By Annika Graf
Ottawa skaters this year enjoyed a lengthy 72 day season on the world’s longest skating rink.
The longest season for the frozen Rideau Canal was in 1989 with 81 days of possible skating, says Marc Corriveau, a spokesman for the National Capital Commission (NCC), but this year’s extended skating season drew mixed feelings from businessmen and women who operate on the canal. It’s a trade-off: a longer season increases revenues but also costs.
Guylaine Nantel ran a concession stand on the ice near Fifth Avenue this year.
“The season was probably one of the best ever. We are making more money but it is costing much more, too,” she says.
The bulk of the costs for small businesses on the canal is the rent. Ginette Gravel, owner of Gravel Food Concession Inc., is renting a shack from the NCC through a broker.
She pays rent to the broker based on a percentage of her sales. The longer the season, the higher the rent.
“It’s a lot of money for a short period,” says Gravel.
Grant Hooker, the owner of Beavertails Inc., is satisfied with the past skating season.
“It was a heck of a lot better than last season,” he says, but losses of the very short 2002 season haven’t been evened out yet.
The rents of the concessionaires are fixed for the NCC, making up about $100,000 per season, says Corriveau.
Other sources of income are the contribution boxes on the ice, which collected about $40,000 this year, and the corporate friends of the Rideau Canal Skateway who raised about $60,000, as well as other business sponsors.
The longer the season, the longer the ice has to be kept in good condition.
This is the task of Lafleur de la Capitale Inc., a subcontracter for the NCC, which gets $900,000 per season to maintain the ice regardless of how long the canal stays open. For the NCC costs are stable. Lafleur de la Capitale has to deal with changes.
“It costs more than last year,” says Jim Curran, the vice president of the company.
This year they had to deal with rising fuel prices that “eat away profit” and insurance costs which have “gone to the roof,” as Curran puts it.
“Every day we stay on the ice adds on costs,” says Luc Charbonneau, operations manger of Lafleur de la Capitale.
The workers who maintain the ice quality around the clock are paid by the hour until the end of the season. Most of them have summer jobs in landscaping with Lafleur de la Capitale. “The longer it is, the more money they make,” says Charbonneau. “Some of them are tired. They work all night. It’s tough on the guys.”
Students working on the canal are happy with the opportunity the cold weather has provided. “It’s always good to have a job,” says Nathalie Dennis, who works at Beavertails. Since January, she has made about $3,000 working five days a week on the canal.
Mark DaCosta, a student at the University of Ottawa, worked part-time for Silver Skates Ltd. skate rental.
“For a student it is good money,” he says.
The skate patrols working on the canal regret that the season is over.
“When it’s gonna close we are all gonna miss it. It’s like a family,” says Claude Aubin, who spent his first year as a skate patroler on the canal.
Like many of his colleagues he is doing the job in his free time, away from his normal employment as an Ottawa fire fighter.
“It’s for fun. Something to do for the winter,” he says. “I’ll definitely come back next year.”