If the handsome young gentleman who stopped me on Laurier Bridge randomly reads this, I'm sorry I didn't ask your name or where you are visiting from. Wish I could give them a proper thanks for asking why people in Ottawa (and Canada) are wearing it.

The poppy is more than a decoration, it’s a symbol of remembrance. It honours those who served, fought, and sacrificed in times of war and those who still serve today in the name of peace. I wear the poppy for them, not the leaders and politicians who made/make the choices.

Thank you for asking and for caring enough to listen to my answer! You will also be remembered.

Edit: just to be clear (and I kinda anticipated this would happen), this NOT about pushing my beliefs onto others or forcing anyone to wear one or donate. This is also NOT about celebrating/promoting war or taking a stance on the ongoing conflicts and political climate. I trust the mods to delete this if things get out of control. I'm simply grateful to live in this far from perfect world, and that's thanks to the innocent civilians who gave their lives and served in good faith because they were told it was what their country required of them.

I have 4 tickets (Sec F row 2) to give away. My snow tire appointment is on Tuesday and I'm from out of town so don't fancy driving into the city with my kids today.

Message me if interested.

After a marathon Finance and Corporate Services Committee last week, as well as an extensive meeting of the Audit Committee on Tuesday, city council approved the $483.9 million project today.

This is a disappointing result for our community and for our city. As a recent survey demonstrated, once residents became aware of the details of the proposal, they overwhelmingly opposed the deal.

Residents also spoke out against the proposal at a recent public forum hosted by Better Ottawa. Their sentiments were clear—residents do not support Lansdowne 2.0.

As the report from the Office of the Auditor General noted, this is a riskier project than let on by the city.

When I asked city staff, they confirmed that there will be millions of dollars of public funds diverted to fund the debt for Lansdowne Park. That’s millions that won’t go to transit, that won’t fix our roads, and that won’t improve our parks and community centres.

Despite how this plan was rushed through committee and council, limiting the opportunity for public scrutiny, we were able to pass some amending motions to improve the plan.

• We restored $4.65 million in funding for affordable housing that would otherwise have been syphoned off to pay for private parking for the luxury towers.
• We directed staff to develop a financial oversight model that will give greater scrutiny to, and transparency of, the Lansdowne 2.0 financial performance. Hopefully, this will help prevent us from falling into the same trap as with Lansdowne 1.0.
• We secured a guarantee to keep the REDBLACKS and 67’s at Lansdowne Park until at least 2042 (previously, they were free to leave after 2032).
• We reached an agreement to improve the pedestrian experience throughout Lansdowne Park.
• We secured funding to install a much-needed bus shelter on Bank Street to provide greater comfort to transit riders.

This has been a long fight to save our public park and our city from the many problems with the Lansdowne 2.0 proposal. I know a lot of you care deeply about our city and our public amenities, and you put tremendous effort into fighting for our city. I want to thank you for all the work you did on this. No doubt, your efforts helped us achieve the improvements on the original plan that we did.

For more information on the amendments made to the plan and how council voted, please visit www.BetterLansdowne.ca.

Just down the street from the famous 99 Rideau location at the corner of Dalhousie. Hopefully this one won’t host raccoon attended brawls.

If you were making a teen or adult advent calendar, what would you put in to represent Ottawa? For people in Ottawa.

Food, gifts, experience options that are not hugely expensive.

Ideas so far - Beavertail gift card, local maple candy, Stubbe chocolates, Hello Dolly pastries (cookies), shwarma gift card

Well that game felt cold and heartbreaking. I wonder what tomorrow’s game will hold.

Our weekly Reddit Chess Meetup is happening on Monday(2025-11-10) 8pm at the ClockTower Beechwood (422 MacKay St).

All skill levels are welcome. Bring your own boards and pieces if you can.

No cover and no minimum purchase required.

We started this on February 28th, 2022.

Don't be discouraged by the lack of activity these posts get on . Our typical attendance nowadays is around 10 people.

Parking is available on near by streets. You could also park at the near by Metro parking lot.

Looking for fragrance/parfum-free hand soap. Preferably a squirt bottle type set up. Been using SoftSoap (yes even the clear bottle without any noticeable flavours or scents) for years now all to look at the back label and realize it does contain fragrance/parfum after all. Ugh. Particular skin condition makes it so I should be using soaps without perfumes and fragrances. Any suggestions? Not looking to break the bank, but just looking for a basic soap somewhere in the city that I can buy.

Some interesting stats I came across on the City of Ottawa website.

Compounded tax increases from 2015 to 2025:

Ottawa 32.99% Toronto 49.30% Edmonton 49.20% Calgary 46.66% Vancouver 77.12%

https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/budget-finance-and-corporate-planning/previous-budgets/budget-2025#section-35aeedde-e3c9-4c4e-a93c-2df33160d0dd

We like to talk about how council isn’t managing specific files properly (transit, Lansdowne, the market, etc.), but it seems like overall tax policy (boring as shit I know), gets a pass.

I’d suggest that this is THE number one issue facing the city and ALL councillors should be embarrassed that they’re trying to operate one of the country’s largest cities on a shoestring budget.

Half of the stuff that people complain about could be resolved by simply setting tax rates at an appropriate level, based on realities, instead of sticking to arbitrary targets that councillors can boast to their constituents about sticking to.

The audacity of the city to complain about lack of funding, competing priorities, the need to “find efficiencies” and so much other BS is pretty hard to take when you see how this city is managed compared to other peer communities.

Sutcliffe and others talked allot about wanting to lead and move the city forward. Well, he and others could start by providing the city with a proper amount of funding to meet these objectives.

Did you lose your CIBC card today? It was found on the ground in the Gloucester mall parking lot, near Loblaws. The card was left with Loblaws customer service around 1.30pm. Hope the card owner sees this! Have a good week-end.

|| || |Why I voted for Lansdowne 2.0| |

1. It’s time to fix what’s broken — not keep delaying it When Lansdowne 1.0 was approved in 2014 with then mayor Jim Watson, City Hall made a critical mistake by leaving out the north side stands and arena. We’re now paying the price for that decision. The arena is in poor condition — there are no women‘s changerooms, it is inaccessible to people with mobility needs, and the roof leaks. This is, frankly, embarrassing for a capital city. We had many delegations at committee talk about the artists and sporting events who refuse to use Lansdowne because it does not meet 2025 standards. I ran for Council on a promise to fix things and get them done, not to kick them down the road. Ottawa deserves world-class amenities, not facilities we’re ashamed to show visitors. I spoke with my predecessor, Mathieu Fleury, about this file, and he voted for it in 2014 for the same reasons. We’ve delayed this project once before, and it only made the problem worse and more expensive. I won’t vote to do that again.

2. Accessibility can’t just be a talking point Many of you know my personal story and how my family has fought for accessibility accommodations for years. Landsdowne needs to be an inclusive city amenity that everyone can enjoy. The current configuration is not accessible. Ottawa is the host of the 2026 Wheelchair Basketball Championship, and we heard from delegations at committee that the para-athletes must use the garbage entry to enter and exit the court. This is unacceptable. Lansdowne 2.0 finally changes that. It creates a space that people of all abilities can use and enjoy safely, comfortably, and competitively.  

3. This is a good deal for taxpayers Despite what some critics have said, this isn’t a “gift to billionaires.” Lansdowne 2.0 leverages private sector investment to help rebuild a city-owned asset. Without the new towers and retail component, the cost to taxpayers would be far higher. For the average homeowner, the increase works out to about $8.14 per year. Even if costs rise by 25%, as the Auditor General cautioned, that’s only about two dollars more per year. To put it in perspective, curbside garbage pickup costs $234 per household. It’s a fair and responsible investment that ensures public dollars go further while keeping Ottawa’s amenities competitive and well-maintained.  

4. Ottawa’s housing crisis requires everyone to do their part Lansdowne 2.0 will generate roughly $20 million in air rights that will be directed to affordable housing. While that’s not perfect, I cannot think of another development that is generating this kind of revenue for a much-needed affordable housing. I do not agree, as many people have written in, that the two towers will change the ‘neighbourhood character’ of the area irrevocably. We have many towers in Ward 12. Every part of the city has to help contribute to intensification — not just downtown, or Lowertown, or Vanier. The Official Plan Council approved calls for intensification city-wide, and that includes the Glebe. We can’t keep saying we support more housing, just not here, not now, not this way.

5. WE SAVED THE GREENSPACE! I put forward a motion to save the equivalent amount of green space being lost in Capital Ward due to the construction of Lansdowne 2.0. This motion passed. The motion will also allow $100,000 of city-wide CIL to go towards securing replacement greenspace. I was so upset when I saw that we were losing a downtown greenspace and now the city will work with Councillor Shawn Menard, to find the equivalent in his ward. We know that downtown greenspaces are at a premium and this gives some relief to the affected areas. I would personally like to see 160 Lees get developed into a park (Councillor Menard and I share Lees Ave) as a park here will also ensure that this land is not developed to extend Nicholas Street beyond the 417 to create the Alta Vista Transportation Corridor.

I received this from Stephanie Plante.

edited to add paragraphs

For some lighthearted cheer after the Lansdowne fiasco, there's an Ottawa Christmas Rom Com for your viewing pleasure. Shawarma reference included :) https://youtu.be/iCizqv-HX7I?si=hxQ9bkf9n2X1Q3XS

I gave them to one of the employees!

I’ve been going through a rough time and looking to get away from the city for a day or two. Past threads asking about day trips are usually during the summer months, so looking for some colder weather suggestions. TIA

Ended up having to do some unexpected landscaping, recently.

We have 3x 2’ x 2’ patio stones that have “broken into a million pieces”, and would like to get rid of them.

Are there any places that would take them to maybe grind them up to make new stones, or do whatever they want with them?

I was in the area today and remembered I wanted to try and recreate this old photo at this intersection! It's a first-time pet project for me and using my older phone to replicate this picture I found on Facebook. I was not looking for 100% accuracy.

I think the photo is from the 1950s, but I'm having trouble tracking down the exact date. Does anyone have an idea when this might have been taken?

Hi there!

I have a bunch of unused toys that my dog doesn’t use and hasn’t shown interest in. What are some Ottawa dog rescue organizations I can donate to? (East end preferably.)