Shopify shakes up its top executives

Good morning!

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a walk in the park. Which made the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope a fantastic event.

On behalf of Nancy and the rest of my family, I wanted to thank the many of you who donated to the cause. Lookout readers gave more than $1,500 to the cause of funding research of this really awful disease. The Ottawa walk raised nearly $85,000, and a big part of that is because of you.

Thank you, so, so much for your support.

Now, on with the 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

Monday: 26 🌡️ 18 | ⛅

Tuesday: 21 🌡️ 14 | 🌧

Wednesday: 20 🌡️ 6 | 🌦

OTTAWA THIS WEEK

OC Transpo updates: The city’s transit commission is meeting Wednesday. They will get an updated forecast on ridership, including ridership expectations for civil servants, and an update about bus service, ParaTranspo service, and service on the LRT Confederation Line.

The election: Candidates continue out on the campaign trail this week. As you’ve probably noticed, it’s now legal for campaign signs to be put up on property throughout town. They’ll continue to sprout all week.

BUSINESS

Major shakeup at Shopify

What happened: Ottawa-based tech giant Shopify is replacing two top executives. The company has hired Jeff Hoffmeister from the bank Morgan Stanley to become the new chief financial officer, the Ottawa Citizen reported. Shopify promoted Kaz Nejatian as chief operating officer to replace the retiring Toby Shannan.

A bad year: The moves come after a brutal year for the company. In July, Shopify laid off 1,000 workers. It posted a second-quarter loss of US$1.2 billion, The Canadian Press reported at the time.

What it could mean: One analyst said it wasn’t clear if the management shake up would have a serious impact on the direction of the company, as the main leadership team and founder were still in charge.

Another said such changes suggest the company may not have made much progress in improving its position. It could suggest even more changes are coming.

GARDENING

CBC gardening legend Ed Lawrence retires

What happened: Long-time CBC Ottawa guest Ed Lawrence ended his time as the gardening expert on the radio. He’d given advice for 40 years to local plant lovers. He told the Ottawa Citizen it was one of the hardest decisions of his life, but it seemed like the time was right.

• “There are young people out there who are qualified, and they need a chance to do things as well. How do they get a chance if I just hang on and on? Setting a target of 40 years seemed right,” Lawrence told the Citizen.

In a long interview with the paper, he talked about his time on the air, his decades with the NCC at the Rideau Hall greenhouse, losing his wife, and his diagnosis at age 40 of attention deficit disorder.

JOBS AROUND TOWN

• Senior structural engineer at the NCC

• Team leader, application development at Natural Resources Canada

• Senior developer at FINTRAC

• Supervisor, work scheduling at Hydro Ottawa

• Manager of youth programs at Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre

CRIME

Woman charged with assault, mischief after video of encounter goes viral

What happened: A 37-year-old woman will be formally charged with assault and mischief for an incident that went viral last week, the Ottawa Citizen reported. Police were called for a “collision” near Riverside Drive. Once they arrived they decided to lay charges after interviewing the victim.

Shocking video: This incident was captured in a video posted by the Indigenous student who was the subject of the apparent attack. She said the confrontation where a woman appears to chase her down and strike her more than once started because she wasn’t wearing a bra. At the end of the video, the woman is seen laying across the hood of the woman’s car as she tries to explain to bystanders she was just assaulted.

Police said hate crimes investigators reviewed the case, but no hate-related charges were filed, the Citizen reported.

The victim who posted the video said:

• “I want to say how overwhelmed and grateful I am to have received the love, support and kindness from strangers around the world,” in a Twitter post.

She went on to say the incident last week was “incomparable to anything I’ve ever been through” in the city.

POLITICS

Ottawa MP Pierre Poilievre wins Conservative leadership

What happened: Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre is the new leader of the Conservative party. It was a landslide victory, and he won all but eight ridings across the country, according to CBC. Ottawa Centre was one of the few ridings Poilievere lost across the country, it was won by second-place finisher Jean Charest.

Poilievre’s results by local riding:

• Carelton: 74.4 percent

• Kanata-Carelton: 64.7 percent

• Nepean: 62.4 percent

• Orléans: 57.4 percent

• Ottawa Centre: 36.8 percent

• Ottawa South: 51.7 percent

• Ottawa-Vanier: 46.0 percent

• Ottawa West-Nepean: 57.0 percent

Dig deeper: Pierre Poilievre honed a winning strategy over seven Ottawa elections. Will it work for the job he wants most? [Ottawa Citizen]

GIVEAWAY

Enter to win two tickets to a farm-to-table dining experience with Harvest: A Feast For All

Want to eat and drink delicious food and wine for a good cause? It's possible with Harvest: A Feast For All happening this Wednesday.

Local award-winning chefs will join up for an unforgettable food night to raise money to fight food insecurity.

• We're giving away two free tickets to this event - click here to enter.

The event takes place from 6:30 pm to 11 pm this Wednesday, outdoors at Marion Dewer Plaza. Tickets start at $101 and include all your food and drink.

STORIES YOU MIGHT’VE MISSED

Homicide investigation in Nepean: A woman is dead in the Craig Henry area, and a man is in custody. The homicide unit is investigating. Police haven’t released the name of the victim or the suspect, but said they were called Sunday morning to the home. No charges have been announced. [CTV]

No privacy: Students at Gloucester High School said the bathrooms are a serious privacy problem. Stalls without doors, and at least one missing dividing wall, mean some students are walking to a nearby plaza to relieve themselves. The missing doors were reported to school staff before the summer break, but have not yet been replaced. [CBC] 

Hospital computer issues: Both the Queensway Carleton and Montfort hospitals had their computer systems go down over the weekend. Thesystems were back online, and all procedures for this week will proceed as scheduled. Calls that were disrupted last week will be given priority. [CBC]

GIVEAWAY

The best restaurants you've never heard of

Struggle to find new places to eat in Ottawa?

Our new food publication Capital Eats has you covered. We review the best Ottawa restaurants you've never heard of, sharing what to order and what to avoid.

Think of us as your friendly neighbourhood food reviewers. But instead of fighting crime, we review restaurants.

Visit Capital Eats and subscribe to our free newsletter so you never miss out.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Online Ottawa second-hand store The Thrifted Mini has opened up a brick-and-mortar location on Wellington West at Holland. [CTV]

• Take a tour of fantastic Middle Eastern flavours on Bank Street in this hidden gems tour.

• The Redblacks lost again on the weekend, losing 24-19 to the Toronto Argonauts. [The Canadian Press]

• Are you an paying subscriber? Check out all of our members-only resources just for you!

• ComicCon returned over the weekend to the city, it’s first in-person iteration since 2019. [CityNews]

• Banh Mi Yes has returned! Check out why our food editor thinks it’s the city’s best Vietnamese sandwich.

• The Ottawa Titans’ season ended Sunday, when they lost twice in the playoffs to the Quebec City Capitales.

• Do free food and wine from Ottawa's best chefs sound like your idea of a great evening? Enter our free giveaway to win tickets to Harvest: A Feast For All this coming Wednesday. 

TOP PHOTO

Today’s photo comes to us from reader Nancy. It’s a great shot of a sunset from her balcony.

Do you have photos you want to share with the Lookout community? Send them our way!

GIVEAWAY

OTTAWA QUIZ

Hope everyone enjoyed the Ottawa Wordle last week. The answer was MAMAN, the name of the spider scuptlure out front of the National Art Gallery.

Now, onto this week’s quiz. Queen Elizabeth II died last week at the age of 96, when did she first visit Ottawa as Queen?

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: 324 (+178)

• Total deaths: 883 (+)

• Ottawans In Hospital: 23

• Ottawans In ICU: 1

• Acute Beds Occupied: 101%

• ICU Beds Occupied: 74%

• ICU Ventilator Beds Occupied: 34%