry this week. Also scheduled to appear: Coun. Diane Deans, city manager Steve Kanellakos, acting deputy Ottawa police chief Patricia Ferguson, and OPP superintendent Craig Abrams.

Debate night: Four mayoral candidates, including Mark Sutcliffe and Catherine McKenney, will debate at Lansdowne Park 7 pm tonight. The debate will be livestreamed on RogersTV.

CONVOY

First week of testimony heard from terrorized residents, councillors without support from city leadership

What happened: The inquiry into the convoy and the use of the federal Emergencies Act heard from witnesses, including residents who told of weeks of anxious deprivation. 

One woman, Victoria De La Ronde, who is visually impaired, told the commission she could not get necessities delivered to her home, or get around because roads were blocked. After the endless noise and smell of diesel fumes, she still experiences headaches, vertigo, and mental health aftereffects from the experience, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

• “There was no place to go, no place to hide,” Victoria De La Ronde said, according to the Citizen.

Devastating for businesses: The heads of two downtown BIAs told the commission the impact of the shutdown on their members. About 80 percent of Sparks Street businesses closed for the duration, and the three-week closure of the Rideau Centre cost millions of dollars per day. 

Not taken seriously: The two councillors whose wards were under occupation, councillors Mathieu Fleury and Catherine McKenney, said the mayor’s office and the suburban councillors didn’t take the siege seriously until too late. 

• Fleury said the declaration of a state of emergency more than two weeks after the protest started was largely symbolic, according to CBC. The city gave none of the regular updates it typically would during a flood or other similar emergency.

OTTAWA BY THE NUMBERS

💰 $1,909: The average price to rent a one-bedroom apartment in the city last month, up 17.7 percent from last year. [CTV]

🗳 33,842: This many people cast an advance ballot Friday, ahead of the Oct. 24 election.

ELECTION

Endorsement weekend for mayoral candidates

What happened: Election day is only a week away, and the front-running mayoral candidates spent the weekend announcing a series of high-profile endorsements.

Mark Sutcliffe released a list of endorsements with 29 names, some of which had been previously announced. Among the notable new names were: outgoing Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder, former Conservative foreign minister John Baird, Liberal MPP Steven Blais, and Liberal MP Chandra Arya.

Catherine McKenney received endorsements from former Liberal environment minister Catherine McKenna, and former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney.

• What about Bob? Former mayor Larry O’Brien endorsed his onetime opponent Bob Chiarelli because of his experience as mayor, CTV reported.

What it reveals: The Sutcliffe campaign is focusing the number of endorsements in their release to signal to voters the support they have in a broad swath of the Ottawa political establishment. McKenney’s campaign is putting emphasis on particular individuals who are giving their endorsement, to get the attention of voters who identify with those specific people. 

Can transit be fixed? One of the major issues facing the city is the state of transit. All the candidates are promising to fix it, but there’s a major hill to climb to get it done. CBC took a deep dive into the many issues facing OC Transpo, and what it might take to fix it. The major hurdles:

• High cost: With single fares at $3.70, the city has an expensive system, and it’s not clear fares can cover the budget gap left by…

• Low ridership: The latest figures show the number of people riding transit is at about half of pre-pandemic levels, and it doesn’t help that ours is a…

• Commuter system: Bus and LRT routes are largely built around getting people to and from the downtown core during business hours, but hybrid work may make that obsolete since the pandemic.

Voting day is next Monday. Find your polling place with this City of Ottawa tool.

EVENTS

What to do this week

🎼 The Elysée Quartet at 125 MacKay St., Oct. 20: A quartet that blends the French and Russian schools will play Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Puccini and Debussy. Tickets from $17.

🕯 Signatures Handmade Market at Lansdowne Park, Oct. 20-23: A selection of handmade goods from across the country, admission is $8.

🎻 Gatineau Hills Fiddle Festival 8 Ch Mill, Chelsea, Oct. 20-23: The fifth edition of everything fiddles is this week, tickets are only available to a few of the concerts, starting at $15.

📚 Ottawa International Writers Festival, 414 Sparks St., Oct. 19-26: Writers from all over descend on the city for the 25th edition of the festival, including Elamin Abdelmahmoud, Jody Wilson-Raybould, Cory Doctorow and many more to talk about their work.

NEW LOCAL JOBS

Check out the new open positions in Ottawa.

1. Policy officer at Public Services and Procurement Canada

2. Data analyst at Global Affairs Canada

3. IT support at KeepConnected

4. Accounting analyst at the City of Ottawa

5. Manager of homeless prevention at Options Bytown Non-profit Housing

QUICK HITS

🏥 The wait was long at the CHEO ER over the weekend, with kids having to wait as much as eight hours to see a doctor. The hospital is facing a continuing staffing crisis. [CTV]

🪤 A trapper was in Riverside Park this weekend, looking to trap at least one coyote that’s likely responsible for killing neighbourhood pets. [CTV]

🥳 Ain’t no party, like an Ottawa party, because an Ottawa party lands you tenth on a top 10 list of party cities in the country. [CTV]

🚍 The Westboro Transitway station is no more. Site of the OC Transpo crash that killed three people in 2019, it was demolished to make way for the western extension of the LRT. [Ottawa Citizen]

🏗 Olivier Bruneau, the worker killed by falling ice during the construction of the Claridge Icon, didn’t have to die an inquest into his death heard. Supervisors at the construction site did not take formal action despite repeated complaints about falling ice. [CBC]

🚔 Police are looking for a 24-year-old man who they said hit a police officer and dragged him for 500 metres, while trying to avoid a traffic stop. The officer has been released from hospital. [Ottawa Citizen]

🚨 Hundreds of people marched through downtown to support the women of Iran, protesting against the oppressive regime after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed by police for not wearing a hijab properly. [Ottawa Citizen]

GIVEAWAY

100 sesame bagels? Cinnamon? Plain? You decide

Personally our team loves sesame, but the choice is yours with our latest team-up with Kettleman’s Bagels.

Until the end of October, you can enter to win 100 of Kettlamans bagels. Entering is easy — just submit your email and refer at least one friend. 

With so many bagels, you might need your very own bagel freezer!

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Sens season is off to a rough start after dropping the second game of the season to the Leafs 3-2. [The Canadian Press]

• Reddit user JaguarData has made a visualization of bike thefts within the city. [Reddit]

• The suntofu with seafood at In’s Kitchen comes bubbling like lava, but never overpowers you with spice.

• Brockville council voted to demolish the historic Black-Earle Double House in the city’s downtown. [CTV]

• See why French fine dining restaurant Sans Façon is worth a visit.

• A display of animatronic pumpkin people won this year’s best pumpkin display award at the Petawawa Fall Ramble. [CTV]

• Things are looking up for Athlético Ottawa, who won the first leg of their semi-final matchup against Pacific FC. [CityNews]

• For Insiders: These are three Ottawa Portuguese establishments you won’t want to miss.

• Have you seen GG? A dog has gone missing in Barrhaven, near Fallowfield Park. [Reddit]

• Fill out this form to have you event or announcement featured in community highlights

TOP PHOTO

Reader Janet Harrison sent in this great photo from the shore of the Rideau River.

Do you have any great fall shots? We’d love to run them in a future issue. Send them our way!

OTTAWA WORDLE

The answer to last week’s Ottawa Wordle was VALOUR, as in Valour Drive. Congrats to everyone who got that.

The municipal election is next week, do you know who the last mayor of the City of Ottawa was before amalgamation? The first five people to write in with the correct answer will get their names mentioned in the next issue.

LATEST COVID STATS