LRT power system breaks again

Good morning!

We got some good news from Environment Canada, by way of CTV: it looks like this year we’re almost guaranteed a White Christmas. With the snow that fell Friday, and another storm on its way, it’s almost a sure thing. But if nothing else, the last few days have given us plenty of glistening treetops.

A bit of housekeeping: Next week we will not be publishing on a normal schedule because of the holidays, though we do have a couple little things planned. We’ll resume our normal schedule in the new year, on Jan 4.

Let’s get to the newsletter.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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Weather Report

Monday: -2 🌡️ -6 | ❄️

Tuesday: -2 🌡️ -7 | 🌤

Wednesday: -1 🌡️ -10 | 🌤

WEEKLY LOOKOUT

City boards: The Ottawa Police Board will meet today to vote on whether to allow virtual participation and hybrid sittings for the term. The Ottawa Board of Health will meet to approve its schedule for the coming term, as well as a new interim chair.

Christmas: It’s the last week before Christmas, so time to finish up that shopping and get that tree nicely trimmed. 

TRANSIT

Once again, overhead power system for LRT breaks

What happened: A stretch of the LRT between Rideau and St. Laurent stations was shut down over the weekend because the overhead wiring that powers the trains broke. The failure of the wiring, called the overhead catenary system, broke at Lees Station just before midnight on Saturday.

• A train was nearby when the system broke, but it was able to stop at the station. About 20 people were on the train, and were transferred to buses.

For most of Sunday, replacement bus service ran between Rideau and St. Laurent, while the LRT ran on a loop on the eastern and western ends of the system. The city had to add buses to the replacement service because several of the R1 buses were full. Service was finally restored Sunday evening.

The problem: It seems that while the storm may have been a factor, the culprit is a maintenance issue. In a memo to council, transit general manager Renée Amilcar said a full investigation is underway, but:

• “The preliminary review indicates that there was an issue with a previous repair that was identified during a regular inspection to the [overhead wires]. We are expecting further details from Rideau Transit Maintenance later this week,” Amilcar said.

It’s happened before: It’s the second time the power system to the LRT has failed near Lees Station. In July, the same section was hit by lightning, causing a shut down for nearly five days.

OTTAWA BY THE NUMBERS

📉 $29: That’s how much Ontario will receive per person in equalization, after the province fell to have-not status. [Trevor Tombe/Twitter]

🔎 15%: Ottawa police only recover this percentage of stolen cars in the city. [CBC]

❄️ 38 cm: The total amount of snow that fell on the city during the Friday snowstorm. [CTV]

🔌 16,050: The number of people across the region who were without power into Saturday after the snowstorm that swept through town the day before. Most had power back by Sunday. [CTV]

WINTER

Winter activity season opens across town

What happened: Thanks to a thick blanket of snow, the city’s outdoor winter activities have opened up. Gatineau Park has officially kicked off its winter season, with the addition of 22 km of new trails, including 10 new kilometres on the Gatineau Parkway.

• Day passes for Gatineau Park start at $21 for adults, and $16 for kids, students, and seniors. You can also borrow an access pass to Gatineau Park through the Ottawa Public Library. (Not to mention other museums and activities throughout town.)

The canal: The NCC has already started the ice building process on the Rideau Canal. This year they’re trying a new pilot project, near the NAC using a slush cannon — yes, a slush cannon — to try speeding up ice thickening to usable levels in temperatures of about -5C. At night the cannon, which is basically a big fan, sprays a slushy mist over the canal’s surface.

City trails: It’s not just Gatineau that’s open for skiing. Trails within the city were groomed by volunteers. Trails like the Rideau Winter Trail, Ottawa West Winter Trail, Kichi Sibi Winter Trail, and the Britannia Winter Trail have all had some level of grooming already.

Conditions: If you’re looking for local trail conditions, XC Ottawa Ski Trail Reports is a community-run resource with regular updates from actual skiers about current conditions. 

Downhill: Downhill ski resorts in the area including Camp Fortune, Mount Packenham, and Calabogie Peaks have also begun opening their ski runs bit by bit, CTV reported.

JOBS AROUND TOWN

Check out the new open positions in Ottawa.

1. Project manager at Delco Security

2. Senior financial analyst at Stevenson and White

3. Planning and policy analyst at National Research Council

4. Junior software developer at NAV Canada

5. Education officer at the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada

THE AGENDA

🏚️The city will pause a grant program that gave money to developers to clean up contaminated or derelict lands. [CBC]

🐼 The Ottawa police questioned the future of the Ottawa-Carleton Panda Game after this year’s afterparty got out of hand. [CBC]

☁️ Famous Glebe headshop Crosstown Traffic will be closing its doors at the end of March. [CBC]

🏢 Looking to entice more people downtown, area businesses will create a new district “SoPa” (South of Parliament). [CBC]

🧊 Firefighters saved a deer that fell through the ice near Shirleys Bay Park by approaching it by water and scaring it toward solid ice. [CTV]

🏥 The staffing crisis in healthcare is only going to get worse as long as permanent paid sick days and capped wages remain for healthcare workers. [CTV]

CAPITAL EATS

What to buy the wine geek in your life

The problem: Wine is a great Christmas present. But few people know what to buy. In fact, buying wine can be an incredibly opaque process for anyone unfamiliar with wine.

The solution: Sadly there’s no one simple solution. Rather than buying a new vintage, stick with wine accessories. 

Luckily our food editor Ralf has a handy list of what to buy and what to buy and what not to buy. 

Read the recommendations.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Here’s a blast from the past, Reddit user scaredofthewild dug out a 1957 Ottawa Citizen when Queen Elizabeth visited the city and officially dedicated the 417. [Reddit]

• The third year of the Navan Christmas food drive was a big success, as the McWilliams family filled several horse-drawn carriages with food donations. [CTV]

• Congrats to Ottawa’s Samuel Charron, who was named Canada Soccer’s Para Soccer Player of the year. [CityNews]

• Going cold turkey this holiday? Head on over to Kynota, an adult-focused non-alcoholic beverage shop.

• The Sens are on something of a hot streak winning four games in a row, until they met the Wild on Sunday, losing 4-2. [Ottawa Sun]

• Ottawa is Hallmark famous, with more than a dozen of the movies being shot in town. [CBS]

• The Salvation Army Red Kettle Christmas campaign now accepts tap payments from your card or phone, no more needing to worry about not having cash. [CityNews]

• Care about local city hall issues but struggle to follow the news? Get our new Insider membership and you’ll get our Insider City Hall newsletter breaking down all the big municipal people and issues.

• Want to have your announcement featured? Contact our partnership team for more info. 

EVENTS

Your guide for the week

Music

Holidays at the Symphony, tonight 7:30 pm: The Ottawa Pops Orchestra plays holiday classics from the likes of Tchaikovsky and Anderson, along with some more contemporary favourites at their annual fundraising concert at the Dominion-Chalmers Centre at 355 Cooper St. Tickets start at $15.

General

Winter Lights Across Canada, Tonight: Every 15 minutes catch a light and music show projected onto Centre Block, and then follow the Pathway of Lights all the way to Gatineau. Starts 5:30 every Thursday to Monday until Jan. 8. Free.

WelliWindows Holiday Display Contest, until Dec. 21: Vote for your favourite window lights display in dozens of shop windows along Wellington West for a chance to win a prize pack of gift cards. Details here.

Holiday Lights Tour, 5:30 every night: Take a bilingual 90-minute tour through town for a guided tour of some of the city’s best holiday lights, plus a stop at a holiday market and a cafe. Tours start at 74 George St. in the Market. Tickets start at $25.

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TOP PHOTO

Today’s photo comes courtesy of your intrepid newsletter writer. He took this one along the Rideau River, on a nice walk through the woods with the dog.

Do you have photos after this weekend’s storm? Send them to us! We love running reader photos.

OTTAWA QUIZ

Congrats to everyone who got last week’s Ottawa Wordle, the answer was SNOWY. You can probably guess why…

For the Ottawa Quiz question this week, it will be a White Christmas. When was the last time the city had a Green Christmas? The first five people to write in with the correct answer will get their names mentioned in the next issue.

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