Ottawa

Population

• City of  Ottawa 812,129
• Greater Ottawa 1,168,788

Culture of the city

Ottawa is the Capital city of Canada and is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the country.  It is located in the north east part of Ontario and is approximately a two hour drive from Montreal.  

With Ottawa being the capital city of Canada much of the cities culture is centred on politics. The focus of the city may be politics but Ottawa has a lot of other things to offer. Next to Vancouver it has one of the most active populations with many people participating in a variety of  outdoor activities.

Ottawa is also renowned for its high concentration of high tech companies. It has some many high tech companies that Ottawa has been named “Silicon Valley North”

List of high tech companies in Ottawa including.

• 3M • Adobe Systems • Agere • Agilent • Alcatel-Lucent • Bell Canada • Breconridge • Cisco Systems • Corel • Cognos • Convergys • CGI Group • Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) • Dell • Fidus • General Dynamics • Hittite Microwave Canada • Hewlett-Packard • IBM • Intel

• JDS Uniphase • Level Platforms • LogicVision • March Networks • MBNA Canada Bank • Mitel • Nortel • Pythian • Research in Motion • Rogers Communications Inc. • SITEL • SMART Technologies • STMicroelectronics • Sybase • Telus • Tundra Semiconductor • Xandros • Zarlink Semiconductor

Languages

Ottawa is a fully Bilingual city with most residents speak English and French. Furthermore as the city is made up of many cultures it is not uncommon to hear languages from all over the world.

Climate / Weather

Spring:The Spring season in Ottawa is a time when everything comes back to life. Temperatures are mild and there is lots of rain to assist the flowers and trees to grow. Tulips, lilacs and daffodils are some of the most common flowers in Ottawa.  During this time the residents of Ottawa start biking and rollerblading on many of the city’s pathways especially along the canal. 

Summer: The summer season in Ottawa is an amazing time that can get quite hot, temperatures can reach as high as 30 degrees Celsius. People spend a lot of time in the country side outside of Ottawa enjoying nature and many of the lakes the surround the city. 

This is also the season for many of the great festivals that take place in Ottawa. Every weekend there is something happening in the city and it is very common for many residents to participate in these events.

Fall: The Fall is when temperatures start to drops and the leaves change colours. It is a beautiful site to see the trees with red, orange and gold leaves.  During this season many people take the time to hike in the parks to see the changing of the leaves and get prepared for winter

Winter: In the winter season, days are cold and temperatures can drop on average to minus 10 degrees Celsius. There is usually plenty of snow for winter sports and activities, such as skiing, tobogganing and one of the most popular actives is skating along the Rideau Canal—the world’s longest skating rink. In February, people participate in Winterlude, an outdoor festival with concerts and an international ice sculpture competition.

Average Daily High Temperatures

MONTH	Cº	Fº
January	14	-10
February	16	-9
March	28	-2
April	43	6
May	57	14
June	64	18
July	71	21.8
August	69	20
September	59	15
October	43	6
November	34	1
December	19	-1

Currency

The primary currency used in the city of Calgary is Canadian dollars, however many restaurants and retail stores accept American dollars and the daily exchange rate..

Holidays

There are 10 statutory holidays and one civic holiday celebrated annually in Alberta. Generally, banks and some businesses remain closed. Theatres, restaurants, and corner grocery stores remain open for business as usual. In some centres most shops remain open.

HOLIDAYS	2008	2009	2010
New Year´s Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Good Friday	March 21	April 10	April 2
Easter Monday	March 24	April 13	April 15
Victoria Day	May 19	May 18	May 24
Canada Day	July 1	July 1	July 1
Civic Holiday	August 4	August 2	August 2
Labour Day	September 1	September 7	September 6
Thanksgiving Day	October 8	October 12	October 11
Remembrance Day	November 11	November 11	November 11
Christmas Day	December 25	December 25	December 25
Boxing Day	December 26	December 26	December 26

Tourism office information

Address: Ottawa Tourism office:
130 Albert Street, Suite 1800
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4

Phone: (613) 237.5150 or (800) 363.4465

Fax: (613) 237.7339

Accomodations

Ottawa has a wide variety of accommodations for every type of traveler.  For most of our students schools provide the safe environment of a home stay family which can be organized through one of our Education Consultants.

Tipos de Alojamiento

• Hotels, motels and resorts
• Campgrounds
• Hostels
• vacation cottages / homes / suites
• Vacation home registries / times shares

Macdonald-Cartier International Airport

The Ottawa  airport is Macdonald-Cartier International Airport   it is located south of the city centre and is about a 30 min drive from downtown Ottawa.  The airport is easy to navigate, as a result there is little difficulty finding  your  luggage!  Travellers arriving on international flights will have to be processed through Canadian customs at the Ottawa airport
Most airlines that fly from international locations do not fly direct to Ottawa. Airline schedules are often routed through the following cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago (O'Hare), Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, New York (LaGuardia), Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, Sarasota, Washington (Dulles), Glagow, London (Heathrow and Gatwick).

Upon arrival, there are various methods of transportation available to take you to your finial destination such as car rental, taxi, public transit (OC Transpo bus # 97) and hotel shuttle services.  A taxi to the city centre costs C$25-30.

Things to do

Rideau Canal: The Rideau Canal is one of the central attractions in Ottawa. The canal runs from the downtown core through the city. It is one of the oldest structures in the city and during the winter months it becomes the worlds largest skating rink. The Canal is a must see attraction.

Canadian War Museum: The Canadian War Museum is a fantastic institution that preserves Canada’s greatest achievements in times of war and more importantly Canada’s efforts in peace keeping missions.

National Gallery of Canada: Established  in 1880, the museum has  in trust a vast array  of European and Canadian paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and photos.

Parliament Hill: Parliament Hill is where all of the political action takes place. It is the head quarters for the federal government and the central place where Canada’s laws and policies are made.  It consists of Three Gothic Revival-style buildings, which represents much of the beautiful architecture that Ottawa has to offer.

Byward Market Area: On Saturday or Sunday this market which is a traditional farmers' market is an exciting place to be.. It is surrounded by many amazing stores and some of the best restaurants the city of Ottawa has to offer.

NHL Hockey:  The Ottawa Senators  are part of the National Hockey League which is considered the fastest team sport in the world. Located outside the main core of Ottawa, the Scotia Bank arena is an exciting place to watch the local team take on all challengers.

Transit

For further information: www.octranspo.com

MONTHLY PASSES
Regular adult	$ 81
Express adult	$ 101
Rural express adult	$ 126
Regular adult annual	$ 874.80
Express adult annual	$ 1090.90
Regular student	$ 62.65
Express student	$ 73.40
Rural express student	$ 98.75
Regular Student Semester * includes $6.25 for pass protection	$ 232.25
Express Student Semester * includes $7.00 for pass protection	$ 271.90
Regular student annual	$ 601.44
Express student annual	$ 704.64
Senior 65+	$ 30.40
Senior 65+ annual	$ 364.80
Community pass	$ 30.40

CASH & TICKETS FARES
Bus tickets	$ 1.00 each or 10 / $ 10.00
The only bus tickets accepted on the bus are the green ($1.00) and orange ($0.95) OC Transpo tickets. Fare payment in cash and ticket combination must equal the cash fare. If used in combination with cash on the bus, the face value of one ticket is $1.00 (green ticket) or $0.95 (orange ticket).
Child (ages 6 - 11)	$ 1.50
Regular Adult (ages 12 & up)	$ 3
Express (green) adult (ages 12 & up)	$ 4
Rural express adult (ages 12 & up)	$ 5
	$2.25 ... available from the vending machine on the station platform.