Hour 2 of Ottawa Now for Wed. October 22nd, 2025

A well-known church in Ottawa’s Downtown Core is calling on the municipality to stop charging for on-street parking on Saturdays, specifically on the street it occupies. The rector of Saint Patrick Basilica has written to City Hall, asking them to rescind parking restrictions on Gloucester Street and Nepean Street. It says that Saturdays are an important day for the historic Basilica, and people attending important events are spending unnecessary amounts of time finding parking spots and feeding metres. Father Stephen Amesse joins Kristy Cameron in Hour 2. Sticking with local news, there is an attempt to delay the next stage of the Lansdowne 2.0 approval process. CFRA’s Chris Holski delivers the latest details as they become available. Plus, a new analysis of federal finances argues that Ottawa’s fiscal position was made worse by its decision to drop counter-tariffs and cut income taxes. We dig deeper with Randall Bartlett, who is Desjardins’ Deputy Chief Economist. He believes that the upcoming budget will be $6 billion higher than what the PBO is projecting.