CHEO gets aid from Red Cross

Good morning!

I spent much of the weekend putting together a set of bookshelves that cover a whole wall of our living room. Ikea assembly isn’t always the most fun, but it’s pretty satisfying to get it done. 

The stacks of boxes of books from a summer move are finally being emptied out. And as an added bonus the two cats have had more cardboard to play with then they ever possibly could have imagined.

Today we’ve got the Red Cross in Ottawa, more LRT fallout and a Syrian family who lost their home in a fire. In case you missed it, here’s our summary of the LRT inquiry.

Let’s get to the newsletter.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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Weather Report

Monday: +5 🌡️ +2 | 🌤

Tuesday: +5 🌡️ +3 |  🌧/❄️

Wednesday: +6 🌡️ +1 | 🌧

WEEKLY LOOKOUT

Education worker vote: The members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees finished voting over the weekend on the tentative deal with the province. The results will be announced this morning. [CTV]

Recreation registration: Tonight at 9 pm, the city will open up registration for swimming and other recreation problems. It’ll be the first time with the new system that will (hopefully) not result in the same freezing and other problems as the old online system.

City council: Wednesday, city council will meet. On the agenda is a governance review report to drop citizen commissioners from the transit commission; and to set the terms for the next city budget, aiming for a 2-2.5 percent property tax increase.

HEALTHCARE

Red Cross coming to help out CHEO

What happened: The Red Cross is being deployed at CHEO to help take some of the load off the overwhelmed hospital. The Red Cross workers are expected to start early this week in non-clinical roles, the Ottawa Citizen reported. 

• The hospital said it did not ask for the Red Cross to come, but they offered their services. 

What’s already been done: The hospital has already opened up a second ICU, and other Ottawa hospitals are accepting patients in their teens to relieve some of the pressure. Some surgeries and other procedures were cancelled, and the hospital redeployed staff between units.

CHEO said it would be able to send some of the redeployed staff back to their normal roles, thanks to the Red Cross assistance, according to the Citizen.

The situation elsewhere: Children’s hospitals all across the country are struggling with a surge of respiratory illnesses. In Calgary, the children’s hospital closed its hospice for terminally ill children to bring staff to the hospital on regular clinical duties, CTV Calgary reported.

• The Newfoundland and Labrador children’s hospital has cancelled routine surgeries because of the viral surge, CBC reported.

OTTAWA BY THE NUMBERS

🔌 9,000: The number of people were without power during the windstorm over the weekend. The outage was caused by a fire on a power pole. [CTV]

💰 14 years: How long a new report estimates millennials in Ottawa have to save to afford a house. [Generation Squeeze]

THE LRT INQUIRY

The fallout from the devastating LRT inquiry report

What happened: The LRT Inquiry sent a shockwave through city council. By pointing out the “deliberate malfeasance” by city officials and the private LRT consortium, it’s put into words what many people felt about the construction and operation of Ottawa’s marquee transit system.

Coun. Riley Brockington told the Ottawa Citizen the report is a part of healing as a city. “As damning as the report was, we needed it to acknowledge what has happened to the people of Ottawa,” he said.

Accountability: One of the major issues now facing the city is how to hold the several departed officials responsible. Transit manager John Manconi, city manager Steve Kanellakos, and mayor Jim Watson have all left their public offices. There are no clear mechanisms to sanction them.

• “You’ve seriously contributed to the scandal and all the ramifications that have happened. Council has to make a decision, at least I’m going to push for that, about how you can hold someone accountable who has already left the organization,” Brockington said to the Citizen.

The one that remains: Coun. Allan Hubley has yet to make a public statement about the LRT inquiry report. Hubley was the head of the transit commission, and a part of the infamous WhatsApp group where the report notes the real decisions were being made, away from the eyes of council.

• Local advocacy group Horizon Ottawa started a petition calling on Hubley to resign; it has more than 1,000 signatures as of this writing.

New Coun. Wilson Lo of Barrhaven East told the Citizen the lesson he took away from the inquiry report is that with public projects whether the news is good or bad, the public needs to be kept informed.

Need to catch up on all of the LRT report’s findings? Check out the Lookout’s guide to the LRT inquiry.

NEW LOCAL JOBS

Check out the new open positions in Ottawa.

1. Project manager, at Delco Security

2. Research officer, at PSAC

3. Accounting manager, at Canada Green Building Council

4. Chief of staff, at Native Women's Association of Canada

5. IT analyst, at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

THE AGENDA

🚒 A Syrian refugee family approaching their first year anniversary in the country are without a home after a fire destroyed the house they were staying in. [CBC]

🚨 Mouse droppings were found on pizza at École du Grand-Boisé in Chelsea, Que. The school has suspended its pizza lunch program. [CBC]

🏥 In Beachburg, a woman is trying to raise $100,000 for cancer surgery in the US. Her Canadian doctors told her that her cancer was too advanced to perform the surgery here. You can find a link to the GoFundMe here. [CTV]

🏛️ Mayor of Arnprior Lisa McGee has a second job on the staff of new West Carleton-March Coun. Clarke Kelly. [CBC]

💥 A woman was injured on the 401 when a wheel broke free from a transport truck and hit her car. No charges were immediately laid. [CTV]

🖼️ The interim director of the National Gallery of Canada defended the recent departure of several senior staff as part of a necessary transformation of the institution. [CBC]

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Claude Giroux scored one heck of a goal this weekend. You’ll want to watch this whole video. [Twitter]

• Over the holidays, not everyone wants to drink alcohol. Give these drinks a try to spice up your gatherings.

• The Redblacks named interim coach Bob Dyce their permanent head coach. [CBC]

• Looking to find a light neighbourhood Christmas display near you? CTV has an interactive map of lights around town. [CTV]

• Reddit users are crowdsourcing the best place to get an eggnog latte in town

• Here’s a great time lapse video of Riverside Drive near the 417. [Reddit]

• Reddit users are crowdsourcing the best place to get an eggnog latte in town. Suggestions include Suzy Q, Bridgehead, and Ten Toes Coffee. [Reddit]

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

EVENTS

What to see and do this week

Arts

🐰 Alice in Wonderland, Wednesday 7:30 pm: A new twist on an old classic. This version takes place in a library, rather than a garden. Fun for all ages at the Meridian Theatre at Centrepointe. Tickets start at $20.

🎨 Art Battle Ottawa, Thursday 8 pm: Several artists will start with a blank canvas and battle each other through three 20-minute rounds to be declared the winner at the Ottawa Art Gallery. All art will be available by silent auction. Tickets start at $23.73.

Music

🎶  Big Soul Project Choir Christmas concert: Looking for some holiday inspiration? BSP's Christmas concert will have you singing, clapping and dancing in the aisles on Saturday, Dec 10 (7:30 pm) at Carleton Dominion Chalmers Centre.  Tickets only $20.

🎤 Christmas with the Ennis Sisters, Thursday 8pm: Come enjoy the Christmas vocal harmonies of Maureen, Karen and Teresa Ennis at the Meridian Centrepointe Theatre. Tickets start at $20.

Markets

🎄 Parkdale Holiday Night Market, Wednesday 4 pm: The night market returns to Parkdale, this time with a holiday theme at 366 Parkdale Ave. Admission is free.

TOP PHOTO

Today’s photo of the day is of Lac Leamy in the 70s, before the quarry was flooded and the casino was built. It was posted to Reddit by LeonOkada9.

Have you got a great photo you’d like to share with Lookout readers? A blast from the past to share? Send them our way!

OTTAWA QUIZ

Congrats to everyone who got last week’s Ottawa Wordle. The answer was TRAIN, because, well, you know.

In the background of today’s Top Photo, is a complex of government buildings. What’s that complex called? (There’s a hint to what they’re called in the background if you look real close.)

The first five people to write in with the correct answer will get their names mentioned in the next issue.

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