Weekly newsletter: May 6, 2025

Good morning!

Welcome to what seems to be a rainy and gloomy week, assuming the weather forecast holds. But that gives way to what should be a beautiful Mother’s Day.

The pancakes in the photo are from the Barrhaven Lion’s Club pancake breakfast that happened on Saturday.

Finchley Park

Where are the swings?

Recently, a few residents around Finchley Park have reached out wondering what happened to the swings.

Near the end of last September, the height of the sand under the swings was reported to the City as too low. Crews responding to these calls usually check the ground under the sand to ensure nothing unusual caused the sand level to decrease.

The crew responding to Finchley Park found repairs were needed to the ground underneath the sand, work that required heavy machinery for digging. The swing sets were removed temporarily until repairs could be completed. At that time, it was expected to take two or three weeks.

As is mandatory, a utility locate request was placed to Ontario OneCall (please do this if you’re digging on your property, too), but a delay in receiving the locate pushed past last year’s construction deadline into this year’s construction season.

Over the winter, the centre support was also pushed up slightly by the ground heaving, which is why the bar at the top of the swing supports slopes down to the outsides.

A new utility locate request has been ordered. Once that is done and a backhoe is hired, crews will begin repairs to the swings at the park. They are currently aiming for completion before the summer.

Fun fact: Finchley is a mostly residential suburb of London, UK. The name was first recorded in the early 13th century, and probably means a clearing belong to Finch or a clearing of finches in Old English.

Oak wilt

Avoid pruning oaks until November or moving firewood between cities.

Oak wilt is a fungal disease that threatens oak trees by restricting the flow of water and nutrients throughout the tree. All oak trees are at risk, but red oaks and pin oaks are particularly susceptible.

The fungus can spread long distances over land by airborne spores caused by wind damage, pruning, or other damage to the fungus; It can also be spread via insects.

Over shorter distances, the fungus can spread through naturally occurring root grafts, where the roots of two or more adjacent trees merge.

Once infected, the fungus ravages the oak tree, potentially killing it within one season. It has the potential to kill entire forest stands and urban trees alike.

Symptoms of oak wilt are characterised by wilting and bronzing leaves (starting at the treetop and tips of branches). Leaves may also appear dull with discolouration starting at their tips, sometimes leaving just a small area of green around the centre vein of the leaf. These usually develop beginning in May and continue throughout the growing season.

It should be noted oak trees and leaves may decline naturally due to factors other than oak wilt, including frost damage, nutrient deficiency, and autumn (leaf senescence).

Frost damage and leaf senescence results in dry and wilted leaves, while nutrient deficiency produces shoots at the base of the tree. In each case, patches of declining and falling leaves are located randomly, whereas oak wilt begins at the top of the tree and systematically works its way down.

First detected in 1942 in Wisconsin, the disease’s origin is unknown, but its range is limited to the eastern United States and southern Ontario. The first Canadian oak wilt was confirmed in 2023 in Niagara Falls, but the spread thus far has been limited to that region and a small town north of Barrie.

To prevent its spread beyond those locations, residents are asked to not prune oak trees from April to November and to not move firewood between cities.

Open wounds created by pruning are known to attract a variety of beetle known to spread oak wilt, while moving infected firewood is the fastest way to spread the fungus across large distances.

Accordingly, the City’s forestry crews will not be pruning oak trees during the spring, summer, and autumn. City staff and crews have also received training with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Invasive Species Centre to identify and slow the spread of oak wilt should it arrive in Ottawa.

For more information or to report suspected oak wilt, please visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s webpage on the subject↗.

Liberation of the Netherlands

Ongoing series of newsletter entries commemorating 80 years since the end of the Second World War.

Over the weekend, I had the honour of attending a touching and thoughtful commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands at the Manotick Legion.

Particularly touching was some participants were Legion members and locals who were children in the Netherlands in the dying days of the Second World War. They shared personal stories and memories about the Canadians who came to liberate them from Nazi Germany.

Back in February, I wrote about the Rhineland Campaign, liberated by the Allies towards Germany last line of defence. The liberation of the Netherlands followed that campaign, when the Canadians turned north, while the Americans and British continued pushing east, deeper into Germany towards Berlin.

After the Allies successfully crossed the Rhine River in March 1945, Canada’s role was to open up a supply route to the north through the Netherlands, before clearing the northeastern part of the country and the German North Sea Coast.

They were joined by another corps of Canadians, who were transferred from Italy after two years of fighting there.

Under the command, Canadian momentum was swift and harsh. Dutch villages, towns, and cities were liberated along the way as they advanced north towards the North Sea.

By mid-April 1945, the Canadians had reached the North Sea and began pushing east into western Germany.

In Western Netherlands, the Canadians, over the course of a month, liberated major Dutch cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague (Den Haag), whose residents had just overcome a winter of starvation.

By the end of April, the Germans were driven back to a small 60-kilometre line. A truce was arranged on April 28, and the fighting ceased. For several days after, food and supplies began moving through the country for the starving civilians.

On the evening of May 4, 1945, Canadian Generals Foulkes and Simonds accepted the formal surrender of German troops in the Netherlands. Nazi Germany would capitulate just three days later.

The liberation began a generations-long friendship between the Netherlands and Canada.

During the war, the Dutch Royal Family were living in exile in Ottawa. During their stay, Princess Margriet was born at the Civic Hospital. The maternity ward was declared temporarily extraterritorial by the Canadian government to ensure the newborn princess would inherit only Dutch citizenship through her mother.

(There is a misconception the maternity ward was declared Dutch territory, but as the Netherlands follows citizenship by right of blood, it was enough for Canada to simply disclaim the territory temporarily.)

Our annual Tulip Festival is an ongoing commemoration of that friendship, with tulip bulbs sent from Netherlands as gratitude for our role in their liberation.

May 5, Liberation Day, and a public holiday in the Netherlands. Locally, the Dutch flag was flown at City Hall yesterday in commemoration.

Before I go, a friendly reminder about the Transportation Master Plan (see our past newsletter for more details on the plan) public virtual consultation happening tonight from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on Zoom↗.

Otherwise, wishing you an enjoyable week ahead! Happy Mother’s Day!

-Wilson