Here’s what’s closed for the Queen’s commemoration

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Good morning!

Hope you’ve been able to stay dry this weekend. As I’m writing this, a very large, very wet dog is laying on the floor beside me. There’s only so much a fetching coat and a pile of towels can do.

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— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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Weather Report

Monday: 18 🌡️ 11 | ⛈

Tuesday: 19 🌡️ 12 | ☁️

Wednesday: 21 🌡️ 10 | 🌧

OTTAWA THIS WEEK

St. Brigid’s eviction: The St. Brigid’s group will be back in court today for an eviction hearing. The group’s agreement to buy the church fell through, when they allegedly missed deadlines to pay $100,000 in deposits. [CBC]

City council: The Ottawa Board of Health meets today at 5 pm, which will include the results of a third-party review of the Ottawa Public Health’s COVID response. The full council and the planning committee will meet Wednesday. Friday, the Police Services Board will meet for a “labour relations matter,” but no further details were posted.

Ottawa volunteer expo: On Friday, 50 not-for-profits will come together for a volunteering expo at Saint Paul University. [CityNews]

THE QUEEN

Commemoration ceremony today, many road closures downtown

What will happen: A big part of downtown will be closed today for the commemorative ceremony marking Queen Elizabeth II’s death. 

A parade will begin at 12:10 pm, beginning at the Cartier Square Drill Hall on Queen Elizabeth Driveway just below City Hall, and head towards the Christ Church Cathedral at Sparks and Bronson. 

During the parade, there will be a 96-gun salute, for each year of the Queen’s life. 

This will be followed by a ceremony broadcast live from the Cathedral on the Canadian Heritage YouTube channel, followed by a fly-over of CF-18s.

There will be several road closures downtown to make way for the parade and commemoration. You can read the full details here.

How the closures affect transit

The city said OC Transpo will run on a normal schedule. There will be a moment of silence at 1 pm. Trains will hold at the station, and buses will pull over to the side of the road. Because of the ceremony, there will also be changes to the following routes:

• Route 15 will be detoured between 9 am and 3:30 pm around Christ Church Cathedral;

• Routes 10 and 16 will be detoured between 11 am and 3:30 pm around Christ Church Cathedral;

• Routes 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 18 and 19 will be detoured between 11:30 am and 1 pm for the parade.

Most of the city will remain open, except for federal offices employees who get a federal holiday. In Ontario, the day was proclaimed as a day of mourning, not a holiday.

SPONSORED BY UBER

Uber introduces life-saving 911 data-share capabilities to Ottawa

Ottawa is the first Canadian city to have 911 data-share capabilities to the Uber app, making critical information immediately available to 911 operators and first responders during an emergency.

“Safety is at the heart of the Uber platform, which is why we are constantly looking at ways to leverage technology to make the platform safer for riders and drivers,” said Michael van Hemmen, General Manager of Uber Mobility in Canada.

In partnership with the RapidSOS Emergency Response Data Platform, real-time location, vehicle make and model, and license plate number are now automatically shared with first responders through 911 integration.

This data enables faster and smarter emergency response and ultimately helps save lives.

ELECTION

Official Plan direction, and building 10,000 homes per year

Hold off on the Official Plan: Mayoral candidate Bob Chiarelli wants the province to wait on approving the city’s Official Plan and hand it back to the next council, CTV reported. 

Background: Chiarelli wrote to the province last week, and said because the province had yet to give its okay to the plan, it only made sense to give it back to the new council.

Tewin development: He also wants the province to remove the controversial Tewin development from the Official Plan. He told CBC the decision to build an entirely new suburb well outside the current urban boundary was a mistake and council should have gone with the original plan in Kanata North/West Carleton.

The province is still deciding whether to approve the Plan, passed last year by city council. Chiarelli, himself a former provincial housing minister, said it was within Ontario’s powers to reject a part of the plan, and approve the rest.

• To properly service the proposed development, the city would have to extend services like water and sewer pipes more than 20 kilometres, CBC reported. 

Other candidates’ reaction: 

• Catherine McKenney said they supported the idea of removing Tewin from the Plan, and told CTV it would cost citizens $465 per person, per year forever. 

• Mark Sutcliffe told CTV he did not want to re-litigate council battles of the past and said Tewin must be built to meet 15-minute smart growth standards.

Sutcliffe announces plan to build more homes 

The plan: Mark Sutcliffe is promising to build 10,000 homes per year, including 1,000 affordable units, if he’s elected mayor. He told CBC he would build 100,000 homes over 10 years.

Key to plan: Central to his plan to increase construction is the waiving of development charges to developers if at least 20 percent of the new units are affordable. 

• Breaking it down: Development charges money is paid for the construction of new city infrastructure to new developments, things like pipes, transit and community centres, according to CBC. 

The details: Sutcliffe did not outline the threshold for a unit to qualify as affordable, and allow for the waiving of these fees, or what waiving the fees might cost. He said his full fiscal plan will be out later in the campaign.

• You can read the full details on Sutcliffe’s plan here.

JOBS AROUND TOWN

• Housing officer, public housing at The Métis Nation of Ontario

• Digital agency account manager at Solar Client System

• Environmental group executive director at the International Institute for Sustainable Development

• Data scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

• Officer, inventory planning at Canada Post

COVID

UofO profs, students want return of mask mandate

What happened: As COVID returns to the  University of Ottawa, staff and students are asking for another mask mandate, the Ottawa Citizen reported. 

• Students are also asking for online classes as well as in-person.

No tracking: Neither the university or Ottawa Public Health are tracking COVID campus outbreaks. The professors association at the university asked the school to provide its members with masks. They also want the mask mandate returned for whenever cases in the city are rising.

STORIES YOU MIGHT’VE MISSED

Ottawa kids behind on vaccines: The number of children who have received mandatory vaccinations for diseases like polio, measles, and mumps has dropped because of a backlog. Ottawa Public Health said orders from primary care doctors are down 20 to 30 percent. The health unit is going to hold clinics to help deal with the backlog. [CTV]

Man charged in St. Laurent stabbings: An 18-year-old man has been charged with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault in the stabbing death of a 19-year-old at the St. Laurent Centre. Three people were stabbed, two were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, but 19-year-old Marcus Maloney died of his wounds. [CTV]

FOOD REVIEW

Ottawa's best Japanese shops

Written by food editor Ralf Joneikies.

It’s long been curious to me how you can be from one culture but be so thoroughly smitten with another. Perhaps it’s not odd at all but it isn’t easy being a Japanophile in Ottawa. It is, however, getting a little more interesting.

So here’s a list of places, some known, some unknown, that will help you to indulge in all things Japanese in Ottawa.

Read the story

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and her Brazilian partner Luisa Stefani won their second women’s double tennis title at the Chennai Open. [The Canadian Press]

• Fall colours are just one more reason to take a trip to the Pontiac region for some cider.

• James Duthie, long-time TSN broadcaster and former CJOH sports anchor, returned home to receive the keys to the city. [Ottawa Citizen]

• There’s nothing quite like a quality onion ring. stop by one of Fat Les’s locations and see why our food editor recommends them.

• US pool manufacturer Latham Group Inc. is building a new factory in Kingston, where it will hire up to 200 people. [OBJ]

• If you’re looking for a cozy fall read, Ottawa at Home’s editor-in-chief has some suggestions for you. [CTV]

OTTAWA QUIZ

Congrats to everyone who correctly guessed ROCKY, as in Rocky Point on the Ottawa River, for last week’s Ottawa Wordle.

Now for the quiz. In a story above, we noted the Perth Gaol is up for sale. In what year was it constructed? Reply to this email with your answers, if you get it right, we’ll print your name 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. For the most recent stats, see the OPH COVID Dashboard.

• Active Cases: 562

• New Cases: 236

• Total Deaths: 885

• Ottawans In Hospital: 25

• Ottawans In ICU: 3

• Acute Beds Occupied: 101% 

• ICU Beds Occupied: 72% 

• ICU Ventilator Beds Occupied: 31%