A women’s cycling event is returning to the streets of Gatineau today, and will impact traffic in the area. The world-renowned Tour de Gatineau kicked off on Wednesday with a time trial that saw some street closures, and today’s schedule for the road race will have similar impacts. Boulevard Alexandre-Tâché will be a primary piece of the route, so it will be closed east of rue Scott, and other nearby streets towards Gatineau Park forming the race track will be affected from at least 9am to 3pm. One exception to the general closure is rue Wellington, of which a couple of blocks will see longer closures – until 8pm. Hundreds of cyclists from around the world are slated to participate in the elite event.
Following an increase in price at the pumps earlier today, it may be wise to hold off on refuelling until at least tomorrow. Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, recently predicted a price drop of up to 11 cents a litre for regular fuels on Friday, citing the transition from summer to winter blends as well as markets capitalizing on profits from the higher gasoline prices seen lately. He warned, however, that diesel prices would trend in the opposite direction, potentially jumping by around 14 cents a litre. The average price for gasoline as of this morning is $1.899 per litre, while the average for diesel sits at $268.9 per litre.
As the clock ticks for the upcoming municipal elections in October, mayoral candidates have continued their tour of debates across the city, with their latest stop being at a packed university lecture hall. The 400-seat venue at Carleton University on Tuesday evening was full of student attendees eager to listen to the candidates’ responses to important questions concerning how their campaign would address student needs, namely public transit, housing and infrastructure. Some were optimistic about the influence that student voters could have if they turned out in larger numbers, as suggested by the overwhelming interest in Tuesday’s debate – in fact, some hopeful walk-ins had to be turned away at the door with just how full the hall was.
