Over on the Elgin Street Irregulars blog, The Chair recommends the top five alternatives to the parliamentary coalition . " Now that Prime Minister Harper has put the F-U in fiscal update pushing Canada into a constitutional crisis, I propose some alternatives to consider by way of governance," writes The Chair. ...

We stumbled on this video, featuring a suburban Ottawa home all decked out with flashing Christmas lights titled “Lightorama”. We’re inviting our blog readers to send us their photos and videos of the tackiest, most over-the-top Christmas displays in Ottawa. You can post links to photos and videos in our comments area, or send us an email . ...

Check out this great post from David McClelland’s blog, The Ottawa Project. It’s about the evolution of downtown Ottawa around the Union Station. Using a series of overhead images, David traces the evolution of the area that now includes the Rideau Centre, the National Arts Centre, City Hall, and the Government Conference Centre. ...

** We’ve had a few emails asking us what happened to OttawaStart’s movie listings. Here’s the story: ** * Our listings were provided by a third party called FilmCan, via a syndicated feed. They were a local company that provided the complete local theatre listings for a yearly subscription fee. ...

Just like she did last year , DaniGirl has compiled a big list of Santa Claus Parades in Ottawa in 2008. The first is on November 8 in Kanata, the last one is Almonte’s parade on December 7, and the biggest one is the 39th Annual Help Santa Toy Parade on November 22. ...

[ ](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/Search-CrimeReports.com_1225238784281.png) The Ottawa Police have launched an crime mapping tool for Ottawa , built by combining police call data with Google Maps. From a police press release : A new Google-based crime mapping tool is being launched this evening on ottawapolice. ...

Environment Canada issued a winter storm watch today, and it’s notable for two things: 15 cm of snow forecast for October the use of the word “humdinger” Ottawa North - Kanata - Orléans 3:50 PM EDT Monday 27 October 2008 ...

** We’re watching the numbers across Canada on tv and on the web. Notes so far: ** * [ CTV ](http://www.ctv.ca/mini/election2008/electionResults.html) and [ CBC ](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/) appear to have the most up-to-date seat results. * We like CBC's interactive and colourful map. ...

Update Sept 30: Laura Drake points us to some YouTube videos of the debate …. and O’Malley liveblogs again in Ottawa-Orleans I live in the suburbs now, but I used to live in Centretown. I miss a lot of things about living downtown, and one of them is the eclectic group of candidates to choose from at election time. ...

The Ottawa Senators flew to Sweden yesterday, in preparation for two regular-season games coming up this weekend against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Sens have sent a videographer to Europe and will be posting daily updates, interviews and other exclusive behind-the-scenes coverage all week at Sens TV Online . ...