Ottawa

Average ice levels usually range from 15 to 18 inches of ice, but this year the average has been between 2 to 8 inches.

“So, at this time, we still have a tentative blasting day scheduled for March 2, but that is completely weather- and condition-dependent. … With this warmer weather, we are expecting flows to start to pick up later in the weeks. We may have to adjust our plan,” Denyes said.

Flood response has begun drilling test holes and preparing equipment in the event that there is a risk of flooding to neighbouring communities along the Rideau River.

In the case that ice-blasting is not required this year, the flood response team will deploy the amphibious excavator, which will be used to break away any remaining ice on the Rideau River.

Councillors have been told in a slide presentation on Stage 2 construction on late Tuesday afternoon that OC Transpo is giving themselves a wider timeline than had been previously announced with an opening day potentially being in September.

Construction for the Trillium Line was originally scheduled to be completed in August 2022, but was delayed until September 2023. On Sept. 29, Amilcar said that based on the progress to date, a fall launch was no longer possible and would be delayed again.

This could mean the Trillium Line would open a full two years behind schedule. This would be the third major delay.

New statistics, obtained by CTV News Ottawa through an Access to Information request, shows OC Transpo drivers received 87 speeding tickets from automated speed enforcement cameras and 56 tickets through the red light camera program in 2023.

Tickets issued under the red light camera and photo radar camera provisions in the Highway Traffic Act are owner liability offences, meaning the city of Ottawa is legally responsible to pay the fine as the owner of the vehicle.

Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs says a pilot project to equip local police officers with body cameras is expected to begin around the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

The idea has the backing of the Ottawa Police Association, which says it has been advocating for body cameras for more than 10 years.

"We're going ahead and installing that product this year into the service, which also includes what we call video oversight — the cameras in our interview rooms when we're recording witnesses, victims or suspects during interviews," he said. "So, that's going ahead this year. The DEMS is a foundational piece that you need for body-worn cameras so you can store all the video. So, that part will be rolled out in 2024."

"We are preparing for a pilot with body-worn cameras and what we call ALPRs — automated licence plate readers, but basically, they're dashcams — and that pilot will follow the DEMS and the video oversight installation. So, we're looking at the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025 for that pilot to start."

It didn’t break any speed records, but Ottawa’s LRT is finally on its way to Orléans.

The first test run of a train along a portion of the 12.5-kilometre eastward extension of the Confederation Line occurred Sunday night, with a train travelling one stop from Blair Station to Montreal Road, said Mike Morgan, director of the LRT construction, in a memo to the mayor and members of council on Monday.

That’s about three weeks later than had been forecast in the last update on construction given in December.

The Alstom Citadis Spirit train crept east from Blair to Montreal Road while crews walked beside to make sure the train’s pantograph, the flexible arm that connects it to the overhead power lines, functioned properly. The testing occurred after regular Confederation Line service stopped for the night.

More testing will continue this week, Morgan said.

With the upcoming onslaught of warm weather this week are you changing your winter tires early this spring?

Legend has it grandson of timber baron J.R. Booth built the replica after being ejected from original

I'd never heard this before, so I thought I would share.

"It feels like something went really wrong," said Aubin, who chaired the King Edward Task Force. "Here's something that we had in Ottawa that was super unique, and we lost it."

It's all the more painful to compare those images with the King Edward Avenue of today. Picnics have given way to open drug use, the lovers' path replaced with a median lined with panhandlers instead of elm trees.

Reminder for all the parents here that registrations for spring aquatics begins February 13 at 9 pm.

Ottawa paramedics say they took a two-year-old girl to the region's children's hospital Saturday after she was found with a needle inside her mouth.

The call came in at approximately 11:30 a.m. from the little girl's mother, who reported finding drug paraphernalia at Princess Margriet Park on Fairmont Avenue, paramedics said.

Paul Morneau, operations commander for the Ottawa Paramedic Service, said first responders assessed the girl, who was in stable condition.

She was taken to CHEO "as a precaution and for a follow-up," Morneau said.

...

Numbers just released by the City of Ottawa show 155 people a day on average got nabbed by a red-light camera in 2023, a problem that’s getting worse every year. As is speeding. And distracted driving. It’s obvious: Nobody knows how to drive worth beans.

The new data on red-light cameras shows that during the year 2023, our 85 cameras together led to the issuing of 56,472 tickets representing more than $18.3 million in fines. That’s an increase from 45,723 tickets last year. It represents an average of $215,294 and change per camera in 2023. The numbers for speeding cameras aren’t any better, in case you were wondering. And they, too, keep getting worse.

The incident took place around 10 a.m. Thursday. In a statement, the museum said security staff followed procedures to “ensure the safety of visitors,” and called police, who took the activist into custody.

The mischief is the latest demonstration by Last Generation Canada, previously known as On2Ottawa, a civil disobedience group that formed in 2023. The group says its actions are intended to draw attention to the climate crisis and to demand Canadian government action.

The activists said Thursday they chose a dinosaur skeleton to highlight the risk of mass extinction prompted by the climate crisis.

An average of six vehicles a day have been reported stolen in Ottawa so far this year, with Bay ward and River ward being the hot spots for vehicle thefts.

Statistics on the Ottawa Police Service crime map show 221 vehicles have been reported stolen in Ottawa since January 1, including 45 vehicles reported stolen over the past seven days.

Ottawa police reported 1,854 vehicles were reported stolen in 2023, up from 1,289 vehicles in 2022.

Speeding is becoming a growing concern for residents in rural areas, especially as new housing developments pop up. In 2020, a city report showed rural Ottawa had the highest percentage of fatal collisions at 37 per cent.

Construction for a roundabout at the Perth-Meynell intersection is expected to start in the spring to help with the flow of traffic.

Now that council has approved Brown's motion, city staff will spend the year identifying locations that could meet the conditions for a speed camera.

"This isn't about raising revenue it's about solving the problem," he said. "We want to make sure, as we build out these communities, we are bringing solutions we know work."

Last week, the city’s planning and housing committee approved a rezoning to Theberge Homes to allow the construction of towers of 32 and 24 storeys at 780 Baseline Rd., near the southeast corner of the farm. A third tower of 24 storeys facing Fisher Avenue had received rezoning approval in the fall.

In a letter to the city last November, Agriculture Canada said the shadows from the towers would affect crop research, although Theberge countered that claim with a study by a U.S. engineering firm that found the shadow effect would be minimal.

Ottawa City Council has given the green light for two residential towers to be built across the street from the Central Experimental Farm, despite concerns from the federal government about the effects that shadows cast by the towers would have on research.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada raised concerns about shadows from the towers on the Central Experimental Farm.

According to city staff, a report by Miller Engineering concluded the shadows from the proposed development, when it is fully completed, would not compromise the Central Experimental Farm's heritage attributes.

Thanks to his Apple AirTag, Mark Roos knows where his stolen 2021 Dodge Ram TRX is.

"It pinged in the port of Montreal," he said.

His $135,000 truck was taken in the middle of the night from his Gatineau home back in January. There was hope when two weeks later he was notified on his phone, but his hopes were quickly dashed.

"[Police] said they couldn't do anything because it's inside the port," he explained. "They have to notify the port authorities and they might not do anything about it."

OC Transpo announced Tuesday that it’s reducing its workforce to cut costs and improve revenue.

The layoffs are affecting management and administrative positions. In total 25 unionized employees and 10 management and professional employees have been laid off. They were notified Tuesday, OC Transpo says.

The City of Ottawa is looking at revamping its idling bylaw to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and wants to know what residents think.

Enacted in 2007, its idling control bylaw limits most drivers to running their vehicles for no more than three minutes in a given 60-minute period when the temperature is between 5 C and 27 C.

There's currently a survey online until mid-March, seeking feedback on why residents idle, where they see other vehicles idling and how that affects them.

"We are asking several questions around potential policy changes, in particular considering a reduction from three minutes to one minute," said Matthew Suatac, a bylaw review specialist with the city.

The flags in front of Ottawa City Hall will be lowered to half-mast on Sunday, Feb. 4 in honour of local politician, businessman and philanthropist Brian McGarry.

An Ottawa couple is reeling after a scam phone call from who they thought was a representative from TD Bank cost them $13,000.

Janel Nguyen and her partner Evan Dudley say that what seemed like an ordinary phone call from the bank's fraud department turned out to be a scammer trying to gain access to their identity and credit card information.