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

Home stretch! Today is the last day of the study tour - we have 4 meetings before we head to the Ottawa Marriott to meet up with the rest of the conference delegation. Today is also the day where I am the group lead - I'll be the one working with our MLO on introducing the group to our hosts, keeping the meeting on time and presenting the certificates and pins. 

First up is a visit to Plasco Energy Group (specializing in the plasma gasification process) - upon arrival we see a giant robot. No photos allowed here, sadly but the view of the facility is incredible. They transform garbage into energy rich fuel which leads to some very interesting questions as we have 2 people in the energy industry in our group. It's a quick visit and we have to cross town again to the Ottawa Waste Water Treatment Plant.

Next up is lunch with the President of of the National Research Council of Canada. John MacDougall is an alumni of the very first GGCLC. We get into a deep conversation of the reorganization of the NRC - they too are affected by the Harper cuts and we have a pretty interesting conversation around the overlap of the different sectors - namely the private sector and SSHRC. We also talk about how he "re-entered" real life after his experience in the conference. He told us that the conference is a to look at the whole system not just your piece in it. 

After lunch we're off to our final stop - the Inuit Children's Centre. Ottawa has the largest population of Inuit people outside of the north. There are many adopted children in the area and the centre is a way for them to connect to their culture and language. The programs are done in the Inuit language  - the walls are bright and the atmosphere is vibrant. They go to the trouble of making us bannock and arctic char spread. It was delicious. Then two 5 year olds come downstairs and they throat sing for us! It was the cutest thing ever! This was the perfect way to finish our study tour - on a positive and optimistic note. 

It's off to the Ottawa Marriott, which will be our home for the next 4 days. We have about 2 hours before we have to be downstairs to head to Parliament Hill for dinner.

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