Weather

• ☀️  Sunny. High of -6°, low of -15°. 

Number 

• 15
• – The number of groups that are now in the running to buy the Ottawa Senators. There will be a preliminary cut in the next few weeks. (Joshua Clipperton in the Canadian Press) 

Ottawan of the Day

• Briana Kim
• The chef-owner of Alice has won the Canadian Culinary Championship. (Peter Hum in the Ottawa Citizen)

Quote 

• ‘It's really not as gross as people think it is. Just sometimes [fruits and vegetables are] a little bit uglier than what they'd like to keep in the store’
• – Health-care worker Grace Poland who is part of a group of current and former University of Ottawa students dumpster diving to reduce food costs and reduce waste. (Anchal Sharma at CBC)

Sports

• 🏒 OHL Ottawa 67s 4 – Sarnia Sting 3 last night
• 🏒 OHL Ottawa 67s 5 – Saginaw Spirt 1 last Saturday
• 🏒 QMJHL Les Olympiques de Gatineau 11 – St John Sea Dogs 3 last Saturday

🚊 O Train promises to answer emergency calls, now

• OC Transpo says that they will now answer when a passenger pushes the emergency button on a train. The previous policy was to ignore the person and investigate at the next station. The new policy is the result of Rideau-Rockcliffe ward councillor Rawlson King pinning down OC Transpo on why a passenger who was attacked on December 8 was met with a dial tone. (Laura Glowacki at CBC)
  
  ➕Related The City’s settlement with the O Train's maintenance company removed the possibilty of breaking the 30 year, $1 billion contract, despite the maintainers admitting that it had not lived up to it.

🏈 Elegy

• Ottawa Rough Riders hall of famer Kaye Vaughan has died at 91. Vaughn played with the Rough Riders from 1953 to 1964, winning the Grey Cup in 1960. TSN ranked Vaughn as #41 in it's poll of the Top 50 players. (The Canadian Press)

🎁 Charity begins in the parking lot

• A disregistered charity has been collecting items on City property for three years. The Humago Foundation had two bins in Orléans collecting clothing, both bins showed a now-deleted charitable registration number which the Foundation lost in 2019. The City, which has now removed the bins, only allows charitable boxes on its properties. The Montréal-based Foundation had no comment. (CBC)

🛻 The Convoy

• Convoy organizer Chris Barber has asked for a stay of proceedings in his upcoming trial. Barber says that his Charter rights were violated in an abuse of process and breach of privacy. Barber argues that his 4,000 text messages were made public by the Crown before his lawyer even got to see them. The messages are now sealed. Barber is charged with mischief, counselling to commit the offence of disobeying a court order, and counselling to commit the offence of obstructing police.  (Gary Dimmock in the Ottawa Citizen)

🤞 Oath of Allegience 

• The Town of Prescott, an hour south of Ottawa, is debating ditching the Oath of Allegience to King Charles for councillors, or at least make it optional. At the moment, any decision would be a suggestion as the Province makes promising an allegience to the Crown mandatory. Having just read the rules, there are two exceptions: First Nations persons do not need to make the Oath if they believe there is something wrong between the relationship between Indigeneous peoples and the Crown, nor do non-citizens if it would cause them to lose their original citizenship. (CityNews)

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Today

• Last Friday’s unreal temperatures burst the main water pipe in Gatineau's Astoria Bistro, and the resulting damage means a reno is underway. Watch for reopening news.

Tomorrow

• Brides-to-be take note: the Ottawa Romance Travel Show: Destination Wedding & Honeymoon Expo arrives at St. Elias Banquet Centre with a trade show, presentations, and door prizes. 5:00pm to 8:30pm at 750 Ridgewood Avenue.
• The main branch of the Ottawa Public Library is screening Dr. Strangelove (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb) at 5:30pm. 120 Metcalfe St. For mature audiences.

Wednesday

• The Fringe Festival’s Undercurrents festival 2023, which is bilingual for the first time, launches today (running until February 18).  Performances run at the Arts Court Theatre and Atelier.
• The Bar Robo launch of the new South of Parliament Entertainment District (SOPA) is sold out, but we can expect to hear more about the revitalization of the area in the coming weeks.