Why it might be time to artificially freeze part of Ottawa's Rideau Canal

Well, the Rideau Canal opened this year, and if so, for how long? Those are questions people in Ottawa start asking this time of year. Personally, I would like to see it lasting very long. I hope that this year is going to be a longer season. A couple of years ago, it wasn't open for very long at all, so that kind of sucked. Unstable weather patterns have made skating seasons on the canal less predictable. For the past two seasons, the Skateway was open for 56 and 47 days. The season before that? It was only open for 10, and in 2022 to 2023, it didn't open at all. But hear me out. What if we could freeze it ourselves? Artificially freezing the world's largest skating rink. It's an idea we've heard before, but now it seems like the people responsible for the Skateway are actually taking it seriously. Their study looked at a way to freeze the northern portion of the canal between the National Arts Centre and the Corktown footbridge. The recommended option is to treat it a little bit like you would treat an outdoor rink that we all know, which is within... Pipes within a concrete slab. So you can imagine that would be a major undertaking. I asked some people what they thought about the idea. I think that's interesting. Being able to keep the canal open longer. If it's maintained, why not? But it's a question of cost. How expensive? There's no specific price tag as of yet. But Ottawa Tourism thinks... It will be worth it. It being refrigerated would only give us more of that predictability, knowing that it will be open, that we can invite people to come visit Ottawa, and it will be there for them to enjoy. If this does happen, the NCC says construction wouldn't start until at least the 2030s. So until then, skaters at the mercy of Mother Nature.