National Capital Region (Canada)

The National Capital Region (French: Région de la capitale nationale), also referred to as Canada's Capital Region and Ottawa–Gatineau, is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec, and surrounding urban and rural communities. The term National Capital Region is often used to describe the Ottawa–Gatineau metropolitan area.

Unlike capital districts in some other federal countries, such as Washington, D.C., the Australian Capital Territory, or Mexico's Distrito Federal, the National Capital Region is not a separate political entity. Its component parts are within the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Defined by the National Capital Act, the National Capital Region consists of an area of 4,715 km² (1,820 sq mi) that straddles the Ottawa River, which serves as the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. This area is smaller than that of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area (CMA), which is 6,287 km² (2,427 sq mi) in size. Ottawa–Gatineau is the only CMA in the nation to fall within two provinces.

Ottawa

Ottawa (ⁱ/ˈɒtəwə/ or /ˈɒtəwɑː/; French pronunciation: ​[ɔtawa]) is the capital city of Canada. It stands on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec; the two form the core of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area (CMA) and the National Capital Region (NCR). The 2011 census reported a population of 883,391 within the city, making it the fourth-largest city in Canada, and 1,236,324 within the CMA, making it the fourth-largest CMA in Canada. The City of Ottawa has since estimated it had a population of 951,727 in 2014.

Founded in 1826 as Bytown, and incorporated as "Ottawa" in 1855, the city has evolved into a political and technological centre of Canada. Its original boundaries were expanded through numerous minor annexations and were ultimately replaced by a new city incorporation and major amalgamation in 2001 which significantly increased its land area. The city name "Ottawa" was chosen in reference to the Ottawa River nearby, which is a word derived from the Algonquin word Odawa, meaning "to trade".

Ottawa, Illinois

Ottawa is a city located at the confluence of the navigable Illinois River and Fox River in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The Illinois River is a conduit for river barges and connects Lake Michigan at Chicago, to the Mississippi River, and North America's 25,000 mile river system. The population estimate was 18,562 as of 2013. It is the county seat of LaSalle County and it is part of the Ottawa-Peru, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Ottawa was the site of the first of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. During the Ottawa debate Stephen A. Douglas, leader of the Democratic Party, openly accused Abraham Lincoln of forming a secret bipartisan group of Congressmen to bring about the abolition of slavery.

The John Hossack House was a "station" on the Underground Railroad, and Ottawa was a major stop because of its rail, road, and river transportation. Citizens in the city were active within the abolitionist movement. Ottawa was the site of a famous 1859 extrication of a runaway slave named Jim Gray from a courthouse by prominent civic leaders of the time. Three of the civic leaders, John Hossack, Dr. Joseph Stout and James Stout, later stood trial in Chicago for violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

Ottawa Train Station

Ottawa Station (IATA: XDS) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located at 200 Tremblay Road, is served by Via Rail inter-city trains connecting it to Toronto and Montreal. OC Transpo’s Train rapid transit station (which, despite its name, is a bus stop) carries railway passengers into the city centre or into the eastern suburbs.

The station was designed by John B. Parkin & Associates and was built in 1966. It won a Massey Medal for architecture in 1967. In 2000, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada named the station as one of the top 500 buildings produced in Canada during the last millennium.

Ottawa’s trains once came into a large downtown Union Station a short distance from the Parliament buildings, but with the replacement of the railway tracks beside the Rideau Canal with the National Capital Commission’s Colonel By Drive scenic parkway, the former station has been converted into the Government Conference Centre.

Connections

KLM runs a connecting shuttle bus from this station to Montreal Airport, exclusive for the airline's customers only.