Ottawa Sun

30 SOMETHING

Hope springs eternal across the National Hockey League in the fall, especially when training camps open and every team is undefeated. That sense of optimism was alive and well at the Bell Sensplex on Thursday morning as the Ottawa Senators opened camp...

TOP JOB

NATO'S chiefs of defence will meet Sept. 18 in Denmark to discuss ways to further strengthen the alliance, deal with new and emerging military technologies and boost support for Ukraine. But on Sept. 19 the defence chiefs from the 32 nations in the...

86 MILLION REASONS TO SMILE

Drake Batherson is here to stay. The Ottawa Senators served notice they want to keep their homegrown talent on Tuesday by signing him to a whopping eight-year, $86-million US extension, which is the largest contract in franchise history. Thirty...

WHO WILL WEAR THE Chabot, Stutzle or Sanderson? Senators not rushing decision to name new captain

The Ottawa Senators are taking a wait and “C” approach with their decision on the club's next captain. Captain letters were being handed out fast and furiously around the National Hockey League on Monday with training camps set to kick off with on-ice...

EUROPEAN VACATION?

Mark Carney's goal this week when he travels to Europe is to make Canada an “associate member” of the European Union. It's a title and status that doesn't currently exist, but according to the Wall Street Journal, it's what Carney and EU leaders plan...

TAKING NOTES

Faced with a prolific rise in the use of artificial intelligence in the world of higher education, some instructors are taking the radical step of going back to pen and paper. Shawna Dolansky, one of the many professors at Carleton University who's...

SO CLOSE

OC Transpo officials say the longawaited LRT east extension to Orléans is “progressing as planned” and a “pre-trial running” phase is forecast to begin in early October. Staff did not put forward a date for the east extension to open to passengers,...

LOW ROAD

Ottawa council is playing its own version of the renaming game as the city took the first steps to tearing down the Trump Ave. signs from the Central Park neighbourhood and replacing them with another name. River Coun. Riley Brockington, who...

BACK IN THE LEAGUE

Alex Formenton is back in the National Hockey League. The Edmonton Oilers announced on Wednesday they've signed the former Ottawa Senators winger to a one-year contract worth $850,000 US. The Senators cut ties with Formenton on May 8 when they filed...

`I WANT TO BE HERE'

Drake Batherson has made it clear he wants to remain with the Ottawa Senators. The Senators have made it clear they want him to stay. The challenge now is bridging the remaining gap and securing a longterm extension for the 28-year-old winger. Talks...

PUCKS 'N' BUCKS

We will find out some time in the next week what hill the Ottawa Senators will choose in negotiations with Drake Batherson. With a Sept. 15 deadline looming to sign an eight-year extension before the National Hockey League's new collective bargaining...

SAFETY FIRST

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe pledged to hire 350 more first responders, including 200 more police officers if he is re-elected, while doubling the investment in alternative response programs and appointing a “downtown safety czar” to help solve the toxic drug...

HARD LESSON

U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt return-to-office mandate for federal employees damaged morale and eroded trust across the U.S. public service, according to a recent study whose author believes Canada has failed to learn from those mistakes. The...

SAVE THE DATE

No date looms larger for fans of the Ottawa Senators than Oct. 21, when Brady Tkachuk makes his return. The Senators won't even put tickets on sale to the general public for the 2026-27 campaign until Tuesday, but speaking to local media on Thursday...

'HA HA HAH'

The season hasn't even started, and Brad Marchand has already earned two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Florida Panthers winger opted to give his two cents on the top three candidates to replace Brady Tkachuk as captain of the Ottawa...

FRESH FACES

The calendar has turned to September, most children in the city went back to school on Tuesday, and the weather has cooled with the start of the Ottawa Senators' training camp set for Sept. 16. Yes, it's hockey season. Steve Staios, the Senators'...

THIS IS AWKWARD

The Canadian military is co-hosting a major conference with its U.S. counterparts at a time when relations with America have hit a new low. Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Jennie Carignan, and the Commander of U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel J....

GRIM TASK

BIDUR, Nepal — Rescuers in Nepal and China battled through leg-sucking mud, as well as the threat of rising rivers and a newly formed lake, on Sunday to search for thousands missing after a deadly wall of water and debris swept through the Himalayas,...

FOOD AND FUN

Moudy Husseini and Luis Guerra have been best friends since they were five. Throughout their adult lives, both Husseini and Luis followed their dreams in the restaurant business, though separately. When the stars aligned in 2021, towards the tail end...

THE BIG FIX

Moodie Station on the city's beleaguered LRT west extension may need a complete redesign, transit riders were told this week. OC Transpo held a town hall meeting in Kanata on Tuesday, Aug. 25, where the transit agency said damage from a July 1 storm...

THE GREAT UNIFIER?

What I know about international trade disputes wouldn't fill a Tim's jelly donut. My understanding of comparative advantage is that it's probably better to have one than not. And I suspect that, if I knew anything about countervailing duties, I might...

STAGE FRIGHT

Local arts groups are scrambling to find new venues and to re-sell tickets following the temporary closure of the cityowned Meridian Centrepointe Theatre due to flood damage from the Canada Day storm. With the theatre closed for renovations until the...

LOOK AND `C'

Hasn't Thomas Chabot earned the right to be the next captain of the Ottawa Senators? For nearly a decade, the 29-year-old defenceman has been the constant through Ottawa's darkest days and its climb back to respectability. He has endured the rebuild,...

TIME TO GROW UP

In order for the Ottawa Senators to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs and actually do some damage, two things need to happen: The team must receive competent goaltending and the franchise's young core must take the next step. It's easy enough to...

WAR ZONE

The good news may be that President Donald Trump has acknowledged that not only is Canada not the 51st state, but not a state at all. For those who savour free trade and capitalism, the bad news may be that Canadian taxpayers' economic partner is...

TALKING TECH

Local politicians are divided over whether Ottawa should put the brakes on new large-scale AI data centres amid growing pressure on the city's electricity grid. Data centres are buildings filled with computer servers that store and process huge...

ROUGH RIDE

SMITHS FALLS — Christin Storms, the Smiths Falls woman who kick-started a monthly motorcycle meet in this Eastern Ontario town, is uncertain about the long-term future of the popular event after learning she was on the radar of the Ontario Provincial...

PRAYERS ANSWERED

For public servants in need of a downtown parking spot, the City of Ottawa hopes a new plan will answer their prayers. On Aug. 19, the city's planning committee approved a temporary bylaw change allowing places of worship located downtown or near...

`SANCTITY OF LIFE'

The federal labour board has found that the Canada Revenue Agency discriminated against a Christian public servant when it refused his COVID-19 vaccine exemption request. In 2021, Steven Porter had sought an exemption from the the federal government's...

ROAD TRIP

Without so much as an official final game at TD Place Arena to mark their departure, the Ottawa Charge have packed their bags after three seasons at Lansdowne Park and are headed to a new-to-them home in Kanata. They'll be leaving some fans behind,...

KISS OF DEATH?

With damaging new U.S. tariffs set to be imposed on a wide range of Canadian goods within days, trade talks between the once chummy allies have heated up again. President Donald Trump announced last month the U.S. would slap a 50% levy on $28 billion...

COLD COMFORT

Andrew Barnett has a routine. Every morning, after waking up at a shelter in downtown Ottawa, he takes a short walk to Centre 454 in Sandy Hill for breakfast. After breakfast, he might use the centre's laundry service or the clothing vouchers it has...

HARD AT WORK

It has been a calendar year since the Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission entered into an agreement for the National Hockey League franchise to purchase 11 acres at Lebreton Flats to build a new home for the club. Though the news cycle...

FLEEING THE FLAMES

CALGARY — A Calgary man who was just starting his vacation in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley was among thousands of people forced to flee parts of the region over the weekend as raging wildfires threatened communities across the...

›› PAGES 8-9 POSTER WAR

Long-standing businesses in Ottawa's Byward Market Building received notice letters from their landlord after they put up posters that the Byward Market District Authority claimed were in breach of their tenancy agreements. The posters were put up...

`IT'S CLOSURE'

Eight years after he went missing, Robert Lambert's remains have been located on the property he owned outside of Smiths Falls, according to a statement released by Ontario Provincial Police. Last seen in July 2018, when he was 75 years old, Lambert...

`MORE BUSES'

Mayoral candidate Jeff Leiper is promising to reverse recent cuts to Ottawa's bus service and to make routes more reliable and frequent if elected this fall. Leiper unveiled a five-part transit plan outside Tunney's Pasture station on Aug. 4, arguing...

TITANS OF SUMMER

Ottawa's minor-league baseball team likely never predicted how the city's biggest offseason hockey headline would turn into one of the club's most unique promotions at the ballpark. Yet, for the Ottawa Titans, that was exactly what happened. As the...

BLINDSIDED

Travis Green didn't see it coming. Speaking publicly for the first time since the Senators traded their captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers in June, Ottawa's head coach told the 100% Hockey podcast with Daren Millard and John Shannon last...

SOLD

The winning bid for the iconic Fairmont Château Montebello was awarded to Westmont Hospitality, the Mississauga-based company that owns, manages and advises hundreds of hotels across the globe. Westmont was one of five binding offers that were...

NOT PLAYING

Dedicated film lovers are taking pilgrimages to one of the 41 theatres around the world where they can watch director Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey in its intended Imax 70-mm format. In Canada, only nine theatres have that capability. But the...

TWO THUMBS UP

Andrew Lumsden was 42 years old when he first decided to take his son, Gavin, hitchhiking from Ottawa to Vancouver — and back. His son was an 11-year-old at the time. Now, 50 years later, Gavin was the one initiating another trip, this time across the...

FOOD FRENZY

Over the past decade, Teegavarapu Sarath Mohan has been at the helm of restaurant kitchens in a Kanata strip mall, an east-end business park and on Little Italy's main drag. For his latest project, an upscale, globally inspired fried chicken eatery,...

KEEPING PRIDE SAFE

Capital Pride executive director Callie Metler said Ottawa police would decide whether additional security measures were needed following the deadly attack at a Pride event in Berlin and that the force would cover the cost of any extra public safety...

TOUGH LOSS

Paul Rushforth spent Saturday mornings at the CFRA studio in Ottawa for 19 years, cracking jokes with co-host Frank Napolitano before their Open House show went to air. The warmth audiences heard on the broadcasts matched the man friends describe away...

`ISLAMIST CIRCLES'

BERLIN — The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride car-ramming attack that left one woman dead and at least 29 others injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city, authorities said. Abdul Ballout, a...

SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

The University of Ottawa is without an on-campus daycare for the first time in decades after the Bernadette Child Care Centre closed this spring, leaving dozens of families searching for new childcare arrangements. The daycare was forced to close in...

LET'S EAT

You could smell the beef skewers from the parking lot before the smoky and savoury scent eventually engulfed your senses when you walked into the market. I went with a good friend to the Kanata Night Market, though calling it a night market would be...

GOING GREEN

As calls for better storm infrastructure ripple through the city following the July 1 storm, researchers say upgrading the stormwater pipes is not the only way to make Ottawa more resilient to flooding. A research lab at Carleton University is looking...

GRIM DETAILS

A father killed his two young sons in southeast Ottawa on June 29 before then setting fire to his dental practice in Iroquois and dying by suicide in a parking lot outside Kemptville, Ottawa police said in a news release detailing the homicide...

STICK AROUND

OFF TRACK?

Flooding from the city's Canada Day storm damaged parts of the under-construction west O-train extension, forcing repairs and raising new uncertainty about whether the project's scheduled summer 2027 opening can still be met. Transit Services general...

SPAIN REIGNS

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Ferran Torres scored an extra-time winner as Spain defeated holders Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup on Sunday and shatter Lionel Messi's dreams of a triumphant farewell to football's greatest stage. Barcelona striker Torres...

DOT-TAWA

Country's current queen, Ella Langley, attracted the biggest crowd of this year's Bluesfest on July 17, with an estimated 40,000 people filling every corner of the site at Lebreton Flats Park. It was one of the rare occasions a Bluesfest show has sold...

SPIN CITY

The DJS are spinning tucked away at Bluesfest along the river somewhere between the RBC Main Stage and the River stage in a self-described “Big Chill” zone, but the vibes through the night could get anything but chill. The Big Chill is an area that is...

PACK YOUR BAGPIPES

For thousands of people leaving Bluesfest over the past decade and a half, the last performance of the night wasn't on the mainstage. It echoed outside the gates. As Hardy fans streamed out of Lebreton Flats on Saturday night, many slowed along Booth...

SENS MOVE ON

We're beginning to hear from Brady Tkachuk's former Ottawa Senators teammates following the captain's June departure. Centre Shane Pinto, speaking with local media on Tuesday for the first time since locker clean out day, shared his initial reaction...

COLOUR PARTY

Bluesfest is filled with passionate, sweaty and oftentimes intoxicated music lovers. It's also filled with many colourful shirt-wearing volunteers. How many does it take for the festival to run smoothly? BLUE SHIRTS Hundreds, estimates Roxanne...

`IT IS NOT SAFE'

No hydro, no water and no food — that was the reality for Olivia Allan after the Canada Day rainstorm flooded thousands of basements and roads across Ottawa. Allan was among the hardest hit, as a resident of Park West at 30 Mcewen Ave. The 24-storey...

FLYING SOUTH

As Mark Carney continues to claim that no deal is better than a bad deal, an increasing number of Canadian firms are looking to move manufacturing production south. Carney was elected on a promise to secure a trade deal with Donald Trump, yet 16...

CROWD CONTROL

The chaotic energy of Limp Bizkit was building to a peak on Friday when the raprock legends surprised the crowd by inviting an old friend to join them on the RBC Main stage at Ottawa Bluesfest. The lanky figure in overalls and a scruffy beard was none...

Police move forward with AI technology

The Ottawa police want to use artificial intelligence facial recognition technology to generate investigative leads. On June 22, in a meeting, the Ottawa Police Service Board approved the force's motion to move forward with the first phase of its...

HOME ICE

Well, it's official. After months of deliberations, closed-door conversations and speculation, the Ottawa Charge will officially be moving to the Canadian Tire Centre full-time starting next season. Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld announced the...

SOUND CHECK

Ottawa Bluesfest is the biggest summer music festival in Ottawa. The nineday, multi-stage extravaganza takes place on the grounds of (and inside) the Canadian War Museum at Lebreton Flats Park, within sight of the Ottawa River and Parliament...

SAD TO SEE ALFIE LEAF

Say it ain't so, Alfie! Former Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson is leaving his post as an assistant coach on Travis Green's to join the arch-rival Toronto Maple Leafs as an associate coach on Jim Hiller's staff, which can only be described as...

LADY SINGS THE BLUES

An Ottawa country singer was crushed to find out that her first appearance at Bluesfest, a dream gig opening for Sheryl Crow and Ella Langley, was moved up an hour and cut short to make way for Quebec rock sensations Angine de Poitrine on the main...

MR. SUB

Prime Minister Mark Carney will stop in Halifax on Monday for an announcement about making Canada “more secure, resilient, and prosperous.” He will visit Canadian Forces Base Halifax, home to the Royal Canadian Navy, alongside Viceadmiral Dan...

ALL OVER

They began as a host nation among the largest World Cup ever, a tournament bursting with 48 countries, and resolutely determined to make an impact on their sport like never before. The magical run for Canada was brought to a halt on Saturday afternoon...

LET'S DO THIS

The game ended shortly after dusk in Toronto, but the night was just getting started for Portugal legend Cristiano Ronaldo and his legion of fans storming the city in rapturous celebration. One of the all-time greats was having his moment in a city...

FINAL FLIGHT

For generations of Canadians, Canada Day in Ottawa has included a familiar ritual: looking skyward for red-and-white jets. With Wednesday's 1 p.m. flypast — heavy rains forced the cancellation of their 4 p.m. demonstration — the Snowbirds' iconic...

`IT WAS HOMICIDE'

Ottawa police are investigating a murder-suicide after two boys were found dead inside a home in Findlay Creek, and their father was found dead, roughly 45 kilometres away in Kemptville. Police said officers were called to a home on Mandevilla...