Environment Canada is predicting a major winter storm, beginning tonight and possibly continuing through December 25th. The storm may bring extreme cold, freezing rain, heavy snow, high winds, and flash freezes.
Here’s some important information to help you prepare.
I have contacted the City’s Emergency Command Centre to request that, in the event of an extended power outage, area community centres be deployed as needed for warming, device charging, and access to wi-fi. I will update on Twitter throughout the weekend (@laine_johnson1).
Hydro
Hydro Ottawa’s Crisis Management Teams will be in place to oversee the power supply and deploy resources as needed.
Ice and heavy snow can cause short-term outages, so please be patient. To find out the current status of an outage, residents are advised to visit our website and Outage Map at
www.hydroottawa.com/outages, which is updated every 15 minutes as new information comes in from
our crews. Hydro Ottawa relies on customers to help pinpoint the cause of an outage, by:
Snow clearing
I’ve heard from staff that they are putting extra resources into clearing our roads and sidewalks this weekend. Changing conditions and long-lasting storms are challenging because they need to keep returning to the same routes. Please be patient and allow our crews to do their work.
A Winter Weather Parking Ban will be in effect from 10 am Friday, December 23 to 7 am Saturday, December 24. The extension to the standard winter weather parking ban is essential for the support of our operations. The fewer cars parked on the road, the faster crews can clear the lanes.
In College Ward, you can park for free at Centrepointe Park (260 Centrepointe Dr) during winter parking bans.
Transit
Please give yourself extra time to get to your destination and expect delays. Articulated buses will likely be taken off the road, so buses might be a bit more crowded.
And be careful getting on and off buses as the curbside may be icy.
Text 560-560 or call 560-1000 and follow @OCTranspoLive on Twitter for the latest information.
How you can help
City crews will work hard to open catch basins ahead of this week’s event, but they cannot do it alone. If you are able, please clear your local catch basin. Cleared catch basins allows water to drain from the streets unrestricted, preventing water from pooling on our roads which in turn, helps them from freezing over should the temperature drop. As the temperature is forecasted to drop late Friday, clearing catch basins ahead of this event is crucial in preventing slippery and hazardous travelling conditions. You may also report a blocked catch basin by creating an online service request by visiting Ottawa.ca.
With the holiday break just a few days away, we understand that many may have last-minute errands to run. In anticipation of the conditions that are expected later this week, please plan ahead by completing any errands before the winter weather event reaches the City on Thursday.
Emergency preparedness
that includes things like: medicine, first aid supplies, flashlights, new batteries, a battery-operated radio, a manual can opener, canned food, bottled water, blankets, food for pets, and important documents and telephone numbers
Charge mobile devices and laptops
For those requiring an uninterrupted supply of power for specialized medical equipment, ensure you have a back-up supply in place or a plan to relocate to a facility that can assist you.
For those with mobile disabilities and live in a building that requires the use of an elevator, be sure to inform the building’s management that you may need assistance.
Install a backup power supply for your sump pump. This will help avoid flooding during power outages.
Today, the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved my motion to improve road safety across Ottawa. Here's my motion:WHEREAS speeding continues to be one of the most significant road‑safety concerns raised by residents across the City of Ottawa, particularly in residential neighbourhoods and school zones where vulnerable road users, including children, are at heightened risk; and
WHEREAS recent City data has shown a substantial increase in speeding in school zones, with compliance dropping from 87 percent to 41 percent within a 12‑week period following the removal of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras, and high‑end speeding increasing from 0.3 percent to over 4 percent during the same period; and
Whereas speed data is an important input in understanding risk related to more serious collisions; and
WHEREAS the city’s current approach to collecting speed data is limited and does not provide a full picture of speeds across the roadway network, and
WHEREAS other jurisdictions across Canada and internationally are increasingly incorporating innovative, technology‑enabled, and data‑driven approaches—including, predictive analytics, and AI‑supported monitoring systems—to inform their road safety programs; and
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa is currently undertaking work to update the Road Safety Action Plan, which will guide the road safety priorities for the next term of Council; and
WHEREAS this work presents an opportunity to modernize and strengthen the inputs used to make informed data-driven decisions about road safety;
THERFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT staff, through the update to the City’s Road Safety Action Plan, leverage advanced data analytics, predictive modelling, and AI‑supported technologies, where appropriate, to enhance the City’s ability to identify, monitor, and respond to speeding trends and inform road safety priorities
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT staff consider speed management as a focus area when developing the Road Safety Action Plan that will be presented to Council in 2027.
Read the Year Three Progress ReportDear Neighbours,
I am pleased to provide you with the College Ward Annual
Progress Report, showing the work that we did in 2025. I work hard every day to represent you on the
issues that are important to our neighbourhoods.
I hope this Progress Report is informative of the projects we
took on last year, and that it demonstrates my continuing
transparency and accountability to you. There is still more
always to do, and I list some future areas of interest.
Warm regards,
Laine
The news this week wasn’t good. Thousands of bus trips cancelled again in February. LRT down to one train for the foreseeable future. When it comes to Ottawa’s public transit, it seems there’s never good news.
Even the announcement of progress on the LRT East project was met with cynicism, given that the trains that Line 1 uses continue to have “spalling” issues with the wheel assembly.
When will it end? And what am I – one of the members of OC Transpo’s governance body – going to do about it?
Since 2022, I’ve been wrestling with myself over a feeling of powerlessness about OC Transpo, in conflict with my ability as a decision maker to affect change.
I have residents who are suffering immeasurably from a lack of service. Algonquin College students have the biggest uptake of the U-pass of all of Ottawa’s post-secondary institutions, but they can’t get to and from classes reliably. Bells Corners’ routes were cut during the pandemic, and the subsequent elimination of the 200 series through the New Ways to Bus changes have completely isolated that community from transit.
