Welcome to this week’s edition of City In Review. CFRA’s Andrew Pinsent is steering the ship. And here is what we are following!

The Week In Review

• 88th and final City Council meeting produces emotional goodbyes from some longtime councillors
• Microsoft Outage affecting city businesses, residents asked to contact 311
• City councilors to discuss payraise during inaugural meeting
• 2027 City Budget on the docket with 2.5% property tax increase
• LRT East Extension update, Line 1 trains to start late on Sunday
• Speed cameras need to be returned and updated: Former Ottawa Police Chief
• Half Moon Bay residents say poor traffic management is putting the community in danger
• Federal Budget offerings include cash for municipal rinks, funding mechanism still unclear

Federal support for community rinks

Local infrastructure needs have been part of the conversation for years, as Ottawa grapples with a projected infrastructure gap of $10 billion over the next 10 years. Aging infrastructure isn’t just an Ottawa-centric dilemma, as the federal government has earmarked $750 million over 9 years for renovations and improvements to deteriorating rinks across Canada. There's also an extra $750 million for other community recreation facilities – part of a larger 'Playground To The Podium' initiative to push for Canadian success on the world stage. Adam van Koeverden is the Liberal MP for Burlington North-Milton West and the federal Secretary of State for Sport. He spoke to City In Review about the new plans ahead of Saturday’s visit to the Russell Sportsdome.

City Issues Panel

A trio of new city councillors are set to be sworn in on Monday and they'll have a number of big challenges ahead – the largest being the 2027 City Budget process. Meantime, flood victims are still looking for answers, and the price tag for the new Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus is bigger than we thought. Joining this week’s City Issues Panel is Ottawa Citizen columnist and Substack writer Brigitte Pellerin and former City Hall reporter Jon Willing.

Catching up and looking ahead

Some other stories were bubbling at City Hall this week – including a potential health hub to serve the Stittsville and Kanata areas, an upcoming City Council debate about the twice-a-year time change, and a lawsuit by Manotick residents when it comes to truck traffic.