Police respond to a call for tai chi in a park and the cleanup continues from the storm: Top five stories this week

Hydro Ottawa crews are working in the area of Albion Road and Johnston Road on Saturday. (Natalie van Rooy/CTV News Ottawa)

The cleanup continues following the May 21 storm, police respond to a call for an elderly woman doing tai chi in a park and the Progressive Conservatives suffer a loss in an Ottawa riding on an otherwise successful election night.

CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at the top stories on our website this week.

Here are the Ottawa winners in the Ontario election

The Progressive Conservatives lost one seat in Ottawa on an otherwise successful election night for the party across the province.

Ontario voters gave Doug Ford and the PC Party a second conservative majority mandate in Thursday's provincial election. The PC Party won 83 of the 124 seats in Ontario, while the NDP won 31 seats, the Liberals 8 seats, the Green Party won one seat and there is one independent MPP.

In Ottawa, the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals each won three ridings in the 43^rd general election, while the NDP won two seats.

The only seat to change hands in Ottawa was the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean, where NDP candidate Chandra Pasma knocked off PC Party incumbent Jeremy Roberts by 900 votes.

Fewer than 50 per cent of voters in all eight Ottawa ridings cast a ballot in Thursday's Ontario election.

Voter turnout across Ontario was 43.03 per cent.

In Ottawa, 355,870 eligible voters cast a ballot in the eight ridings in the provincial election. Preliminary statistics show the voter turnout in Ottawa was 45 per cent.

$30 million bill to reconnect hydro after storm

Hydro Ottawa restored power to the bulk of customers across the city of Ottawa this week, nearly two weeks after a devastating storm damaged the hydro infrastructure.

"We've successfully restored power to 179,700 customers," Hydro Ottawa said Wednesday night, adding work was continuing to restore power to approximately 300 other customers.

The utility said the remaining outages required complicated work, including making sure the "upstream circuit" from a home is fine before turning on the electricity.

Electricity did go out Thursday, Friday and Saturday to some customers as crews continued to fix broken hydro poles and lines following the May 21 storm.

Hydro Ottawa estimates the storm will cost $25-$30 million, covering both capital expenses and salaries.

“We are thankful, obviously, that the premier has agreed to cover these costs and we’ll obviously roll these costs up into the final bill the city submits,” Hydro Ottawa president and CEO Bryce Conrad said.

Meantime, the city of Ottawa continues to clean up debris in all neighbourhoods following the storm.

Hydro crews working on Monday to restore power following Saturday's storm. (Shaun Vardon/CTV News Ottawa)

Someone called police on a woman doing tai chi in an Ottawa park

Ottawa's interim police chief has ordered a full review after officers responded to a call for a woman doing tai chi with a sword in Dundonald Park.

A post on Reddit Monday claimed someone called police on the elderly woman in the Centretown park.

The post said that police became aggressive with the woman, who could not speak English, but also that officers were eventually able to get someone on the phone who could translate before the woman was apparently told to leave.

Interim Chief Steve Bell says police were called at about 9:50 a.m. Monday, with the caller concerned about the woman's sword that was "75 inches" in length.

Bell said the caller hung up before more information could be gleaned.

"A patrol officer attended the Somerset St. West park at 9:59 a.m. and located a woman inside the fenced area of the children’s park. The officer was also directed to her by concerned parents," Bell wrote.

"The officer attempted to speak with the woman but there was a language barrier and the discussion between the officer and woman became animated. The officer asked the woman to sit on a bench while they investigated."

Bell wrote that police were eventually able to reach an officer who spoke Cantonese and Mandarin to translate over the phone. He said the sword was a collapsible device, which was indeed being used for tai chi.

"It (the sword) was returned to the woman. There was no arrest or charge and the elderly woman willingly left the park without incident. She was not directed to leave," Bell claimed. "The officer chose not to ask for the woman’s identification to avoid escalating the situation further."

Dundonald Park on Somerset St. W. in Ottawa. May 31, 2022. (Colton Praill/CTV News Ottawa)

'Unprecedented national security crisis': Former Ottawa police chief Sloly addresses parliamentary committee

Former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly says the "Freedom Convoy" protest was an "unprecedented security crisis" for which institutions, including police, were unprepared.

Sloly's comments to a parliamentary committee looking at the future of the parliamentary precinct were his first public comments since his resignation as chief in the middle of the protest that occupied downtown Ottawa for more than three weeks.

"The events relating to the ‘Freedom Convoy’ represent a paradigm shift in the way that protests are organized, funded, executed, and responded to in Canada," Sloly said in his opening remarks. "This was an unprecedented national security crisis for which our institutions were not fully prepared."

Sloly told MPs he did not request the federal government invoke the Emergencies Act.

The former chief told the committee that police did not known in advance the full nature of what was en route to Ottawa, and did not have proper resources to deal with it.

"I threw every single officer that I could at it, while still trying to serve and protect the million people that call Ottawa home," Sloly said Thursday. "Ultimately, it took 2,000 additional officers from across the country, with specific skills, almost double the size of my regular staffing availability, to bring the events just here in Ottawa to a conclusion. That is the order of magnitude."

Coyote takes a dip in backyard pool in Ottawa

Nicole Van De Wolfshar made an unusual discovery in her backyard pool in Ottawa's west end Sunday morning.

"I was pretty sure I was going to have to add ‘drowned coyote’ to my list of things to deal with,” Van De Wolfshar wrote on her neighbourhood Facebook page, sharing images of a coyote swimming in the pool. "He eventually got out safely."

She doesn't know whether the coyote fell in or just wanted to go for a swim.

“He looked exhausted. I don’t know how long he was in the pool before I spotted him.”

Nicole Van De Wolfshaar tells Newstalk 580 CFRA that a coyote found swimming in her backyard pool in Ottawa appeared to be trapped, but was able to eventually get out and leave Saturday morning. May 28, 2022. (Nicole Van De Wolfshaar/Facebook)