Hour 1 of Ottawa Now for Thurs. May 28th, 2026

Are shorter parking times bad for the survival of the Downtown Core? Since shifting to a pay-and-display system earlier this Spring, a popular city-owned parking garage in the ByWard Market has been dealing parking tickets to hundreds of drivers. Here at 87 George, a lot of employees can relate to this day-to-day stress, as they use this parking garage on Clarence Street very often. This new system has created no shortage of confusion and, in turn, a lot of parking tickets. To be more precise, 962 tickets since the end of March. But is this policy good for business, especially in sections of Ottawa where tourism thrives? Kristy Cameron does a vibe-check with Deek Labelle, a manager and co-owner of The Laff. Later in the program, we check in with David Mangano, who is the co-owner of The Grand Pizzeria on George Street. Meantime, Canada is in the running to host a new NATO Defence Bank. It would be designed to finance defence projects, build defence capacity, and put capital toward security priorities. So far, five Canadian cities are in the running, with Toronto and Ottawa leading the pack. We get the latest developments from CFRA’s Andrew Pinsent, as Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe makes his sales pitch in the National Post. But first, we bring you up to speed on today’s top headlines.