Latest news with #Ottawans
Ottawa Citizen
4 days ago
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
Gay: The last thing OC Transpo needs is new electric buses
Article content Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and council continue the push to phase out Ottawa's diesel buses and replace them with electric ones. While this may sound like an environmental and fiscal win, it's not the solution Ottawans need. Article content If the city wants to lower emissions, the priority shouldn't be replacing buses; it should be getting more people to ride them. Public transit becomes attractive when it is three things: fast, reliable and affordable. People choose it when it's more affordable than ordering an Uber or paying for parking, and when it's faster than sitting in traffic. The real question OC Transpo needs to ask is: What will convince more people to leave their cars and choose the bus instead? That should be the first goal. Article content Article content Gas-powered buses emit far fewer emissions per passenger than individual gas-powered cars. Shifting more people onto buses will have a much greater environmental impact than shifting from diesel to electric buses — especially if ridership rates remain the same. Article content Federal and provincial subsidies should focus on boosting ridership. Expanding routes, increasing service frequency, lowering fares and offering competitive wages for drivers are all ways to incentivize a fast, reliable and affordable transportation system. Article content The need is clear. An active petition signed by more than 1,000 frustrated Kanata residents highlights the quality-of-life impact of poor OC Transpo service. 'Buses are less reliable'; 'The buses are never on time'; 'It takes us more than 2 hrs to get to downtown'; are just a sampling of the comments on this petition. Electrification won't fix any of that. Article content Article content Over half of Ottawa's buses are between 14 and 22 years old and should be replaced. But are electric buses the right choice? According to a recent article, the fleet still seems to be operating well for its age: just 0.4 per cent of trips were cancelled in May due to mechanical issues, and only 0.2 per cent due to unavailable buses. Replacing the older half of Ottawa's fleet should be a priority, but replacing them with electric buses — a $1.3-million dollar price tag compared to diesel buses at $650,000 — would double the upfront costs. Article content Article content Unlike many transit systems, OC Transpo must also take into account the extreme cold that Ottawans and their vehicles face. In extreme cold, the range of electric buses can be reduced by 40 per cent. Diesel buses are much more able to put up with Canada's winters. Article content Even the rollout of electric buses seems tumultuous. Coun. Tim Tierney recently voiced his frustration: 'Electric buses sound like a great idea, it's all rainbows and unicorns, but unless they actually get delivered, we have a problem and they're already years behind schedule.' At this point, he said, 'I'm not confident we'll see them.'
Ottawa Citizen
15-07-2025
- Climate
- Ottawa Citizen
End in sight, but Wednesday could be hottest day of heat wave
It looks like the current heat wave might end at some point Thursday, but before that happens Ottawans could face the hottest day yet. Article content The forecast high for Wednesday is 33 C, which will feel like a sweltering 41 due to the humidity, the Environment Canada website stated Tuesday. Article content Article content Since the high temperatures and humidity hit the national capital area late last week, the recorded daytime highs at the Ottawa airport have been 30.1 C Friday, 32.1 C on Saturday, 31.2 C Sunday and 28.9 C on Monday. Article content Article content The temperature had reached 31.3 C by 3 p.m. Tuesday and was still holding steady at that exact number at 4 p.m. Article content Article content As a heat warning remained in effect for Ottawa on Tuesday, Environment Canada provided hope for slightly cooler days in the near future. Article content 'A cooler airmass is expected to arrive on Thursday night bringing an end to this heat event,' a release stated. Article content Until that time, the weather agency urged everyone to 'watch for the early signs of heat exhaustion in yourself and others. Signs may include headache, nausea, dizziness, thirst, dark urine and intense fatigue. Stop your activity and drink water.' Article content It also cautioned that heat stroke is a medical emergency. Article content 'Call 9-1-1 or your emergency health provider if you, or someone around you, is showing signs of heat stroke, which can include red and hot skin, dizziness, nausea, confusion and change in consciousness,' the release stated. 'While you wait for medical attention, try to cool the person by moving them to a cool place, removing extra clothing, applying cold water or ice packs around the body.' Article content An Ottawa paramedics spokesperson said that, while call volume had been relatively high during the past few days, it was nothing that could be specifically attributed to the heat wave. Article content
Vancouver Sun
14-07-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Where Ottawa locals go for the best ice cream
Independent ice cream parlours in Ottawa have always been a little scrappy. It can be hard to compete with chain-scale soft serve when your product starts with raw fruit or local dairy. But the payoff is in the scoops. Some of the city's most interesting frozen treats this summer come from small-batch gelato counters, dessert shops working on custom-rolled orders, a frozen custard specialist and a one-man operation that makes wacky flavours with names like 'Pray To The God of Skinny Punks' (that's actually rhubarb peach bacon jam ice cream). At two locations in Little Italy, you can get gelato from a young expert who spent four years making ice cream in Italy before returning to open her family-run business. In Britannia, a microcreamery draws its all-natural flavours from ingredients made in-house, like a cashew base for the vegan peanut butter and brownie mix-ins that share kitchen space with a sister café. Other spots champion Thai-style rolled ice cream and might lean into South Asian flavours. Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Whether you're walking off a slice of pizza or hunting down mango sorbet on a hot day, here is where Ottawans are satisfying their ice cream cravings, and why that plain supermarket tub stuff may not cut it anymore. 273 Britannia Rd., ; 1004 Wellington St. W., Opened in 2016, just a couple of minutes away from Mud Lake Conservation Area and Britannia Bay, the family-run Beachconers Microcreamery is a west-end magnet for cyclists and Britannia Beach-goers, especially given its idyllic front patio stocked with Adirondack chairs. The ice creams, in constant rotation, are all-natural, devoid of artificial flavours and colours, stabilizers or emulsifiers. As needed, they're also made with fresh herbs (like in the real mint chocolate chip or lime basil smash and strawberry flavours) and baked goods made in the Lipsett family's adjoining business, the Britannia Coffeehouse (as in the S'Mores in the chocolate caramel S'Mores flavour). The Beachconers has made hundreds of flavours over the years, and its showcase, which holds about a dozen regular flavours and two vegan options, constantly changes. Love and Electric, which opened on Wellington Street West in June 2024 and is open again this summer, is a Beachconers' pop-up. It features flavours different than those at its parent location, where all the ice cream is made. 'It keeps people guessing,' says Beachconers' ice-cream maker Paxton Lipsett. 3763 Carp Rd., Opened more than a dozen years ago by the owners of the Cheshire Cat Pub up the road, the popular Carp Creamery recently changed hands. But its ice cream remains the same commendable product, made in-house daily featuring local ingredients. The daily selection includes 16 flavours of ice cream for scooping, while more than 40 flavours are available to take home in one-litre tubs. The well-shaded picnic tables beside the creamery are perfect for ice cream consumption. One item that you'll see here that's not found elsewhere is an ice cream taco. No, it's not spicy and no, there's no meat or salsa. But its waffle cone has been shaped to resemble a taco shell before being filled with soft-serve ice cream that is then glazed and then topped with sprinkles. It certainly is fun to eat. 5510 Canotek Rd., Unit 4, Small-batch ice cream maker Chris Levesque of Chris's Ice Cream on Canotek Road has been churning dense, rich ice cream since 2019. From his east-end shop, he sells $7 half-pints that he calls 'super-premium,' meaning that very little air is incorporated into it. His ice cream is also 'American-style,' which means it is made of just milk, cream and sugar, without the usual custard base. Levesque opts for flavours that strike notes from his childhood, like ice creams made with Jos Louis or Ah Caramel cakes. He's also made Moon Mist, a tri-colour ice cream popular in Atlantic Canada that smashes together blue bubble gum, purple grape, and yellow banana flavours. A more adult concoction for Mother's Day was Mommy's Time Out, a sangria sorbet made with pinot grigio, mangoes, strawberries, and pineapple. His super-rich, vegan chocolate sorbet is notably delicious. 'I had one customer who asked me if I put crack in it,' Levesque says. 492 Rochester St., 806 March Rd., Unit 1, 344 Preston St., Soon after she graduated high school in Ottawa, Nina Agostini made an extended trip to Italy. For four years she specialized in making ice cream, and eventually she became the head gelato maker and general manager at Menchetti in Perugia. Fortunately for Ottawa, Agostini returned home and in 2019, she and her brother Cesare opened Farinella on Rochester Street to showcase Cesare's Roman-style pizzas and Nina's gelato. You can taste Nina's gelato-making cred in the super -fresh ice cream found in the Farinella showcase. Beyond the staples, such vibrant flavours as Rhone Valley apricot, Sicilian lemon, Indonesian coconut or sumptuous fior de latte appeal. The Farinella ice cream empire has been growing, with the opening in May 2021 of the Kanata location on March Road, where pizza and ice cream are served, and the spring 2024 launch of Farinella Snack Bar on Preston Street, which is an gelato-only joint. 1398 Highgate Rd., Ice Flame, which opened in the fall of 2023, is one of nine franchise locations in Ontario and Alberta and part of the boom of South Asian eateries in Ottawa's west end. Here, prepared-to-order Thai-style rolled ice cream rules, made by mixing a cream-based liquid base and crushed toppings on a super-cold metal slab. The ingredients are brusquely mixed, flattened into a thin panel and then rolled into tubes of ice cream that stand up vertically in their cups. In addition to Western favourites like Swiss chocolate and Oreo rolled ice cream, you can choose Indian flavours like gulab jamun, made with spongy milk-solid balls, and rasmalai, made with paneer balls. Cashew and fig-rolled ice cream is a winner. 2200 Carling Ave., Kawartha Dairy's ice cream is easily found at selected Ottawa grocery stores. But the Bobcaygeon, Ont.-based company, which was launched almost 90 years ago, recently opened a drive-through (and walk-in) location on Carling Avenue near Woodroffe Avenue, in a location that previously had been built to be a Tim Hortons and later was a cannabis shop. Now, you can get much healthier options such as a 'death by chocolate' milkshake made with chocolate milk. 71 George St., and 1626 Stittsville Main St, Stittsville, Lois 'n' Frima's has been making ice cream in Ottawa since 1986, though the ByWard Market location runs more like a walk-up counter than a parlour. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., it's a quick stop for people who know what they want. Most customers are already digging in before they've cleared the sidewalk. A sign in the window lists a dozen hard ice cream flavours and soft serve in vanilla, chocolate or twist. Scoops of 'Nanaimo bar' are a personal favourite and taste like the dessert squares, with layered chocolate ice cream, yellow custard and pieces of coconut and chocolate — something like a Canadian version of cookie dough. Apple pie is reverse a la mode, lightly cinnamon-y with small pieces of fruit and pie crust. S'mores is closer to a marshmallow ripple than anything toasted. A small cone or bowl comes in at $6, while regular cones are priced at $7.50 and waffles at $8.50. Portions are large, the pace is fast, and the cones are packed right to the edge with little room for drips. 102 Fairmont Ave., At The Merry Dairy in Hintonburg, the specialty is frozen custard-based ice cream, made with just three ingredients: cream, egg yolks and vanilla. Founder Marlene Haley came to love the stuff after sampling it at the Dairy Godfather in Virginia. Determined to bring that style of ice cream to Ottawa, she took a course at the Frozen Dessert Institute in St. Louis, Missouri, consulted 'The Ice Cream Bloke' from Australia, spent months researching the right equipment and finally invested on a former cake delivery van she found in Pennsylvania. The Merry Dairy ice cream truck debuted in 2012, and its brick-and-mortar location on Fairmount Avenue opened in 2017. 'It's all about the mouth feel,' Haley has told the Citizen. 'It's creamier and denser. There's just something different about it.' The classic flavour for frozen custard is vanilla and while some serve it from a dispenser, like soft ice cream, purists insist that it must be scooped. It's served at a much higher temperature than regular ice cream and must be made fresh just hours before serving, not frozen solid and stored like ice cream. You can take home pints of Haley's ice cream — up to 20 flavours from chocolate to hibiscus passionfruit to pina colada to hibiscus passionfruit might be available — for $10 each. But many of the people lining up on a warm summer night will enjoy their scoops ASAP, lingering outside the store. 1130 Wellington St. W Unit 1, Launched in 2015, Liz Mok's much-admired ice cream business quickly won a broad following for its unique, small-batch, Asian-themed frozen treats. But Moo Shu is a recent arrival in Hintonburg , having moved there in the fall of 2024 after outgrowing its original Centretown location. Intriguing varieties such as Hong Kong milk tea, White Rabbit (inspired by the Chinese candy of the same name), black sesame and dalgona (Korean sponge toffee) and coffee must be tasted to be believed. Ever the innovator, Mok has also created flavours such as Blueberry, Ricotta & Basil, Chèvre & Cherry Fig Chutney and Salted Honey & Crostini. Her strawberry ice cream is marvelous, overcoming the high water content of those tasty berries to create a confection from local fruit that's absolutely fresh and natural. A two-scoop serving is $7.50, a three-scoop serving is $9.75, while a one-pint tub goes for $15. Mok's justly revered ice cream bars, which are $8.50 each and come in flavours such as Vietnamese coffee and brownie or durian and brown sugar blondie, are as architecturally sound as they are tasty, avoiding the common failing of ice cream bars, namely structural integrity failures that see melty ice cream squished out of the embrace of the biscuits after a forceful chew. 200 Preston St., 613-233-2104, Joe Calabro's venerable Preston Street bakery has been selling gelato since year one — 1979 — making Pasticceria Gelateria Italiana the pioneer of Italy's great gift to frozen dessert lovers in Ottawa. At first, the shop sold just 12 flavours, and health inspectors told Calabro that he couldn't use a traditional spatula to serve his gelato and had to use a scoop instead. Now, the store serves 24 types of gelato, with pistachio as its top-seller, along with six kinds of sorbet. Single scoops are $7.95, doubles are $9.95 and triples are $11.95. You can enjoy your gelato in the cafe or on its shaded terrace overlooking Preston Street. Made fresh daily and served year-round, Calabro's gelato is half-way between ice milk and ice cream, with a consistency that's smoother and softer than regular North American ice cream. His gelato is light (about four to six per cent butter fat content compared to the 10 per cent or more in most ice cream) and it bursts with natural flavour. 55 Murray St., After most ByWard Market dessert counters have wiped their trays, Piccolo Grande stays open and busy right up until 10 p.m. On warm nights, benches out front fill with couples sharing scoops and kids dripping sorbet down their wrists under the dragon lamp posts that frame the pedestrian strip. The gelateria, which has operated out of the historic, stone-walled location since 1987, makes Italian-style ice cream on site in small rotating batches, behind a doorway with a sign reading 'gelato factory.' The flavour list rotates through standards like bacio and stracciatella, and surprises like honeyed saffron French vanilla streaked with threads of the spice, chocolate orange or creamy pomegranate, more soft than tart. Dairy-free fruit flavours stay close to their ingredients without artificial sweetness. Popular options like grapefruit and pumpkin cycle depending on what's in season. Staff are quick to offer a sample before the question comes up. Small scoops start at two for $6.29. A regular single runs $7.79, with regular doubles at $8.99. Piccolo pulls its coffee from Gatineau roaster Brown Bag, and regulars will often pair a scoop with espresso. The affogato, priced at $9.99, is made to order and perfectly acceptable as a second dessert. Inside Ten Toes Coffee House, 837 Somerset St. W., Flavours don't get more zany than the madcap creations that spring from Tim Alleway's imagination. Who else but the small-batch, limited- edition ice cream wizard behind Sadie Bean's Ice Cream could come up with yuzu vanilla bean ice cream with peanut chili crisp caramel and beer nuts, black forest doughnut ice cream with mocha cherry fudge and chocolate bits, and butter tart ice cream with brown sugar cream cheese streusel and dulce de leche? Then there are the names for his different flavours, which add another layer of 'say-what?' to his $11, one-pint tubs. 'Regular human' is brown-buttered wild blueberry pistachio ice cream. 'Pray to the God of Skinny Punks' is rhubarb peach bacon jam ice cream. 'Chef's Kiss (With Tongue)' is chocolate banana amaretto dragonfruit ice cream and 'Oh My God We're Having A Fire Sale' is roasted honey sesame cream cheese ice cream. Maybe all of this is a little too odd for you. Fine. Alleway's built up a cult following nonetheless, and since he makes new flavours each week, he's made several hundred different creamy confections so far. They're available at the Ten Toes Coffee location in Chinatown, and you need to consult the Sadie Bean's Instagram page to see what's available and when they drop. Warning: As quirky as they are, they tend to go fast. 2121 Carling Ave., Unit 3 (inside Carlingwood Mall), Saffron Rolled Ice Cream and Desserts, which opened in late 2023 in Carlingwood Mall, serves Western and Persian flavours of made-to-order rolled ice cream. Revelations here included the saffron special (saffron, pistachio, rosewater and rose petal), shir yakh (vanilla, cardamom and pistachio), and spicy mango (vanilla, mango and cayenne pepper). An intriguing discovery here was saffron ice cream in fresh carrot juice, which is about as Iranian as a root beer float is North American. 1103 Bank St., 101 York St., 111 Main St. E., Merrickville, After training as a gelato chef at Carpigiano Gelato University in Bologna, Italy, Ottawa native Tammy Giuliani opened her first Stella Luna location in Old Ottawa South in 2011. The deep, dark chocolate gelato here is hard not to love, made from a Venetian recipe that dates back a century. In May 2014, Giuliani was a finalist in the Gelato World Tour competition held in Austin, Texas, where she served her signature flavour: rich chocolate, dark rum and wild cherry. The business has had multiple locations over the years, and been embroiled in controversies. In February 2022, Giuliani and her businesses faced a backlash after her name was found on a hacked list of donors to the 'Freedom Convoy' occupation in Ottawa. A year later, the Hintonburg location, which later closed , was criticized following a dispute that saw neighbouring business Sharpfle Waffle forced to re-locate over lease details. For more smart picks and offbeat stories from around the city, subscribe to Out of Office , our weekly newsletter on local arts, food and things to do.
Ottawa Citizen
13-07-2025
- Climate
- Ottawa Citizen
Power outages in Ottawa affect more than 30,000 customers
Around 30,485 customers were affected by multiple power outages across Ottawa on Sunday afternoon. Article content According to the outage map on the Hydro Ottawa website, around 22,389 customers were affected by power outages in an area spanning from Bayshore all the way to Westboro and Carlington. Article content Article content More than 4,300 customers in an area stretching from Centrepointe to the edges of Barrhaven West were also affected by power outages. Article content Article content Hundreds of customers in Hintonburg, Billings Bridge and Vanier were affected as well. Article content Article content The causes of the outages were still under investigation as of 2:34 p.m., according to the outage map. Article content Hydro Ottawa said in a social media post at 2:10 p.m. that it was aware of the outages and crews were trying to restore power to the affected areas. Article content At 2:27 p.m., the company said power was restored to customers impacted by the outages in the Carling, Richmond and Nepean wards. The cause of the outage was 'a loss of power from the provincial grid.' Article content The outages came as Ottawans tried to stay cool in the middle of a heat wave. Daytime temperatures peaked at 31 C on Sunday and are expected to dip to 20 C at night. A thunderstorm warning was also issued by Environment Canada earlier in the day. Article content
Ottawa Citizen
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
Six Ottawans tackle the question: What makes us Canadian?
Many Canadians are taking stock these days of what makes us unique. Bruce Deachman spoke to several Ottawans in advance of Canada Day to learn what being Canadian means to them. In their own words, here are their responses: Article content HELEN SOUTER, McKellar Park Article content Article content I'm a daughter of two immigrants, Italian and Ukrainian. They left their country to find a better life, and they did. They found each other. They found each other here at the Y (YMCA). My dad was playing a guitar with a few of his paisani, and she said, 'I like you. Let's dance.' Article content Article content Being Canadian is all I know, because I have the influence of them and why they left. Mom was Ukrainian, in a detention camp in Germany. And my dad, there was nothing there for him. Article content Article content I married military. We went all over the place in Canada, and we went to Washington, D.C. for a four-year diplomatic posting, before 9/11. They made me an honorary American. I was proud to be a Canadian, representing Canada. Article content When my son married a Chinese girl, we went to China for their second wedding ceremony. Her father said to us, 'When Jill told us she was going to marry Andrew, we were worried that he was going to be a loud American.' But they were very happy to see that he was a kind, gentle person. Article content It's a scary time with the threat of being part of (the U.S.) and losing what we have — our identity, our health care. But this recent phenomenon, with everyone sort of elbows up, I think it's going to stay. Article content Article content Article content I've always talked to my family, saying 'Be proud of where you're from. If you're not, then obviously that's a problem.' Article content I've met different people in different cultures all over, and most of them are pretty happy where they're from. Obviously, at the end of the day, we have to make sure that we take care of ourselves, but taking care of our people, too, is important to me. I think sometimes that's where we stray from the big picture of making sure that everyone is doing well where you are, and not adding extra things in to make life more difficult for people. Article content I've learned a lot from my concussion patients that have nothing. They've lost their jobs, they've lost what they can do, and yet I have one girl who continues to donate to special causes. I think it's incredible that she goes out and still gives money that she doesn't really even have to support herself, to help someone else's life. Those people are really inspirational to me.
