andrew.ottawa 🇨🇦

Doug Ford is changing a law to shield politicians from scrutiny The changes will be introduced after the legislature resumes on March 23.

The Provincial government is bringing legislation to exempt the Premier and Ministers’ offices from information requests.

This should concern anyone who believes that public service is bound to public accountability.

Ford government to end funding for supervised consumption sites, advocates say — including two in Toronto In Toronto, Moss Park Overdose Prevention Site and the location at Fred Victor will lose their funding, according to letters sent to the site directors.

This government's anti-evidence, populist pandering will wreak a terrible human toll.

La politique populiste et anti-preuves de ce gouvernement aura des conséquences humaines terribles.

First he took a 19 week summer break, now he’s on a 14 week winter break, but ‘stores should be open Family Day and Victoria Day’ 🙄

For the Ford government, the cruelty is the point.

(Closing the supervised consumption site in my community has made things so much worse.)

Mayor and Members of Council, This email is to provide an update on the work to restore full O-Train Line 1 service. Shortly after the start of service this morning, Line 1 experienced two power issues near Tremblay and Blair stations and a short piece of the Overhead Catenary System (OCS) was damaged and fell at Blair Station. Initial reports indicate that these issues resulted from Wednesday’s freezing rain event. This morning RTM completed inspections between Lees and Blair stations and has started to tow three stopped trains in this area back to the rail yard. Work to repair the OCS at Blair Station will begin when all the vehicles have been removed. This will be followed by inspections and testing of the OCS to ensure no further corrective work is required. Service will then be able to resume. All efforts are being made to restore Line 1 service. This process is labour intensive and is expected to take most of the day. We will continue to provide updates on progress and timelines. Customers can continue to expect that: Line 1 service will operate in the west between Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations. R1 bus service will continue to run between Lyon and Bair stations.

Update from OC Transpo, 11:40am.

Screenshot from OC Transpo Helps: You may see out-of-service trains this evening across Line 1, as our maintainer conducts testing to ensure the overhead wires that power the train are in good working order

‘our maintainer’ … not maintenance crews … ‘our maintainer’ … oh the never ending joys of a P3 LRT.

Lots of parking lots and derelict buildings sitting undeveloped in downtown Ottawa - we could take that land and build on it.

And we won’t be raising taxes because these never ending expansions to the road network will be maintained and plowed by a magical wizard.

We should completely bulldoze the Byward Market and make it a massive surface parking lot. That way everyone would be able to visit the local businesses.

Overhead wire issue sparks LRT system repairs that could stretch on into Thursday | CBC News OC Transpo says the overhead wire issue on Wednesday that halted a Line 1 train at Lees station and prompted the suspension of service between uOttawa and Blair will likely impact service going into T...

Ah, I see what went wrong here - when we were selecting LRT options we should’ve paid extra and upgraded from the ‘Tropical Package’ to the ‘Ice Package’.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

More than three years as a city councillor and it still amazes me that every meeting on every topic turns into an argument about parking. It’s exhausting.

A pile of garbage bags with text overlay that reads ‘Ottawa garbage rules suck’

An OC Transpo bus with text overlay top right that reads ‘Hurt on a bus? Your right [sic] matter.’

What in the holy hell is up with the ads I’m getting served on Instagram?

I’m old enough to remember that every year they used to print a book listing all the phone numbers for everyone in the area you lived. White pages for personal numbers. Yellow pages for business numbers. Made sense at the time. Now it seems like madness.

Breezing out of my apartment without having to faff about with toques, scarves, gloves, multiple layers and clunky boots - GLORIOUS!

Brace! Brace! Brace!

Rideau Canal Skateway to close for the season Wednesday night | CBC News The Rideau Canal Skateway will close for the season at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, the National Capital Commission announced late Tuesday afternoon.

One of the better season in recent memory (and I only fell on my ass once).

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

[James Earl Jones’ voice] This is The Beaverton, the most trusted name in news.

A frozen canal under a clear blue sky, surrounded by trees and a distant building in winter.

Cold but not a lot of wind - and the ice is great.

It was a bit bumpy today. Agreed, if they flood it tonight with the low temps it should hopefully be in great condition tomorrow morning.

Ran along the canal yesterday because it was warm.

Skated on the canal today because it was cold.

It’s looking like there’s maybe a day or two left to sneak in a few final skates before I predict they close the canal for the season.

The amount of puddles I splashed through along the Canal MUP today that are destined to turn into mini ice rinks overnight … 😬

Screen grab from weather app showing an overnight low in Sunday of -25°

Sure, I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts, but I won’t be fooled by this warmer weather and neither should you.

My god - look how far we are falling behind these other Canadian cities that are investing in better futures for everyone in their communities.

It would be great to deamalgamate Ottawa so Mark Sutcliffe didn't need to be led on guided tours of random suburban intersections in Stittsville like he's on a royal tour of the Commonwealth

Whatever stimulant was in tonight’s emergency IV drip is the only reason it’s still on its feet and just about managing to slur the words.

Everybody: oooh how rude, you made me feel so old!

Me: American babies born *before* the 2008 election season made some absolutely shite choices last time. Here’s hoping American babies born *after* 2008 show some common sense this time around.

Dual Canadian British citizens scrambling under new passport rules | CBC News Entry requirements for dual nationals are being updated as part of broader changes to entry requirements in the United Kingdom. The sudden change, announced quietly in the fall, has caught citizens of...

Just learning about these new entry rules for the UK. I’m a dual national (born in Canada, father is British) although I’ve lived in Canada 99% of my life and travel with a 🇨🇦 passport. Looks like I need to get some things in order before I plan my next visit.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Climb the snow mountains, jump over the slush lakes - it’s Ottawa’s winter version of the steeplechase (joking aside, I can only imagine how awful this scenario is for any person with limited mobility).

Officially reached that stage in the post snow storm clean up where the approach to almost every intersection has somehow managed to form a slushy lake of indeterminate depth that pedestrians have to tip toe their way around.

Just a reminder that a bar is a safe consumption site and alcohol caused 17,000 deaths in Canada in 2020. The Ford government closed down the supervised consumption site in my neighbourhood. No matter what the substance, regulated and observed is safer than illicit and alone.