This is Ottawa CBC Local

It’s a popular travel route for pleasure boaters…But not many people dare to dip a toe into the canal, let alone swim. Should they? An 80-year-old triathlete shares how he swam in the canal and lived to tell the tale, and a biologist tells Robyn what’s REALLY in that water. 

He’s a professor at Algonquin College. His husband is a nurse. But home ownership remains out of reach. In the same week the federal budget gives a nod to renters, we’ll meet a couple who feel they’ve done everything right, but still can’t climb onto Ottawa’s housing ladder. 

Ottawa used to have a plethora of movie theatres downtown. What ever became of them? And what does a city lose when most of its downtown theatres are shuttered? Robyn Bresnahan meets the man who literally wrote the book on the history of Ottawa's cinemas.

Black bears in the Byward Market. Beavers on Sparks Street. Wild turkeys disrupting traffic in Barrhaven. Ottawa frequently contends with wildlife. But sometimes it ends badly - usually for the animals. Robyn Bresnahan explores how we can better live in harmony.

Ottawa has some mighty fine breweries. And while most are in the business of selling booze, some have started crafting alcohol-free options to cater to a generation re-thinking their drinking. Host Robyn Bresnahan finds out whether brewmasters see the sober curious movement as a threat or an opportunity. 

It’s been decades since the late columnist Allan Fotheringham dubbed Ottawa “the town fun forgot.” So why does that stale old stereotype persist? Host Robyn Bresnahan meets a cast of characters with theories and ideas of the story the city should be telling about itself.