This past summer’s deep puddles of rain may have benefitted some crops, but not of the Halloween variety. The record-breaking downpours seen in Ottawa have led to excess water around some pumpkin farms, damaging the crops and affecting their yield. Mel Foster, co-owner of a farm in North Gower, less than half an hour away from downtown Ottawa, said on Monday that their main plot there saw “almost a 100 per cent write off” due to the lack of sufficient drainage on the field. Mark Saunders, of his eponymous farm on Bleeks Road, put into perspective that the 700 millimetres, or 27 inches of rain observed at his farm over the summer was “two-and-a-half times more than the average rainfall.”

Two men were charged in unrelated offences following acts pointing to the exploitation of child vulnerability. The first was Adam Daniels of Ottawa, an Uber Eats driver at the time of his crimes in August, who attempted to unprofessionally keep in contact with a child customer following a delivery, circling her parents’ home on various evenings and even twice leaving her paper bags of money and goodies at her door, addressed from a “secret admirer”. The second was Troy Latham of Carleton Place, who was behind an online child luring scheme, with a total case count of five based on findings from a search warrant executed last Thursday.

Following the close of the special advance polls on Sunday, the Ottawa Election Office observed that around 27,000 voters headed to the designated centres to participate, which is a considerably higher turnout compared to previous special advance polls. Of the previous three elections featuring the special advanced period, the 2022 election year last   saw the highest turnout at almost 19,000. The spread of special advance voters this past weekend was relatively even, with Sunday bearing the highest volume of voters at just over 8000. The next opportunities for voting will be the regular advanced day on October 16, and the official day itself on October 26.