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Mayoral candidates have referred to Ottawa’s transit as a ‘dumpster fire’. But will more money extinguish its problems? And should commuters have to pay higher fares or higher taxes to help fix things? For the finale of our ‘blind date’ series, we go for coffee with an outgoing city councillor and a transit advocate.

There are about nine thousand students living in college and university residences in Ottawa. So what’s dorm life like? And how much has changed in nearly three decades since host Robyn Bresnahan lived in residence at Carleton University? In this encore episode, she knocks on her former dorm room door to find out.

The historic heart of Ottawa has a problem. Many voters have told us they feel the Byward Market has become less safe. There are fears about open drug use, crime and homelessness. So what can be done? In part two of our “blind date” municipal series, we set up a conversation between a police officer and a former drug addict turned outreach worker.

In late August, police issued a warning about high-risk violent sexual offender Aaron Gilpin now living in the Ottawa area. The release included a photo of a man with facial tattoos whose criminal history included a brutal child-related sexual assault. It has caused a frenzy on social media, causing some to worry about the line between being vigilant versus a vigilante.

In part one of our “blind date” municipal series, we pair up a home builder with a green space advocate to talk about urban sprawl. Because if provincial projections are correct, Ottawa’s population will reach 1.68 million by 2051. So where is everyone going to live? And is it best to grow outward – or intensify upward?

Ottawa is marking its bicentennial on September 26, 2026. But what actually happened on the day the city was born 200 years ago? Longtime journalist and history buff Randy Boswell takes host Robyn Bresnahan to the spot where Bytown began and reveals the bits that have often been left out of the city’s official history.

When Nick Paul started his teaching career, he loved it. But just a decade in - he quit. Nick tells Robyn Bresnahan about what led to his breaking point - and why he thinks Ottawa’s teacher “shortage” is actually a retention crisis.

After eight years as an Ottawa city councillor, Catherine McKenney decided to run for mayor. They lost to Mark Sutcliffe. In the final part of our series In Hindsight, McKenney reflects on the campaign, bridging the city’s urban/rural divide and the moment in a pub when they realized they should have done something differently.

Carol Anne Meehan spent one term as an Ottawa city councillor after a career in journalism. In Part 3 of our series In Hindsight, she spills the tea on life inside city hall, the advice she received from the late councillor Diane Deans and why she feels the city is in "deep trouble."

Long hours, little pay and limited power — or on some school boards under provincial supervision, none at all. In Part 2 of our series In Hindsight, Robyn Bresnahan speaks to Justine Bell, a former English public board school trustee for Ottawa's Somerset zone. Why did she resign? What does she wish she’d known before taking the job? And she explains why she's concerned that the role is becoming increasingly 'politicized'.

Keith Egli was at a dinner party complaining about a transit strike, when the person at the end of the table told him to stop whining and run for city council. So he did. And he was the councillor for Knoxdale-Merivale ward for 12 years. In the first of our four-part series “In Hindsight,” leading up to the municipal election, we explore the ups and downs of being an Ottawa city councillor – and the one thing Keith Egli wished he knew before becoming one.

Le Hibou is a place of near mythical status in the Ottawa music community. A tiny coffee house on Sussex Drive where the likes of Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen played. In this encore episode, Robyn Bresnahan hears memories from those who were there in its heyday and explores whether Le Hibou could ever rise again.

It’s like eBay - but run by the Canadian government. The GC Surplus site sells everything from ATVs used by the military to Air Jordan sneakers confiscated at the border. In this encore episode, Robyn Bresnahan gets a tour of the Ottawa warehouse - where she discovers the most gobsmacking item of all.

You can learn a lot about Ottawa through its street art - from protest movements to the histories of neighbourhoods. But graffiti and murals are often temporary. So  a local software developer created a digital map - to archive the art. Robyn Bresnahan bikes the city with him, meeting street artists along the way.

Now that it’s been decided that 24 Sussex Drive will be restored rather than torn down - what else should change in the area? The authors of a new book on the Prime Minister’s official residence say this is a golden opportunity to not just reno the house - but the entire area around it.