Devouring one of my Christmas gifts. This book is 10/10, a story of a queer Jewish girl who road trips to San Francisco with her high school girlfriend in 1996.

🎄 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Today: 🎅 Buses run on a Sunday schedule 🎅 O-Train Lines 1, 2 & 4 run on a Sunday schedule 🎅 Shopper Route 304 is not operating Holiday service continues until Jan 3! https://ow.ly/vxpj50XO7tB

Merry Christmas from Moose, who is thrilled to have so many boxes around.

My sister in law has the two floofiest cats

Christmas Eve weather report: the snow is corgi-deep

This is perfect

So much of 2025 was a garbage fire, but the wonderful Bill Staubi found out his cancer is in remission. A patron of the arts and truly one of the kindest people I know. Couldn’t have happened to a better human. A miracle. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

My mother in law received a wide selection of Amish romance novels in her Little Free Library, a genre I didn’t even know existed.

Had a blast at the Queer Holiday Dinner, organized by Elaina Martin. Thanks to Chef Ric’s for providing the food and for feeding thousands of people a year from the food truck and at the Ottawa Mission. It takes a village!

Frequent buses, a comprehensive and dense network, and reliable service would go a long way to mitigating the need for heated shelters. Des bus fréquents, un réseau étendu et dense, et un service fiable contribueraient grandement à atténuer le besoin d'abris chauffés.

I am in full pre-Christmas couch rot mode. Other than Heated Rivalry, what are you watching and reading?

What an INCREDIBLE night at the Bytown Sea Shanty Collective’s fundraiser for the Dalhousie Food Cupboard with @jleiper.bsky.social. My throat is hoarse from belting out sea shanties and carols with 500 people. And they raised $20,000 to help fight insecurity and feed people in Centretown!

Please note that the Somerset Ward office will be closed between December 22 and January 5. We will respond to all inquires in the new year.   If you urgently need to access social and/or city services, information on who to call is below. Happy Holidays!

What a wonderful time at the Christmas lunch at the Jack Purcell Recreation Centre! So great to chat with so many residents — a perfect way to kick off the holiday break.

Literally SCREAMED at the last two minutes of the latest episode of Heated Rivalry. This is perfect television.

I wonder if the City of Ottawa has ever had such a major policy piece go through the committee with so little fanfare from the public and media? On Wednesday, we approved the final draft of the new Zoning By-law. Here's an overview: glengower.ca/information/...

It’s the annual massacre of a Christmas carol by Ottawa city councillors. Thanks to @jleiper.bsky.social for organizing us again.

I had a lovely time at the John Howard Society holiday party at the Lisgar women’s residence today. This building offers permanent supportive housing, primarily to Indigenous women.

Today is the joint committee meeting on the final draft of the new zoning bylaw. Looks like we are expecting 30+ delegations and 35 motions. I expect we will go till 7pm and possibly into tomorrow. Also, this is my dog, silently judging opposition to removing parking minimums.

Thanks to the Indigenous Circle at Dundonald Park for inviting me to your sacred fire and clothing giveaway today! They also had meals, pet food and other survival supplies available. Grateful for this wonderful community.

Hope to see you at our annual holiday pizza party tonight at Spark Beer on Somerset. Free pizza and holiday cheer!

A lovely day, dropping by the holiday dinner at the @och-lco.bsky.social building on MacLaren and visiting the staff + participants at Centre 507 w/ @catmckenney.bsky.social. I love seeing neighbours supporting neighbours, especially when so many are seeking a warm meal and shelter from the cold.

It was a pleasure to drop by Centre 507 today with @arieltroster.com . Thanks to Richard and the whole 507 team for all their hard work supporting our neighbours.

Three children in Ottawa have died of flu-related complications this season. PLEASE make sure to get vaccinated ASAP.

Every Chanukah, I think of this photo from Germany in 1931. As I was frying latkes this afternoon, I reflected on the imperative to look for the light, even in incredibly dark times. Thinking of the Jewish community in Sydney, Australia today. Happy first night of Chanukah to all who celebrate.

It’s the most wonderful time of year — the Somerset Ward holiday pizza party at Spark Beer and Pizza! Come by for holiday cheer and free pizza. A wide selection of beer, cocktails and mocktails available for purchase. Tuesday, December 16, 6-8 pm, 702 Somerset West

I dropped by the Matthew House holiday party on Wellington Street in @jleiper.bsky.social’s ward. They do such incredible work running refugee settlement and transition houses. Their beautiful building in Hintonburg is in a former church orphanage. I love seeing buildings like this reused for good.

Did we get the dog her own advent calendar? Yes, yes we did.

A bright spot today

It’s past 8pm, and the 2026 draft budget has officially passed. But this year, I voted no. Throughout the last several months, I’ve spoken about the importance of building a budget that works for all of Ottawa.

Today I brought a voice of dissent to the city budget vote. The residents of Somerset Ward are my boss: not the mayor and not other members of council. I know you want a city that works and that leaves no one behind. This budget missed the mark, so I voted against it. I will keep fighting for you.

It’s not always easy to be a dissenting voice at City Council, with no opposition bench to support you. But I vote with my heart and represent what my residents are telling me they need. Proud to do this with @jleiper.bsky.social right there beside me at the table.

Everything else aside, a veteran politician wrote a whole op-ed about how the failures of city policies he identifies are the fault of the people who, unlike him, vote against those policies.

It is going to be a long day

This whole thread is gold

Final vote on the city budget is tomorrow. Here is where my thinking is at.

"There are no more free public spaces!" Your library is right there. "I can't afford to subscribe to every media outlet!" Your library is right there. "I have to subscribe to corporate streaming or else I can't watch movies or play video games!" Your library is right there.

I would never publicly call into question another's vote, on budget or anything. I was disappointed to see this approach in the paper this weekend. We need to work together & I must trust that each of us should be held to the same standard of personal & professional accountability to our residents.

Yesterday @catmckenney.bsky.social and I filed a formal complaint with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario regarding the operations of the New Dawn Clinic in Chinatown.

THREAD

Grateful to Catherine Boucher (@bearswim.bsky.social) and the Dalhousie Community Association for standing up for evidence-based policy when it comes to addiction, homelessness and crime rates — in Chinatown and across Ottawa.

Does increasing police budgets reduce crime? The answer may surprise you.

Some say that voting against a budget makes you part of the problem. I disagree. Healthy disagreement is part of responsible decision making. Residents expect us to test assumptions, debate ideas and make sure the budget reflects the realities they live with every single day.

The latest edition of the Somerset Ward newsletter is out, with info on places to give this holiday season, supporting investment over austerity, and the famous Ward 14 holiday pizza party! Read it and sign up here: www.arieltroster.com/swm_62

I had lots of fun serving holiday lunch at 280 Rochester yesterday, a wonderful seniors’ @och-lco.bsky.social community. Great to see volunteers from Engineers Canada and the Ottawa Community Housing Foundation there too (including a former mayor).

I was 10 years old and already a feminist. I will never forget these 14 women and the misogyny that killed them.

Luckily, Somerset Ward doesn’t vote for Yes Men

A councillor who was at the centre of a corruption trial in 2019 has an op/ed in the Citizen today, suggesting that downtown councillors that are critical of ballooning police budgets are responsible for crime rates attributed to the housing and addiction crises. ottawacitizen.com/news/local-n...

This is what austerity looks like: overgrown weeds, locked park bathrooms, drained pools during a heat wave. Demand better from the city budget. www.arieltroster.com/budget

Giving $1 million of city money to pay for private security in the Byward Market is outrageous. All it will do is displace more unwell people into Centretown and surrounding communities. And announcing this at a press conference before consulting council? Not cool. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...