Crews moving an LRT train slowly along the track after a minor derailment earlier in the week. Aug. 11, 2021. (Jim O'Grady / CTV News Ottawa)
Ottawa’s new city council gets down to business, the LRT inquiry report is released, and keeping an eye on the flu.
CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at five stories to watch in Ottawa this week.
Ottawa’s newly sworn-in city council will meet together for the first time this week, with a special, largely closed meeting on Monday and a regular council meeting on Wednesday.
Mark Sutcliffe will begin his council term as mayor alongside 11 new councillors and 13 veterans of the last term.
Monday’s meeting will discuss the upcoming release of the LRT inquiry report on Wednesday.
The agenda for the meeting on Wednesday is light, but includes opening remarks from members of the 2022-26 term, a governance review and a follow-up to planning items discussed at the final meeting of the last term on Nov. 9.
Council’s next meeting is Dec. 7.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and 22 councillors pose for a picture ahead of Tuesday's swearing in ceremony. (Leah Larocque/CTV News Ottawa)
The Ottawa Police Services Board meets Monday, with two high-ranking first-timers.
This will be the first police services board meeting for Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and Police Chief Eric Stubbs.
Stubbs was sworn in earlier this month after being hired by the police services board three days before the municipal election on Oct. 24. There was some demand from candidates in the election to delay the hiring of the new chief until after the crucial vote, but the board had the authority to make the decision.
Stubbs is vowing to regain the trust of the community following the “Freedom Convoy” demonstration in February that led to the resignation of former police chief Peter Sloly and a reconfiguration of the police services board.
The meeting begins at 4 p.m. There are eight public delegations signed up to speak, including a former mayoral candidate.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Eric Stubbs has been named the new chief of the Ottawa Police Service.
The long-awaited report from the inquiry into Stage 1 of Ottawa’s beleaguered LRT system will be released this week.
The final report from Justice William Hourigan is due at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Justice Hourigan was tasked with a mandate to investigate the commercial and technical circumstances that led to the Stage 1 breakdowns and derailments of the Confederation Line since its launch in September 2019. Hourigan will present his findings in the final report, and recommendations to prevent these issues from happening in the future.
The inquiry heard from 41 witnesses during 18 days of public hearings in June and July, hosted an expert panel to discuss public-private partnerships in July, and held two nights of meetings to hear from the public in May. The commission also received well over a million documents and interviewed dozens of witnesses before the start of public hearings.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has promised to implement the recommendations from the public inquiry. As part of his 100 days in office pledge, Sutcliffe said he would "begin to implement the key recommendations" to fix the system.
A window is broken and the wheels of a segment of an OC Transpo O-Train is seen west of Tremblay LRT Station in Ottawa on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021 after it derailed on Sunday. (Justin Tang/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
As flu cases continue to climb, all eyes will be on Ottawa’s weekly flu report, to see if the positivity rate grows again.
Ottawa Public Health reported a flu testing positivity rate of 23.4 per cent for the week of Nov. 13 to 19, which is well above the seasonal average. It’s unclear yet if influenza has peaked, as it’s still early in the flu season.
OPH’s weekly flu updates come on Tuesdays.
COVID-19 figures will also be reported Tuesday. There are signs that the level of the virus in the community is decreasing, with wastewater concentration trending downward, according to available data. Four COVID-19 deaths were reported in Ottawa last week.
The “triple-demic” of the flu, COVID-19, and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) have been keeping CHEO busy. The hospital has been well over capacity for weeks.
Some children’s cold and flu medication has begun to arrive in Ottawa amid bare shelves, but pharmacies are largely expected to keep it behind the counter for some time yet, as supplies are still limited.
Person checking their temperature with a thermometer. (Shutterstock)
The Canadian men’s national team has been officially eliminated from advancing at the 2022 World Cup, but there is still one more game for Team Canada, and they could still make history.
Canada play Morocco on Thursday, where a win—which would be Canada's lone win of the tournament—would mark the first-ever win for the Canadian men's team at the World Cup.
Canada scored its first goal of the tournament on Sunday when star Alphonso Davies found the back of the net just over a minute into play against Croatia. It was the very first goal for Canadian men at a World Cup. Croatia responded with four unanswered goals, sealing Canada’s fate at its first appearance in the international tournament since 1986.
Canada vs. Morocco airs at 10 a.m. Eastern, Dec. 1 on TSN.
Alphonso Davies of Canada celebrates after scoring their team's first goal with their teammate Richie Laryea, right, during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group F match between Croatia and Canada at Khalifa International Stadium on Nov. 27, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
The Department of National Defence says Canada is working with the United States to protect sensitive information from foreign intelligence threats after a high-altitude surveillance balloon was detected.
Magic mushroom dispensaries are popping up in cities across Canada, with customers ranging from those looking for treatment for depression or PTSD to people wanting to 'micro-dose' a small amount of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms. But while the situation is in some ways reminiscent of when cannabis retailers set up shop before marijuana was legalized in 2018, Health Canada says there are no plans to legalize or decriminalize psilocybin products.
Hundreds of customers who scan QR codes for restaurant menus across Canada are being surprised by secret menus instead, revealing the hidden costs behind the food they eat.
With the anniversary of Ukraine's invasion by Russia around the corner, CTV News sat down with a Russian warfare expert to discuss how he sees the conflict playing out and what happens next.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, as of Thursday morning there were extreme cold or winter storm warnings active from coast to coast, with the harshest extreme cold warnings stretching from northern Alberta all the way to Nova Scotia.
One of Saskatchewan’s oldest hockey rinks has garnered national attention for its unique features and unusual design.
A paramedic signing off for duty for the last time got choked up and teary-eyed during his final radio call to colleagues.
Quebec is changing its vaccine strategy: public health officials are now recommending booster shots only for vulnerable people who have never had COVID-19.
Paid subscriptions to on-demand care are among the many strategies primary health-care providers in Ontario are adopting in order to meet increased demand for access to doctors in the past year, while also managing staffing shortages.
On the day that Shubenacadie Sam predicted six more weeks of winter, there are extreme cold warnings cautioning that the coldest air of the season is about to arrive in the Maritimes.
Police in Sackville, N.B., are investigating after seven children ingested cannabis edibles at a middle school on Wednesday.
An extreme cold warning has been issued across the region, with some saying the arctic air could break record-low temperatures in the Maritimes.
A paralegal firm whose tagline is “we win or it’s free” bribed a Toronto traffic court clerk to change legal records to make it look like they had won, said the clerk in the first time he has testified publicly about the case.
Toronto and most of Ontario are in for a frigid bout of winter weather, according to Environment Canada.
A group of Ontario Greens have put together a counteroffer for Liberals trying to poach their leader.
After an extremely mild month of January, the province is bracing for a blast of arctic air that will move in tonight and last until Saturday. Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued extreme cold warnings that covers most of the province with wind chills expected to be between -38 and -42 across the South and -50 across Northern Quebec.
A beloved man who was a fixture on the streets of Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood died last year from a combination of street drugs in his system, including fentanyl, a coroner has ruled.
Medicago's parent company has announced that the Quebec City-based biopharmaceutical company, which developed a vaccine against COVID-19, will cease operations.
An argument between two young children playing outside together escalated to violence when a parent got involved, a North Bay mom says.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. is holding a big reveal Friday morning: the winner of a $48 million Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball draw.
The past few weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster for 16-year-old Ra'Jah Mohamed, a student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School.
One person has died and four others were sent to hospital after a two-vehicle crash in south London Wednesday night. She has since ben identified by her former cheerleading coach as 19-year-old Chloe Mackenzie.
Two-year-old Ella Crosset loved to dance and celebrate Halloween. Her smile lit up a room, and brought joy to so many people. But Ella passed away after a pool accident, and the pain of that loss was incomprehensible — through tragedy however, comes hope.
Environment Canada has lifted a snow squall warning for the London region Thursday evening, but a cold weather alert from the Middlesex-London Health Unit remains in effect. In addition, Grey-Bruce and Huron-Perth remain under snow squall and extreme cold warnings.
New documents show what led to a couple handing out cannabis-infused gummies to children in Winnipeg - and what happened in the hours directly after.
Ducks Unlimited Canada is celebrating World Wetlands Day by highlighting a success story in Niverville, Man.
A mobile home owner could potentially be out thousands of dollars after learning her home might not be insurable.
Police say they’ve arrested multiple people and one person was taken to hospital following reports of an armed robbery at Conestoga Mall on Thursday.
A Kitchener man, who was charged with killing his wife and then blowing up their home in 2018, has been found not criminally responsible.
A blast of cold Arctic air is expected to reach southern Ontario Thursday night paired with possible heavy blowing snow, according to Environment Canada.
After years of decline, demand for Calgary's downtown commercial real estate is showing signs of returning to life.
Artur Pawlowski is charged with breaching a release order and mischief for inciting people at the border crossing, where truckers gathered to block a highway.
Curling Canada says it is opening up its pregnancy exemption eligibility to all teams competing at next year's Canadian women's and men's championships, with the announcement coming a day after the organization came under fire for limiting the exemption to just the top five teams in the rankings.
Aaron Benneweis, 46, has been charged by Saskatoon Police with sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor while in a position of trust or authority.
Brian Hodgkinson always knew there was benzene in natural gas — after all, he spent 40 years working with it for SaskPower, then SaskEnergy.
A report written and reviewed by Saskatoon Water is calling on the city to create a warning system, in particular for drivers, when roadways become “dangerously flooded” due to heavy rain.
A former Edmonton Police Service officer believes bringing Alberta Sheriffs into downtown Edmonton is a risky plan that has the potential to backfire if not done properly.
The Operation Friendship Seniors Society (OFSS) announced Wednesday that it would be shutting down services at the McCauley Seniors drop-in facility.
A new public art installation has blossomed in a downtown Edmonton neighbourhood.
CTV News has learned that four of five RCMP officers facing charges in the death of an Indigenous man during an arrest in Prince George are still on active duty.
A man who was gunned down outside of his business in South Vancouver never got the chance to meet his daughter, a court heard as his killer was sentenced.
A nationwide billboard campaign that appears to promote grunge-chic clothing for street youth is causing confusion and igniting debate.
One of Saskatchewan’s oldest hockey rinks has garnered national attention for its unique features and unusual design.
The final details are being chiselled into place at the REAL District in preparation for the second annual Frost Festival taking place Feb. 3 to 12.
The Farmer and Rancher Mental Health (FARMh) Initiative has launched a mental wellness network along with a virtual toolbox full of mental health resources for the agriculture community.
