Hour 1 of Ottawa Now for Wed. April 8th, 2026

Plans to build a standalone public washroom in Centretown have been paused – at least for now – due to budgetary constraints. Back in 2025, a whopping $1 million investment was approved by City Council to install a bathroom at the corner of Bank and Somerset. But on Tuesday, City Staff indicated that the plan was in jeopardy because it went $400,000 over budget, a price tag that Councillor Tierney alleges keeps getting bigger. Meantime, Somerset councillor Ariel Troster says talks are ongoing for the project to move ahead, and she wants the Washroom Plan to become a part of the Downtown Revitalization Project. She joins guest host Andrew Pinsent in Hour 1. Shifting gears to the political arena, next week’s federal byelections just became a near insurmountable task for anyone not named the Carney Liberals. That’s because longtime Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu has left the Tories to join the Red Team, meaning that Carney only needs to win 1 of those 3 byelections to secure a majority. CTV political analyst Scott Reid breaks it all down for us. But first, we bring you up to speed on today’s top headlines.