Famous Churchill portrait stolen from the Chateau Laurier

Sponsored by

Good morning!

I was out walking the dog yesterday and I saw something horrible. Leaves. Yellow and brown leaves. I’m not going to say the word, but with the slightly cooler weather this week, it does feel like the next season is coming faster than expected. It is no time for leaves to be just falling on the path all willy-nilly. I refuse to accept it.

All that aside, this was a special week here at the Lookout. We launched our new food publication Capital Eats yesterday! Our food editor Ralf and the whole team have been hard at work getting the new site up and running. Why not head over to the new Capital Eats website and see some of our food stories that are now out from behind the paywall!

A huge thanks to all the new members who made this new publication possible!

With that, let’s get to your newsletter.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider forwarding it to your friends. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free.

Weather Report

Wednesday: 20 🌡️ 16 | ⛈

Thursday: 20 🌡️ 6 | 🌧

Friday: 20 🌡️ 6 | 🌦

ART

Churchill photo missing for months

What happened: A print of a famous photo of former UK prime minister Winston Churchill taken by Yousuf Karsh, the renowned portrait photographer, disappeared from the Chateau Laurier about eight months ago, the hotel said.

The theft was only discovered this weekend, when it was noticed the portrait was askew, and the frame did not match that of other Karsh photos on display.

Missing for months: The signed photo print seems to have gone missing sometime this winter. “Thanks to the public, we have established a time frame in between Dec. 25 2021 and Jan. 6 2022” when the painting went missing, Stéphanie Trottier, the hotel’s media representative, said in an email.

Jerry Fielder, director of the Karsh estate, said he had never heard of a theft like this one. “I am not sure how difficult it is going to be to track down the original, but the authorities are working on it very earnestly,” he said in an email.

The iconic portrait was taken in 1941, after a speech Churchill gave in the House of Commons. The British prime minister wouldn’t put down his cigar, so, as Karsh told it:

• “I stepped toward him and, without premeditation, but ever so respectfully, I said, ‘Forgive me, sir,’ and plucked the cigar out of his mouth. By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me. It was at that instant that I took the photograph,” Karsh said, in a remembrance posted on the Karsh estate’s website.

“My portrait of Winston Churchill changed my life. I knew after I had taken it that it was an important picture, but I could hardly have dreamed that it would become one of the most widely reproduced images in the history of photography,” Karsh said.

SPONSORED BY IMAGINE MONET

An immersive experience of works by Claude Monet, here in Ottawa

Water lilies. Claude Monet. Both are iconic. But impossible to see in Ottawa right?

Wrong. You don’t need to travel to France to experience their beauty, you can experience the master Impressionist painter right here in Ottawa.

Come see Imagine Monet the Immersive Exhibition in Image Totale © at the EY Centre.

Surround yourself with the works of art as you experience more than 200 of Monet’s paintings.

• Reviewer Claude Deschênes from Avenues says, “If you love Monet as much as I do, go there, it’s like being invited into the works of a master of Impressionism”

You don’t need to fly to a different country for your kids to experience Monet. Save up to 16 percent on tickets for your family.

The exhibition has been extended until September 4th, so there’s still time to immerse yourself in the art. But hurry, there’s less than 12 days remaining. Get your tickets.

HEALTH CARE

Patients who refuse LTC transfer may be billed by hospital

What happened: A new bill from the provincial government is being criticized by interim Liberal leader John Fraser as “unethical and cruel,” according to CityNews’s Cynthia Mulligan.

Bill 7 will allow hospitals to move patients to a long-term care home to free up a hospital bed. Mulligan said the long-term care minister told her hospitals have had the option to charge patients a daily fee for staying in a bed since 1979.

NDP long-term care critic Wayne Gates said “cruel doesn’t even begin to describe” the bill:

• “Their new bill gives them the power to send patients’ personal information to a private care home without their consent, to discharge them from the hospital, and to pack them up and send them to a long-term care bed far from home, even if they don’t want to go. Informed consent is a cornerstone of modern medicine and health care — this scheme undermines that right,” Gates said in a statement.

What the bill says: An analysis by Ottawa Lookout shows that in one section of the bill — Section 7 — it’s written that a patient cannot be transferred to an LTC without their consent. However, the Section 3 of the bill, which details the process for removing someone from a hospital bed and moving them out, starts off with:

• “This section authorizes the following actions, or any part thereof, to be performed in respect of an ALC [alternative level of care] patient without their consent or the consent of their substitute decision-maker, despite any other provision of this Act, the regulations or any other Act.”

FOOD

A Mediterranean adventure worth repeating

This week we launched our free weekly food newsletter, Capital Eats. Here’s a taste of our first story on a restaurant you’re sure to want to check out.

In 2019 Vladimir Ristovski opened Bistro Ristoro on Clarence Street. After leaving his post as Macedonian ambassador and permanent representative of Macedonia to the Council of Europe, Vladimir (he prefers Vlado) spent six months working in the kitchen and front of house at the award-winning restaurant of a friend in Macedonia.

From my experiences at Ristoro, it's clear that he had a natural inclination as a cook and he shows that he punches well above his weight with so many of his dishes.

Read the entire story here.

ELECTION UPDATE

McKenney to disclose donors: Mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney said they will disclose their full list of donors before election day. By law, candidates have to release after election day the names of every person who gave $100 or more, McKenney will instead disclose those donors by Oct. 10. “Voters have a right to know who is financially supporting a candidate before they cast their ballot. Making this information public isn’t the norm but it should be,” McKenney said in a statement.

School board candidates with anti-trans views: Two public school board candidates are being criticized for their views against gender-affirming care. Shannon Boschy and Chanel Pfahal, running in Zone 6 and 8 respectively, both said gender identity should not be taught in schools. [CTV]

STORIES YOU MIGHT’VE MISSED

St. Brigid’s eviction Thursday: The eviction of The United People of Canada from a Lowertown deconsecrated church will be enforced at 12:01 am tomorrow morning. The group said it doesn’t recognize the eviction, for unpaid rent and other violations, to be valid and will pursue legal action against anyone carrying out the eviction. [CBC]

Surviving victim speaks: The 19 year old who survived a brutal knife attack by a man who killed her mother and sister spoke for the first time to CBC. Catherine Ready and her father Raphael gave a long interview to the broadcaster, describing the horrific crime and their struggles to deal with what happened. It’s a heartbreaking and troubling story about a brutal femicide. [CBC]

Testing wastewater for polio: The University of Ottawa professor who co-leads the COVID testing of wastewater will soon begin looking for polio. Because of global resurgence of the virus, the UofO team will start looking for signs it may be returning, nearly 30 years after the country was declared polio-free. [Ottawa Citizen]

Education union sets strike vote date: The Canadian Union of Public Employees has set a strike vote for late September. The union said it was not a guarantee education workers would walk out, but is part of the bargaining process to show the government it is prepared to fight for a fair contract. Negotiations for a new contract are just beginning. The government is currently offering raises of two percent or less, well below inflation, and well off the union’s demand of 11.7 percent. [CityNews]

SPONSORED BY UBER

An historic agreement to benefit gig workers

This made-in-Canada agreement between Uber Canada and UFCW Canada is a global first. Now, we’re jointly pressing provincial governments for industry-wide reforms that were crafted from years of research and feedback from those who will be affected most.

From a driver’s perspective, this package of reforms is comprehensive and deserves to be implemented.

The nature of work is changing and it’s time for governments to adapt.

HOUSE OF THE WEEK

Here is one you don’t see every day. Nestled into a Kanata subdivision is this historic farmhouse. Built in 1903, it had an addition put on in 2003, bringing it up to 3,650 square feet in size. It features six bedrooms and original stone work.

To see more of this one-of-a-kind home, check out the listing.

Community highlights

• Ever wonder how this city could be even better? Toon Dressen has some ideas in the first of our series Re-Imagining Ottawa.

• Emilie Darlington is brightening up the city with her murals, found all over town. [Apt613]

• Beast Ramen. No it’s not made of beats. And yes, it is a must-try ramen over at Paper Tiger.

• Tootsie Baby-brand water-filled teethers have been recalled because of bacterial contamination of the liquid. [CTV]

• Get to know our food editor and writer of Capital Eats, Ralf Joneikies, as he describes a little about himself.

• The Bee Amazed event outside of the city brought together honey producers from across the region showing off their products.

GOOD NEWS

Ottawa Firefighters rescued a person who was stuck in the Queen Street LRT elevator. The person was in distress, so the rope rescue team rappelled down the shaft and safely hoisted the person to safety, before handing them off to paramedics. [CTV]

OTTAWA GEOGUESSER

Congrats to Diane and Bev, who both knew the weekly quiz answer that the Ottawa Hospital has three campuses: the General, Riverside and Civic.

Today’s Geoguesser is a fun one. Lots of open sky and open road. It could be tricky, but maybe it’s not… Where do you think this is? Reply to this email with your answers, and we’ll publish the names of the winners in the next issue!

Latest COVID stats

Note: Ottawa Public Health is now only updating COVID stats twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Because of the Lookout’s publishing schedule, this means the numbers here may be out of date.

• Active Cases: 714

• Total deaths: 869

• Ottawans In Hospital: 25

• Ottawans In ICU: 1

• Acute Beds Occupied: 100%

• ICU Beds Occupied: 73%

• ICU Ventilator Beds Occupied: 18%