By Stephanie Kinsella, CFRA News, January 13, 2014
The first day of Ontario budget consultations brought out 40 different groups and individuals to the Novotel Ottawa Hotel to make their pitch to MPP\'s, including Finance Minister Charles Sousa.
CHEO President and CEO Alex hoped to convince the provincial government the importance of investing more money now. Munter said in 20 years, there will be 70,000 more kids in our region than today.
By Cassie Aylward, CFRA News, January 14, 2014
Representatives from Gatineau Park say snowshoeing and cross country skiing trails are still open for business as the mild weather thaws much of the city.
With spring-like conditions in Ottawa, Louis-Rene Sénéchal tells CFRA cross-country skiing may not be the first choice for those looking for some outdoor fun while the canal is temporarily closed. He says the temperatures make it difficult for the park to keep the skiing trails groomed.
By Robert Bostelaar, Ottawa Citizen, January 14, 2014
OTTAWA — Snow. Flash freeze. Deep freeze. Sudden thaw. And — the soggy icing on this curious cake of a winter — a big bunch of slush.
To the codgers who claim we don’t remember what real winters were like we reply: Oh yes we do, and they weren’t as rapid-fire changeable as this.
By the Editor, Ottawa Citizen, January 13, 2014
The federal ban on incandescent light bulbs is a small but illustrative example of everything that’s wrong with environmental policy in this country. Instead of establishing incentives to help Canadians make better choices, the government simply makes our decisions for us, trying to do through rules and regulations what a carbon price would do much more efficiently and with fewer unintended consequences.
This year, the government is phasing out most ordinary incandescent light bulbs. New efficiency standards for 75-watt and 100-watt bulbs apply to manufacturers as of Jan. 1, and 40-watt and 60-watt incandescents will be banned at the end of 2014.
By Denis Gagnon, Ottawa Citizen Letter to the Editor, January 11, 2014
I am very disappointed by the lack of vision this city has as far as roads are concerned. Anyone local or visiting people travelling the capital from east to west, is astonished by the quality of roads difference between those two areas. Crawling all the way from eastern Ontario, through Rockland with 20,000 people and Cumberland, 12,000, the traveller uses a narrow winding two-lane road that dates back to the 1940s-\'50s.
Reaching Orléans, the road widens to four lanes to accommodate the flow from the east and also the part of the 150,000 Orléans area people working downtown. Just past downtown, the road widens to six lanes and sometimes to eight lanes farther west. Part of this road even has HOV lanes! Then, four wide lanes take you all the way to Arnprior from the intersection of Hwy. 7 and the 417. Two years ago, Hwy. 7 way widened to four wide lanes right up to Carleton Place, population 10,000.
By Marie-Danielle Smith, Ottawa Citizen, January 11, 2014
Ottawa’s Wild Bird Care Centre admits it somehow didn’t realize a federal ban on incandescent light bulbs was to take effect Jan. 1, and now they’re asking bird lovers to lend a helping hand.
The centre’s incubators, used to keep baby birds warm and rehabilitate injured birds, use 100-watt incandescent light bulbs for heat.
By Ottawa Citizen, January 10, 2014
OTTAWA — “Jawbreaker,” the giant tunnelling roadheader chewing its way under Ottawa as part of the city’s LRT construction project, has made more than 100 metres progress along its portion of the 2.5-kilometre downtown tunnel.
The City of Ottawa tweeted a photo Thursday showing the tunnel beneath Queen Street. Work on the western entrance of the tunnel began in early October.
By Bruce Di Labio, Ottawa Citizen, January 10, 2014
The Snowy Owl southward irruption continues to be the highlight of the winter of 2013-14. I’ve received numerous reports and photographs from all over Eastern Ontario and a few from the Outaouais region.Record numbers of owls are still being reported from northeastern United States and one individual was found in Jacksonville, Fla!
Locally, it will be interesting to see if the owls stay in the area after our recent thaw and freeze. There is now a crust of ice on the snow and it may be more difficult for the owls to hunt.