The Rideau Canal Skateway is officially open.
This is the 48th skating season. The National Capital Commission (NCC) says a 5.4 kilometre stretch is open from Bronson to Pretoria.
An official kickoff took place at the Fifth Avenue rest area at 11 a.m. with David McGuinty, Member of Parliament, and Dr. Mark Kristmanson, Chief Executive Officer of the NCC.
The skateway is opening a week earlier than last year.
The NCC would have favoured opening over the Christmas holidays, but say the condition were not favourable.
“The appropriate measures have to be taken to make sure the public are safe, because imagine with 20-thousand people out on the ice, we have to be sure that it’s safe,” Kristmanson said.
The NCC started work on the canal around December 20th. By the 26th crews were working to get the pumps out and allow the staff to be on the ice to water the skateway, according to the Bruce Devine, the Senior Manager for the skateway.
“Right through New Year’s Eve we had up to 40 workers building the ice to permit the opening today,” Devine said.
Devine says while these cold conditions create challenges for both the workers, and their equipment, they have safety protocols in place.
“We did discuss with them and they have good health and safety measures to put in place, everybody is extremely well dressed and they rotate to go inside and get warm,” he added.
There is no exact timeline for when the rest of the canal will open. Despite frigid temperatures some of the water below was still too warm at 3C or 4C early on.
Devine says those section are now thick enough, but require maintenance.
Skaters using the Canal are urged to bundle up as the capital remains under an extreme cold warning.
