CATCH-UP on a busy few days
The last five days have been exciting and hectic for your Mayor. Here is a quick update!
Navan Fair Opening Ceremonies
Last Thursday evening I attended the opening ceremonies for this year’s Navan Fair!
Mr. John Bradley did a fine job emceeing the event, and congratulations to Mr. Hank Bakker, the President of the Cumberland Agricultural Society, who kindly and graciously welcomed the City guests to the Navan Fair. I also want to congratulate this year’s Navan Fair Ambassador Elizabeth Muggleton and also applaud Ms. Katie Hodges for the wonderful speech she delivered to her many neighbours and peers at the grand opening ceremony.
Navan Fair Celebrity Cow Milking Contest
The following Friday afternoon was the Celebrity Milking Contest at the Navan Fair and I was able to win the contest against the likes of Councillor Eli El-Chantiry and CFRA radio host Rob Snow.
Thank you to Wyatt McWilliams who was very kind and helpful during my visit to the Navan Fair. This weekend is the ploughing match at Wyatt’s farm and I wish all the contestants good luck.
Raising the Olympic Flag at City Hall
On Friday afternoon I was joined by His Excellency Chinese Ambassador Lan Lijun along with Honourable John Baird and Honourable Jim Watson as we raised the Olympic Flag at City Hall in honour of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. This is a very exciting time for Chinese communities in Ottawa and I was pleased to have the opportunity to celebrate with the Confederation of Ottawa-Chinese Canadians!
Saturday with the Street Crime Unit!
I invited all members of the Street Crime Unit and the downtown squads that support them to my cottage on the St. Lawrence River for a day of water fun as a “thank you” for all the great work they have done. Since Chief Vern White created the Unit last November, they have laid over 1,400 charges to over 300 drug dealers. That, my fellow citizens, has put a sizable dent into the drug trade in downtown Ottawa. Thanks again to the men and women who work hard to keep our City safe.
Great news for Ottawa’s East End on Monday
Monday started out with positive news for the east end of the City.
I joined Councillor Bob Monette in Orleans to announce our support of the plans to offer portions of land in Orléans, located at the corner of the 174 and Trim Road and worth an estimated $1 million, to help La Cité Collégiale build a new campus and trades school in the east end. Click here for the press release.
Thank you to Honourary Mayor for the Day Laurence De Montigny for joining me on what was an exciting and very busy day.
Mayor’s Charity Golf Classic
Monday afternoon I had the honour of hosting the 8th Annual Mayor’s Charity Golf Classic in benefit of Child and Youth Friendly Ottawa at the beautiful Carleton Golf and Yacht club in Manotick. Colleen and I would like to thank Melanie Davis and the CAYFO Board of Directors for their incredible fundraising efforts, which topped $22,000 last night. Congratulations to Councillor Rob Jellett who auctioned off the prize he won last night (12 box seats to the Simple Plan concert) which raised an additional $1,000 for CAYFO!
The event was well organized by the youth members and it was a great success. Thanks to CAYFO for all your hard work. I also want to thank young Jake Goldstein for his remarkable golfing talents, as he stood for several hours on one hole challenging golfers to a “closest to the pin” challenge.
I also want to thank Kimothy Walker of CTV for her remarkable job as the dinnertime emcee and we were also delighted to have Max Keeping of CTV attend the evening portion of the tournament. Max delivered inspirational words to the crowd about the work of the special youth in our City.
And to all of the golfers and wonderful corporate sponsors thank you for your generous contributions! Also supporting the tournament were Councillors Hume, Jellett, Bloess and Desroches and members of the community including United Way President Michael Allan, Ottawa Police Chief Vern White, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Isra Levy, Deputy City Manager Steve Kanellakos as well as many old friends from around Ottawa, Brockville and North Frontenac.
Wheel to Walk Canada
This morning I was delighted to welcome four brave Ontario men to Ottawa City Hall.
Charlie Cetinski, Harvey Uppal, Chuck Mealing and Les McLaughlin have “hand-cycled” across the country to raise awareness and share their important message with all Canadians. I agreed to become a messenger as they work towards raising $10 million to cure spinal cord damage using new techniques to rejuvenate and cure spinal cord injuries.
For more information on their remarkable journey please visit www.wheeltowalkcanada.org
City Showcases Technology
This morning Steve Finnamore and I spoke to the media about the City of Ottawa’s new citizen-friendly web tools on Ottawa.ca. Steve also outlined the progress that has been made by improving services through the use of technology. The City of Ottawa has been nominated to receive a GTEC Distinction Award on four separate projects! Congratulations to Steve and the entire team—well done! But as we both said—this is just the beginning.
The Mayor’s Task Force on eGovernment report (View report here) will be coming to Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee on August 19th. At that time I will put forward five motions that will reinforce the main themes of the Task Force Report.