Hot Tubbin' For....GGCLC: Ottawa - Part One

After a residence breakfast at Carleton, we head to a small facility in an area of social housing to meet with the Community Housing Corporation. We talk about sustainable housing and like most communities in Canada, affordable and social housing is very hard to come by. 

Ottawa Community Housing Corporation

It was a nice day and Denis, alumni 2004 arranged for us to experience the Ottawa green belt at Mer Bleu or "the bog." In the middle of the city we go for a walk in a bog for about 25 minutes. Denis gives us a great presentation using a large stick to draw the city of Ottawa in the dirt. He draws a small half circle which represents Ottawa proper, then another semicircle and that is the greenbelt - an area of the city that is left for nature. The last semicircle represents the outskirts (where places like Kanata and Orleans are). After the walk in the sun it's off to a meeting with the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). 

As the one of the few labour stops on our study tour, I am looking forward to hearing more about the labour movement in Ontario. 19,000 public servants will lose their jobs due to the Harper government cuts to the public service. It's going to be difficult even for professionals because the Harper government is going after everyone - management, support staff, researchers, scientists, engineers...no one is safe at the moment and you can definitely feel it in town. I did meet a former CUPE National Rep who gave me some tips on how to bulk up my experience if I want to go that route. 

We're back on the bus and it's off to Kanata to the Canadian Wildlife Federation for lunch. We have a quick tour of the outside wildlife garden and go inside for the presentation. We go around the room and list off our favourite animals - everyone is different - I pick a harbour seal as a tribute to my time with the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre in Vancouver. We get to see the new Hinterland Who's Who on the Narwhal and the familiar sounds of the flute brings a lot of us back t our childhood. We all feel very Canadian. One of our group members gets the MP3 on his phone and for the 5 days following we randomly hear the haunting melody of the HWW. Heh. 

Canadian Wildlife Federation HQ

A visit to OC Transpo is welcome - one of the conference alumni is thoughtful enough to provide us with fruit and vegetables, things we've been lacking for the past 7 days. Our conversation is to talk about the controversial P3, $2B light rail project. This project is contentious for many reasons  - the cost, the way its funded, the planned routes, it's been off and on..we fired questions at the communications director for 2 hours. By the end of the session everything was canvassed and we left not sure how the project will turn out. On the way to the Ottawa Food Bank which is on the other side of the city, we pass by a building with the familiar CUPE SCFP letters - the home of CUPE National. Now I know where my dues are going!

CUPE National HQ

Ok, it's hot right now. Really hot and at the food bank we're going to be taking a tour inside of an unairconditioned building. The fellow who runs the organization is very passionate in his mandate. It's a large facility and it is the central facility for the entire city. We are treated to a tour of the walk-in refrigerator - a welcome burst of coolness. Inside, there's bread, free range eggs, lots of milk, fresh vegetables - I'm really impressed and relieved that people are able to access fresh food. Like the food bank in Mountain, more and more of the users of the food bank are the working poor. Not good - so not good that they have leased the warehouse next door to expand their operation. Something is out of whack when food banks are growing. *sigh* We then get the chance to tackle the sorting of one of the large crates. All of us, without much discussion, get into work mode and tear into the crate and within 30 minutes everything is sorted and boxed. One of our team members, who has a white collar job, can box like there's no tomorrow - his skills with a tape gun were quite impressive. Heh. So now that we're all sweaty and dirty we make a quick trip to the LCBO and to the grocery store to pick up some snacks right before we head to one of Ottawa's busiest restaurants to meet with one of Ottawa's most successful restauranteurs, Steve Beckta.

We are greeted by friendly wait staff at play: food and wine. We have the whole downstairs booked for 17 of us - one of the 2008 alumni joins us for dinner. She's awesome - a passionate food blogger and fan/friend of the Beckta restaurants. I am really lucky that I get to sit across from her and pick her brain about the conference and the food scene. Steve is a really nice guy, extremely smart and genuine. He is very committed to sustaining a progressive food scene in Ottawa - he mentors his staff and encourages to venture out on their own once they are ready. We are served some pretty incredible food. A charcuterie plate to start with the most amazing pork cretons. Then we're treated to a 3 course meal and Ontario wines. I have asparagus with burrata and pesto to start, hangar steak and fries as my main and then a maple creme brûlée for dessert. Great conversation, great food and great company. It was a great way to end a very busy day and as per usual - we went back and debriefed for a couple of hours.