NCC still hopeful Rideau Canal Skateway can open this season
NCC still hopeful Rideau Canal Skateway can open this season
There is still hope the world famous Rideau Canal Skateway will be open for Winterlude.
This season’s closure has been a disappointment not only for skaters and visitors but also for local businesses.
The sharpening wheel sits idle as rental skates are ready to go at Cycos on Hawthorne, just steps away from the Rideau Canal. Co-owner Gordon Martin says a typical weekend would see his drying mats covered in skates.
But this skating season has been anything but typical.
"The canal is like a lifeline," Martin said. "It’s part of what our business model’s around, the canal and pathways around there for our bike rentals as well and skate rentals so, it’s a big deal for us. For sure."
The Rideau Canal Skateway is still closed and already past the latest opening in its history of Feb. 2, 2002. Martin says this late season is different for Cycos when compared to two decades ago.
"There’s amenities that people can use like, say, the Rink of Dreams and the refrigerated rink at Lansdowne and you also have the guys that have the skating rinks through the forests and stuff like that. A lot of people are renting for there."
The Rideau Canal first welcomed skaters in January 1971 and since then, not one season has been missed.
The NCC remains hopeful. In a statement to CTV News on Monday, a spokesperson writes:
"The colder temperatures of the past few days allowed the teams to flood the ice several times. We’re continuing some of our preparation work while we assess the results of the flooding. We look forward to welcoming skaters to the Rideau Canal Skateway soon."
Skating the canal often means a stop for an iconic BeaverTail but, with the canal closed, no customers have been able to stop by the huts so far this season.
“Some loss, certainly tens of thousands of dollars have already been spent, and not a penny has come back across the counter,” says BeaverTails founder Grant Hooker.
“We’ve been here 42 years, if this had happened in the first five or 10 years, I would be probably too depressed to talk to you today but fortunately, we’ve saved … for not a rainy day - but a warm day.”
Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter -- the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.
Ottawa Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the residence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser, the second such incident involving one of his top aides in recent months.
This Sunday, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will announce the four astronauts that will be blasting off to fly around the moon for the Artemis II mission, one of whom will be a Canadian astronaut.
Gwyneth Paltrow won her court battle over a 2016 ski collision at a posh Utah ski resort after a jury decided Thursday that the movie star wasn't at fault for the crash.
When two skiers collided on a beginner run at an upscale Utah ski resort in 2016, no one could foresee that seven years later, the crash would become the subject of a closely watched celebrity trial.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
A candidate for the United Conservative Party in southern Alberta has resigned after she posted a video claiming children are being exposed to pornography in schools.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a brief initial response to the final report from the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) into Canada's worst mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 22 people in Nova Scotia in 2020. Vowing changes will come, here's what Trudeau said in Truro, N.S.
Gun policy comments made by then-RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki in a contentious call to Nova Scotia RCMP officers after the mass shooting in 2020 did not amount to political interference, the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) final report concludes.
A 22-year accused of fatally stabbing a teenager at Keele Station over the weekend was released on a probation order just weeks earlier, tied to a sexual assault charge, court documents show.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
Premier Doug Ford is slamming federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault as a “real piece of work” in the wake of public remarks he made suggesting that Ontario has “no plan to fight climate change.”
Just a week after Airbnb tightened regulations for Quebec listings following a deadly fire, hosts may already be bending the rules. Airbnb now requires its hosts to provide a six-digit policy number with their listing, obtained when a tourist lodging is registered with the provincial government. But a scroll through the Airbnb website suggests users are falsifying their permit numbers to sneak past the authentication process.
Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter -- the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.
A proposed class-action lawsuit over infamous brainwashing experiments at a Montreal psychiatric hospital was before Quebec's highest court Thursday, as victims attempted to remove immunity granted to the United States government.
Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter -- the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.
Several communities in northern Ontario are currently under a winter storm watch, with as much as 40 cm of snow expected between now and Saturday night.
Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter -- the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.
When the store manager at La Noisette Bakery arrived Thursday morning to open the small shop on Oxford Street, she discovered that one of the two large circular windows at the side of their building was shattered.
Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter -- the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.
Two Manitoba hunting outfitters have been fined thousands of dollars and lost their licenses after a four-year investigation revealed numerous violations of the wildlife act.
A candidate for the United Conservative Party in southern Alberta has resigned after she posted a video claiming children are being exposed to pornography in schools.
Three Calgary men face multiple charges after a police investigation that targeted drug traffickers resulted in the seizure of more than $250,000 in drugs, firearms and various rounds of ammunition, other weapons and drug paraphernalia.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has yet to answer direct questions about a growing scandal of her alleged interference with the justice system, but her deputy premier has responded the media about the issue.
Students at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) are highlighting stories of Ukrainian youth killed in the Russian invasion who were in school working towards a diploma or degree.
After getting off to a slow start, business is booming at Edmonton's Manchester Square. The development in Queen Mary Park opened in March 2020, right as the pandemic began.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has yet to answer direct questions about a growing scandal of her alleged interference with the justice system, but her deputy premier has responded the media about the issue.
Four of the Vancouver police officers involved in the violent 2015 arrest of Myles Gray – which ended with the 33-year-old dying in handcuffs – claim they were directed by their union not to keep notes about what happened, in violation of department policy.
Mounties are appealing to the public for information related to a mischief investigation involving a statue that was beheaded at a B.C. university earlier this week.
The Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry filed a charter challenge against the provincial government for stipulations in its disability program that require seniors to take their Canada Pension Plan (CPP) money out early.
A Mass Casualty Commission report that came out on Thursday following a mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020 may have a local impact on the RCMP Depot model being phased out.
Ninety-five deaths in Saskatchewan have been linked to COVID-19 since the start of the year as vaccination rates continue to lag. No influenza-related deaths were reported over the same period.
