Troubled Westboro Beach Project Opens

05/29/2025

After years of traffic chaos on the Ottawa river parkway, a part of causing those problems is finally finished.

Taking an astounding three years to complete (and disrupting the precious summers of the youngsters who used the beach), this construction in concert with the failed city LRT project created havoc on the parkway.

The combination of the efficiency of the National Capital Commission and the City of Ottawa in one location was awe-inspiring in its futility. Traffic jams that backed up interminably on the parkway. Add into the mix the NCC rebuilding of the Champlain Bridge turned the parkway into a parking lot. How green is that?

Anyway, Westboro Beach is re-opening … for the media at least.

And by the way, what was wrong with the old Westboro Beach? It was quaint and useful.

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This is a release from the National Capital Commission:

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National Capital Region — The National Capital Commission (NCC) invites media to the official opening of the revitalized Westboro Beach area.

Media Event

Date and time: Sunday, June 1, 2025, at 10 am

Location: Westboro Beach, Ottawa ON K2A 4B1

Members of the media must pre-register at communications@ncc-ccn.ca. Please send complete name and media affiliation.

Parking is available at the lot on the corner of Lanark and Kirchoffer Avenues

Media information

Benoît Desjardins

NCC Media Relations

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Also interesting is that the media must pre-register for the self-aggrandizing political speeches. I would pre-register to go to a public beach sometime around when hell freezes over which is likely when all the Westboro Beach speeches end.

Do the city and the NCC understand that pre-registering is an infringement on media freedom? And doing so on a public beach is laughable and pathetic. Bureaucracy in action. Everything must be controlled except government excess and incompetence which can run freely and wild.

Ken Gray