Dangerous air quality as wildfire smoke returns

Good morning!

I have to say, walking a dog through the neighbourhood with a mask on is not my idea of a great time. The smoke this year is maybe the worst I’ve ever seen it in this part of the country, and with the Quebec fires still raging, we’re likely in for more of this through the summer. Not great!

Today we’ve got all the latest on the air quality, when it’s expected to get better, news about more hospital ER closures in the region, and all sorts of events this week you’ll want to head out to.

A quick programming note before we get started: Next week there will be no Monday newsletter because of the long weekend. We’ll get back on schedule Wednesday.

Now, let’s get to it.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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Weather Report

Monday: 27 🌡️ 18 | ⛈️

Tuesday: 25 🌡️ 18 | 🌧

Wednesday: 22 🌡️ 15 | 🌧

WEEKLY LOOKOUT

🏛️ City council: A few big votes are coming up at council this Wednesday. Councillors will decide whether the city will offer grants to incentivize more para transport taxi plate holders to retrofit their vehicles; whether to hire 120 new paramedics over the next four years; whether to study financial incentives to build and buy green homes; whether to approve new little library rules; and whether to study this year what can be built along Gladstone to make it safe for cyclists.

🚌 Free rides: Starting on Saturday, July 1, kids 12 and under can ride OC Transpo for free. Children won’t need to tap when getting on a bus, train or ParaTranspo, but there are passes for kids, especially if they look older than 12.

CLIMATE

Wildfire smoke blankets the capital once again

What happened: It’s back. Smoke from Quebec, where about 100 wildfires are still raging hundreds of kilometres north of the city, blanketed Ottawa. The air quality index once again went off the scale, leading to plenty of outdoor event cancellations, CTV reported.

• Environment Canada issued a special air quality statement warning anyone with health issues, and the young and the old, to avoid outdoor activity. They also advised anyone who had to go outside to wear an N95-level mask. Staying indoors with the windows closed and running your furnace on fan mode is recommended, as are using indoor air filters.

Cancelled: The city suspended all of its outdoor programs Sunday. Sports fields, wading pools and more were closed. There were no-swim signs posted at city-run beaches as well because of the smoke.

• The Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival cancelled its Sunday pow pow and much of its outdoor activities because of the poor air quality, according to CBC. Sunday events at the Dragon Boat Festival were also cancelled, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

Some hope: Air quality is expected to improve today, but better doesn’t mean “good.” Environment Canada forecasted the air quality index will be at 7, or high risk, dropping overnight to 3, which is low risk.

• It could be worse, Montreal had the worst air quality in the world Sunday morning, according to the Citizen.

Fireworks ban: The City of Gatineau banned the use of fireworks last weekend for the Fête Nationale, and for Canada Day this weekend, because of the increased fire risk. In the future, drone light shows may make an entertaining alternative to fireworks, without the risk of starting wildfires, CBC reported.

OTTAWA BY THE NUMBERS

🐉 30: The anniversary the annual Dragon Boat Festival celebrated this year. Sadly, smoke cancelled Sunday’s events. [CTV]

🌲 5,000: The number of trees the NCC has planted, which is only five percent of its 2021 goal of planting 100,000 trees by 2026. [CBC]

🚔 410: The number of complaints the Ottawa Police Service received about officers’ behaviour during the convoy protests. That’s nearly half of the 866 complaints the force received in 2022. [CTV]

HEALTHCARE

Carleton Place hospital closes its ER over the weekend

What happened: For the third time in a month, the Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital had to close its emergency room overnight Friday and Saturday, CBC reported. The hospital has continually struggled with staffing issues like many hospitals across the system.

Most of the hospital stayed open over the weekend, but from 4 pm Friday to 7 am Saturday, and 7 pm Saturday to 7 am Sunday, the ER was closed. Emergency cases and ambulances were instead directed to hospitals in Almonte, Perth, Arnprior and Ottawa’s west end.

• “Patient and staff safety is our main priority.… I want to applaud our staff in their efforts to ensure the best care for our community. They have provided outstanding care throughout the pandemic, and they are tired,” the president and CEO of the Mississippi River Health Alliance, Mary Wilson Trider, told CBC.

Country wide: Doctors and nurses at hospitals across Canada said the crisis in emergency rooms feels worse now than it ever did during all but the earliest days of the pandemic, CBC reported. Staff are underfunded, over-stretched and burnt out. It’s happening in hospitals from coast to coast.

Nursing: Nurses are typically on the front line of healthcare, and that also makes them the ones who face the brunt of the hardship. Frustrated patients and their families, facing longer and longer wait times, often take their anger out on nurses, who have reported high levels of abuse at the workplace.

Solutions? Better pay, more access to family doctors, and an increase in long-term care beds are all necessary to make things work, healthcare providers told CBC. The number of failure points across the system mean there are no quick or easy fixes to what ails the system.

• Dig deeper: Inside Canada’s ER Crisis [Maclean’s]

The Lookout’s view: Cuts to public programs over the previous decades are taking their toll on the system. Hospitals can’t be run purely on market efficiency. Healthcare isn’t a commodity that can be optimized through the market, it requires sustained investment and belief in the system. It seems that in the short term, things are only going to get worse.

NEW LOCAL JOBS

Check out the new open positions in Ottawa.

1. Director of programs and quality at Roberts/Smart Centre

2. Area manager at GoBolt

3. Multi-unit manager at Mad Radish

4. Volunteers manager at the Ottawa Humane Society

5. Health and safety specialist at Rideau Transit Maintenance

THE AGENDA

🪖 The RCAF identified the two helicopter pilots killed in a crash last week. Thirty-two-year-old Capt. David Domagala, and 53-year-old Capt. Marc Larouche were killed when their CH-147F Chinook went down in the Ottawa River near Garrison Petawawa. [CBC]

⚖️ A 32-year-old man died at Kingston’s Joyceville Institution. He was only about two months into a two-year sentence. Authorities are investigating the cause of death. [CBC]

🚨 Ottawa Police shot and killed a man at the edge of the ByWard Market on Sunday. Police were called because of a report of a man with a knife. Two officers who responded to the call fired their weapons. The province’s Special Investigations Unit is investigating the shooting. [SIU]

🚣‍♂️ A parent and a child were rescued from the Chaudiére Rapids on the weekend by firefighters. Their inflatable boat strayed into the rough water, and the adult dropped anchor and called 911. Both were wearing life jackets and were unharmed. [CTV]

🧵 High school students at Kitigan Zibi Kikinamadinan sewed a quilt to honour their 65-year-old bus driver, Tony Quedent, who spent 13 years at a Residential School in his youth. [CBC]

CITY HALL INSIDER

How a clinic abandoned an aging patient

This story is available for Insider City Hall members. Consider becoming a member today and support independent journalism that investigates and explores the issues happening at city hall and across Ottawa.

As of today, Evelyn Miller no longer has a family doctor. For the last 25 years, she’d been a patient of Bruyère, an academic health facility affiliated with the University of Ottawa. But with her doctor departing the clinic because of health reasons, Miller has been left out in the cold.

The 69-year-old has a heart condition, and has lived alone in Calabogie since the death of her husband in 2015. She said the loss of her doctor is weighing heavily on her.

“I have been losing an awful lot of sleep over it. I can't say I'm having anxiety attacks, but am I anxious? Definitely. I do have a heart condition. I know that my cardiologist relies an awful lot on the information that he can share with my family doctor. And all of a sudden, now I don't have one,” she said.

EVENTS

What to do this week

Arts

🎨 Art Battle Ottawa Regional Championship, Thursday 7 pm: It’s the regional championship, with artists from Ottawa, Pembroke, and North Bay competing in lighting painting rounds to see who is heading to the Ontario finals next month in Toronto. At Overflow Brewing Company, 2477 Kaladar Ave. Tickets $24.

Music

🎸 BUCKCHERRY Live In Ottawa, Saturday 8 pm: LA rockers Buckcherry come to the Brass Monkey to play a Canada Day show. At the Brass Monkey, 250A Greenbank Rd. Limited tickets left, $51.

Sports

🛶 Learn To Canoe - Happiness Habits 613 x Adventure Report, Monday 6:30 pm: Always wanted to canoe but never had the opportunity? Learn all the basics of getting out on the water and paddling. At the Mooney's Bay boat launch, 590 Hog's Back Rd. $10 deposit required.

🤼‍♂️ C*4 presents "FURY" - Season Finale Event, Friday 7:30 pm: The season finale of Ottawa’s local wrestling featuring a double cage match main event. Don’t miss out! At the Preston Event Centre, 523 Saint Anthony St. Tickets $33.

Kids/Family

🇨🇦 Canada Day, July 1 11:45 am: The daytime show starts just before lunch at LeBreton Flats Park, with plenty of live music and performances. Then things really kick off at 7:15 pm with the evening show, followed by the big finale at 10 pm with the fireworks display. Check this guide for how to get downtown. Looking for something outside the city? Check out the comprehensive guide from CTV of many celebrations in the region.

General

🦆 Help Protect Stittsville’s Wetlands, Monday 7 pm: Four speakers are coming to talk about how to protect sensitive wetlands in the city’s west and that are under threat because of changes to provincial law. At Johnny Leroux (Stittsville) Arena 10 Warner-Colpitts Ln. Free admission.

🪚 Intro to Woodworking - Make a Keepsake Box, Wednesday 6 pm: Learn how to turn a few pieces of wood into a simple, but elegant item. Tools and materials are provided, you get to take home what you build. Learn at your own pace in a judgement-free environment. At the Ottawa Tool Library, 877a Boyd Ave. Tickets start at $100.

Culture

👾 The Salt Arcade - Pride Edition, Tuesday 8 pm: A night of drag, perogies and arcade games, featuring Saltina Shaker, Karamilk, Yeti, and Kim Jayne. At House of TARG, 1077 Bank St. Tickets $23.

Other

🏆 2023 RBC Spirit of the Capital Youth Awards, Thursday 4:30 pm: An evening celebrating youth in the city who have made outstanding contributions to the community. At the Shaw Centre, 55 Colonel By Dr. Free admittance.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• A new roller rink opened this weekend in the building that once housed the Ottawa Citizen newsroom. [Ottawa Citizen]

• A local couple fell in love with Mexico, and wanted to bring back some of the best the country had to offer. So they started this local tequila brand you won’t want to miss.

• Feist kicked off this year’s Ottawa Jazz Fest with a great and poignant set. [Ottawa Citizen]

• Want a sneak peek inside the restoration of Parliament? This photo set gives a behind-the-scenes look at the country’s largest ever heritage restoration project. [CBC]

• Perhaps the city should consider changing how it reports its air quality? [Reddit]

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

TOP PHOTO

Today’s pair of photos come from Sallyanne Tierney, which show the smoke haze Sunday (left photo), and on June 5 (on the right). Pretty hazy!

Do you have a photo you’d like to share with the Lookout community? Send it in!

OTTAWA GAMES

Congrats to everyone who got last week’s Ottawa Wordle. The answer was MIKAN, the Algonquin word for "road," as in part of the new name for the parkway, Kichi Zībī Mīkan.

For today’s Ottawa Quiz, we want to know how many times this month the Carleton Place hospital has had to close its emergency room this month? The first five people to write in with the correct answer will get their names mentioned in the next issue.

Subscribe to Insider to read the rest.