Greg Wycliffe - January 26, 2023


City of Ottawa... we need to talk


Episode Stats


Length

6 minutes

Words per minute

171.49825

Word count

1,055

Sentence count

74


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I talk about why rebranding the Winterlude festival as the Trucker Convoy Winter Festival is a no-brainer for the city of Ottawa and the country of Canada. I also talk about the economic and cultural benefits it can bring to the city and country.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 Every winter during February, Ottawa is home to Winterlude, the Winter Festival.
00:00:05.520 There's skating on the Ottawa River, people eat beaver tails, there's magnificent ice sculptures.
00:00:11.500 It's great. It lasts three weekends and it's welcomed millions of tourists over the years
00:00:16.400 to Ottawa. But I think we can have millions of tourists every year. There's a way that we can
00:00:22.680 take this Winter Festival in Ottawa to new heights, create an economic boom that local
00:00:27.980 businesses have never seen, and even turn the cold and icy Winterlude into a loud, electric
00:00:35.040 international tourist attraction. Introducing the Trucker Convoy Winter Festival. Now I know some
00:00:43.120 of you may have some animosity towards the Trucker Convoy that happened in Ottawa last year, but as
00:00:48.040 professionals who have a goal to maximize the popularity and financial success of Ottawa tourism,
00:00:53.980 you must admit the Trucker Convoy was one of the coolest and most popular things that has ever
00:01:00.400 happened in Ottawa, especially in recent history. Thousands of vehicles from across the country.
00:01:06.120 Do we even have a headcount of how many Canadians came in and out of Ottawa during those three weeks?
00:01:11.660 It made international news. Canada was in the spotlight. It inspired other protests around the
00:01:18.120 world. We were seen as a leader internationally. And I know some of you may disagree that this event
00:01:22.920 was positive. However, I'm hoping you can put your politics aside and see these three clear reasons
00:01:29.560 why the Trucker Convoy Winter Festival is really a no-brainer for the city of Ottawa and the country
00:01:35.200 of Canada. Reason number one is international tourists. We would be capitalizing on the international
00:01:41.780 attention that the Trucker Convoy received to the benefit of the local Ottawa economy and Canada as a whole.
00:01:48.820 Even if you didn't like the horns, you didn't like the hot tubs, you didn't like the line of trucks,
00:01:53.160 people will travel internationally to come to Ottawa to experience what the Trucker Convoy was like.
00:02:00.700 Because it was, whether you like it or not, a historic moment that the world recognized.
00:02:06.440 Why not take advantage of that? I was someone who attended the Trucker Convoy 14 of the 21 days that
00:02:11.660 lasted. And it really had a festive atmosphere. It reminded me of the street festival Pride in Toronto.
00:02:19.500 Streets are closed off, lots of people around, lots of events, food and drink, people hugging one
00:02:24.540 another and hugging one another to really, despite the cold weather, it was to celebrate something
00:02:29.940 bigger than that. It was to celebrate Canada. It was to celebrate freedom. And there would still be
00:02:34.880 the ice skating. There would still be the beaver tails and the ice sculptures. But now there would be a line
00:02:39.220 of trucks on Wellington Street. There would be a bouncy castle for kids. There'd be a hot tub in the
00:02:43.500 middle of the winter. And international tourists would come to experience this because these are
00:02:48.460 attractions that you can't experience anywhere else in the world. Reason number two is obvious and
00:02:54.600 undeniable. It will create a massive boom to the local economy. Hotels, restaurants, everything else in
00:03:01.680 between. How do I know? Well, if you didn't notice, there were many local supporters and national supporters of
00:03:07.880 the Trucker Convoy. There would be people coming from across Canada to experience it again or
00:03:13.060 experience it for the first time. That is the question. What is the Trucker Convoy like? What was
00:03:18.940 it like during those magical three weeks in 2022? That question alone, if used in the marketing, would
00:03:25.220 draw so much tourism just in Canada itself. And as I mentioned, it's going to attract international
00:03:31.740 tourists as well. So quite frankly, if you do not rebrand this festival to be the Trucker Convoy
00:03:37.580 Winter Festival, you are denying a massive economic opportunity for local businesses in Ottawa and
00:03:43.540 Canada as a whole. Reason number three is a big one. Cultural significance. What is the substance to
00:03:51.520 winter loot? Winter? We can still have the ice sculptures. We can still have the ice skating. We can
00:03:57.880 still have the beaver tails. We can still have all of that. But by rebranding it as the Trucker Convoy
00:04:03.380 Winter Festival, we add so much cultural significance to this annual festival in Ottawa and
00:04:09.600 significance that is related to the core identity of what Canada is. Freedom. Respecting one another
00:04:16.760 and our differences. This is a huge opportunity for the sitting federal government to really lead by
00:04:24.780 example and bring the country together. Because Mr. Trudeau, let's face it, you talk a lot about unity.
00:04:30.280 You talk a lot about trying to bring people together. This is an opportunity to actually do
00:04:35.180 that. This would bridge the gap and heal the country of Canada and the very disgusting division
00:04:41.200 that we have been experiencing for the past three years. This is a huge opportunity to get everyone
00:04:47.040 appreciating Justin Trudeau in making this decision along with everybody in the city of Ottawa. Because
00:04:52.920 during the Trucker Convoy, there were people from all different backgrounds. Communist countries.
00:04:57.460 They came to Canada to be free. And that's why they came to the Trucker Convoy to try and ensure
00:05:03.560 that freedom stays and remains here in this beautiful country of Canada. And that is something
00:05:08.680 that this current administration, any administration of Canada, should want to celebrate and embrace.
00:05:14.360 Justin Trudeau, if you're watching this, please take advantage of this. Heal the nation. Bring us
00:05:21.600 together and celebrate and embrace the Trucker Convoy. Embrace what you may think is a mistake. Embrace it
00:05:29.820 and let's turn it into something culturally significant so we can celebrate Canada despite
00:05:35.620 the cold weather. The Trucker Convoy Winter Festival. Celebrating the love of thy neighbor, the love of thy
00:05:42.420 nation, and the love of freedom. To be able to do it in the middle of winter right on Parliament Hill,
00:05:49.100 the city's capital. If you have any questions about my proposal, or if you're a local Ottawa business and
00:05:54.700 you are interested, please email me at this email below, gregweiklith at protonmail.com. And we're
00:06:00.460 going to see if we can make this happen for the City of Ottawa. Of course, with the approval of the City
00:06:04.780 of Ottawa and everyone involved, we're going to talk to you soon. Thanks for watching.