Hey, it’s mid-March, so that means it’s time to move the clocks forward in a futile attempt to save energy. Or so they say. As I’ve mentioned in previous years’ versions of this post, daylight save time hasn’t been shown to actually save energy.

What it has been shown to result in is an increase in accidents because people are discombobulated by the change in their sleep pattern, much like being jet lagged, and a 10% increase the likelihood that you’ll experience a heart attack during the days immediately following the time change. And you’ll probably feel a bit jet lagged, too. I’m really not convinced it’s worth it. (more…)

The NCC recently announced the two development proposals for LeBreton Flats that are moving on to the next step in the process. I visited the open house at the Canadian War Museum last Wednesday to learn all about the proposals.

Both proposals are professionally put together, but in my opinion one of them is much better than the other.

First, the proposals (in alphabetical order):

• Canadensis: LeBreton Re-imagined by Devcore, Canderel and DLS Group
• Illumination LeBreton by RendezVous LeBreton Group

As you’ll see, the proposals share a number of common elements, but the one that’s attracting the most attention is a new arena to replace the aging Palladium Corel Centre ScotiaBank Place Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata. There are two main differences surrounding the arena: how it is used in the overall site proposal, and whether it will even be used by the Senators.

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We stop to remember the brave men and women who have given their lives in the service of their country so that we may have peace, security, and freedom.

Thank you.

Here we go again… rolling the clocks back an hour earlier at 02:00 Eastern Sunday morning under the pretence of saving energy. Read this to find out why it’s pointless.

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I want to say up front that my experiences with taxis in Ottawa have generally been positive over the years. Most taxi drivers work long hours and take pride in their cars and the service they provide. But a few are going to ruin it for all of them and it’s to this minority that I’m referring to below.

So, I’ve been thinking about writing about the taxi drivers blocking traffic on the Airport Parkway because of their dispute over pickup fees with Coventry Connections and the Ottawa Airport Authority for a while now. Last week, the “protesters” attacked a taxi with a passenger, breaking the windows. Fortunately, the perpetrators (or at least some of them) have been arrested, so hopefully some of them will be held to account for their actions.

It’s completely unacceptable for this behaviour to be tolerated. I have no problems with the taxi drivers picketing in front of Coventry Connections or the business offices of the airport authority, but they have no right to block the Airport Parkway and certainly no right to cause damage and attack people as some of them have done recently. If/When they block traffic, they should be arrested and their vehicles towed.

My mom summed up the situation nicely last week in a letter to the editor in the Ottawa Citizen:

I am appalled at the violence of the protesting locked-out airport fleet taxi drivers on Tuesday. Why are they able to block a public road — the Airport Parkway at the Uplands Drive overpass — and attack the vehicle of another cab driver in such a violent manner with complete disregard for the safety of the public? Why did the police who were out there not act to stop the violence?

The citizens of Ottawa and our visitors arriving at the airport should be able to travel safely on our public roads without fear of being attacked by these people behaving like thugs. I sincerely hope that the perpetrators of this violence who were captured on video will be charged and that it happens before someone gets seriously injured.

I’m not a supporter of Uber because they’re are operating unlicensed taxis, but if some of the licensed cab drivers are going to act like asshats, perhaps it’s time to figure out how to allow Uber to operate legally in the City of Ottawa.