Новости за 18.03.2016

The chair of the police board says he has “no intention” of resigning his post after the union representing Ottawa police officers charged that he has failed in his job as police overseer. The Ottawa Police Association called for Coun. Eli El-Chantiry’s resignation as police board chair and sounded an alarm over what it claims […]

While some scoff that photo radar is nothing more than a money grab by cash-starved municipal coffers, others point to the early success of Quebec’s initiative and say photo radar is just another tool the city could — and should — have at its fingertips. The debate comes to Ottawa City Hall this week.

Whether photo radar is simply a tax grab is a debate surely raging at kitchen tables across Ottawa. That likely will intensify when Coun. Riley Brockington introduces a motion at city hall Wednesday to ask the province to allow photo radar on city streets. The technology, which automatically snaps a photo of a speeder and mails the […]

When Finance Minister Bill Morneau reveals the Liberals’ first full budget on Tuesday, an unusually large contingent locally will be anxiously scanning the details. The context is a stagnating local economy – the jobless rate has been creeping up steadily since 2008 and is now, uncharacteristically, approaching the national average. And that’s despite the reality […]

You can hardly blame Eugene Melnyk for being disappointed with his investment in Acerus Pharmaceuticals. The value of his shares in the Toronto company he founded have plummeted 97 per cent since May 2012 to just $3 million. As to whether there is merit in his recently launched $145 million suit against the company, executives […]

The mayor and members of the police services board came to the defence of Eli El-Chantiry on Friday, the same day the union representing Ottawa police officers called for his resignation as the board's chair.

About 100 people who live near the National Fire Laboratory in Mississippi Mills met behind closed doors this week to discuss what to do next about a chemical found in their wells. In December, 49 households near the facility between Almonte and Carleton Place received notice from the National Research Council that it was testing […]

Rachel Homan’s Ottawa rink scored one for women on Friday. The first women’s team to compete in a men’s Grand Slam, Homan’s foursome notched a 1-up victory over Charley Thomas of Calgary in the Elite 10 in Victoria. Homan, Emma Miskew, Joanne Courtney and Lisa Weagle lost their first two Elite 10 games against John Epping and […]

Photo radar is back in the news. Unfortunately, it has worked unfairly and with significant down sides elsewhere – in Edmonton, for instance – although revenue generation is a given. The issues with photo radar are fairness, accountability and transparency. Based on what I have reported over the past 15 years, the recent experience in Edmonton, and […]

It may not constitute complete and utter vindication, but it definitely crosses one potential existential crisis off the red chamber’s to-do list. Of the 30 current and former senators whose expenses were cited as potentially problematic in last year’s incendiary report from Auditor General Michael Ferguson, virtually all –­ at least 20, and as many as 24, depending on […]

There will be no bail for Ismael Habib, charged in Gatineau with threatening to kill his girlfriend, and later in Montreal with trying to join ISIL. Habib, 28, was charged in February with threatening to bomb his girlfriend’s car if she told the police about “extreme” videos on his computer. These allegedly included scenes of […]

National Garden Days are looking for local participants to share or organize activities  a your garden, garden centre or in the community over three days on the Father’s day weekend, June 17 to 19. Register your activity at www.gardendays.ca. Ottawa Orchid Society annual auction, everything gardening related from books to plants and supplies, March 20, 1:30 […]

Editor’s note: After Ottawa couple Lisa Grassi-Blais and Jake Rupert fell in love with the region in Italy where her grandfather came from, they left their careers to stake their futures on a tour company and restored villa in the old country. This 12-part weekly series offers a first-person look at their adventures as they gear up for opening day. […]

You say you want a revolution? Well, you know, you may want to talk to Micah White first. He’s got some ideas about that. He comes by his interest honestly. His birth was the product of a revolutionary act, the marriage of a black man and a white woman in the late 20th-century United States.  […]

Twas the week before the budget, and all through the House, journalists are begging for scoops from the Liberal anonymouse. It could be slim pickings as the juiciest morsels are already out: Trudeau is once again making retirement unaffordable — to government — by rolling back Stephen Harper’s painful but necessary OAS reforms; and the […]

A man in custody at the Gatineau jail died on Thursday, by what the Quebec provincial police are calling a “voluntary action.” According to Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Sgt. Marc Tessier, the 32-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was discovered unconscious in his cell. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead. The […]

The fluctuating thermometer has enticed a few species to arrive here earlier than usual. Besides the regulars such as Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, American Robins and Song Sparrows there have been reports of Eastern Bluebirds, Killdeers, Red-shouldered Hawks and Northern Harriers. Eastern Bluebirds were first reported on March 12 with a male near Perth followed by sightings in the Richmond and Dunrobin […]

OTTAWA — The prime minister has chosen seven new senators to fill vacancies in Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario, the first appointments in three years. The roster includes Justice Murray Sinclair, who led the Truth and Reconciliation commission, Paralympian Chantal Petitclerc and Peter Harder, the long-time civil servant who headed Justin Trudeau’s transition team when the […]

BUFFALO – On the occasion of his 29th birthday, Bobby “O’Ryan” offered some St. Patrick’s Day advice to all within earshot. Go easy on the green beer. Words of wisdom from Ryan, the veteran Senators winger who finds it hard to believe he’s so perilously close to age 30, hockey’s established barrier between youth and […]

Less than three months into 2016, five Canadian police officers have taken their own lives. To compare, 11 officers died by their own hand in all of 2015. It was 14 officers in 2014. But it’s far too early to call it a crisis, or even predict whether awareness and prevention campaigns around post traumatic stress […]

A former Kanata McDonald’s manager has been awarded a six-figure settlement by a judge after he concluded she was forced out of her job after being “set up to fail” at one of the worst-ranked restaurants in the country.  Ontario Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips found that Esther Brake had worked her way up to a manager’s […]

As 11 a.m. drew closer on St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday, the energy inside the Heart and Crown pub in the ByWard Market got more and more intense. Some people had been patiently waiting for this moment since 6:30 a.m. Servers started dolling out glasses to those who had already ordered their pitchers of green beer, Keith’s and Guinness […]

Responding to an internal email attacking his leadership, Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau Thursday reassured his members that he understands their concerns and is eager to hear their feedback "in a respectful and appropriate manner."

Uber has ordered its drivers to stop picking people up at the Ottawa International Airport, weeks before city hall releases a report on taxi regulations. The international ride-ordering company asked its drivers to stop taking requests from the airport starting at 2 a.m. Friday. However, Uber drivers can still drop people off at the airport. A spokeswoman […]

In Switzerland just over four years ago, safely distant from the scrutiny of Parliament, then-prime minister Stephen Harper indicated he would make changes to Old Age Security so that seniors would start collecting benefits at age 67 rather than 65. His subsequent budget showed that the change would be phased in starting in 2023. Thursday, in New York, also safely distant […]