Winterlude festival, which takes place during the first three weekends of February every year in the Ottawa region, is one of the best ways to enjoy the Canadian winter!

 Winterlude Festival: Ottawa 

Lots of events in Canada can make you fall in love with the country. Exciting stuff to discover in Canada, includes International film festivals to Edmonton folk festivals, from light festivals to well-known food festivals. There is also a large bouquet of winter festivals that should not be missed while visiting Canada like Winterlude, the most famous and attractive winter festival. 

For first-time visitors,  Ottawa is one place that must be on the itinerary. Even if you dislike winter and are wary of the cold, dry weather, you may well be impressed by Canada's festive atmosphere that will make you fall in love with the season.

Winterlude Festival Activities

The great Winterlude Festival: In Ottawa, the Winterlude festival is a celebration of Canadian culture, a truly mesmerising experience for outsiders. You can participate in various events along with friends and family.  Activities like skating, ice and snow sculpture competitions, and many other types of concerts draw huge crowds to the fun-destination.

Started as a fun event in 1979, it is now organised by the Canadian Heritage Department. Winterlude brings the best out of every participant and encourages you to enjoy the magical wonderland of Ottawa. Unlike others, the Winterlude festival is completely free. The festival starts in February and continue for three weekends.

The sites of Winterlude include Confederation Park, Jacques-Cartier-Park,  and the Rideau Canal skateway, the focal point of the Winterlude festival.

Among other activities, ice sculpture making is extremely popular. The ice sculptures fitted with gleaming lights creates an aura of blissfulness. Enthusiastic participants showcase their talent using multiple shades of light. The festival is unique and acts as a magnet to attract tourist, who get to enjoy the enchanting season of ice and snow. A live music concert, an outdoor dance party, ice-carving competitions and workshops are some other features on display beside the opportunity to enjoy road trips in winter.

Fun Festival Winterlude

Canada is replete with many entertaining festivals giving you an experience of a lifetime.  There are also lots of interesting events and fun-loving activities designed for children. Giant games, kiddie zone, the Snowflake Kingdom at Jacques Cartier Park are some places that become a playground in freezing temperatures. 

People spend hours with children who are taking free lessons for snowboarding. If you love skating and ice sliding, the Rideau Canal Stateway is your ideal location. You might get lucky to experience adventurous skating there, however, it would be best to inquire about the place as the canal is in poor shape. Besides skating, the Ice dragon boat race also adds charm to the festival. Where else you can enjoy a boat-race competition in the middle of winter?

For youngsters, the nightlife in Ottawa presents exciting opportunities. Relishing with friends in an outdoor dance party, enjoying live band music and if you like Jazz, Winterlude is the place to be. Apart from this, Spark street offers Kickoff party, various live events and other light festivals. 

Beyond that, The Byward Market is a foodie's paradise. Your family can join you on this adventurous food trip. From free Wagon rides to Winter food tour, the place is brimming with energy.

Winterlude Packing Guide

 In February, the weather in Ottawa is unpredictable.  It is advisable to pack with caution as harsh winter may greet you. You can enjoy the Winterlude festival only if you are properly prepared with an extra pair of warm clothes, gloves, woollen socks and other basic necessities. If you enjoy skating, good quality boots should be packed. Different other accessories like scarf, hat,  sunglasses, cream and lip balm are some other items of need.

Extraordinary events organised at Winterlude turns it into a magical wonderland. It is a place to make your memories for a lifetime.  You also get to experience and participate in other unique Canadian cultural events fire festival. This festival offers the best in Canada,  its culture, lifestyle, and a marvellous opportunity to experience all of it for some days.

Photo courtesy: Google

Farmers began protesting across the country after the regulations became law, with farmers in Punjab and Haryana in the forefront of the unrest. Protesters questioned Prime Minister Modi's plans to reform agriculture through repealing laws.

Lets Decipher Farm Protests (Part -2) 

In my earlier post, I have informed you, how the glut production of a few agricultural commodities with limited consumption in India and no exports are becoming a huge economic disaster. MSP is a political milch cow for every politician worth his salt, but, who pays the bill? We the common citizens of India. Well, for the sake of rural economy, we may support it, but does it really help the farmers?

1

A diverse and large country like ours, pushing the can down the road isn’t going to pay in long term. Let us now try to understand a bit deeper.

1

Why only farmers in Punjab and a section in Haryana are up in arms?

To understand why only a section of farmers is at the forefront of the protest, try to follow the money trail. Below graphic sheds light on the amount of wheat procured by state agencies in different states of India.

The graph clearly indicates 70% - 80% of procurement in Punjab-Haryana is on MSP, benefiting the farmers in these states and not of any consequence to other states. Clearly, other farmers are dismayed by the protests and are absent. Moreover, the continuation of MSP and APMC is identical to the Licence Raj regime of the 70’s where rich farmers garner the maximum profits while poor are left in the lurch.

1

Now, let’s try to understand the dynamics of APMC, I am sure the term has reverberated numerous times before us in the last few days of ‘farm agitation’. First intriguing question is why APMC are so important? Why Punjab CM is fueling the fire along with his cohorts? You will get the answers in tax money trail. 

1

If you look at the Economic Survey report on FCI (2014), you will decipher the true intentions of Punjab politicians. 

The report clearly indicates the juggling of numbers by Punjab and Haryana, to increase their coffers at the expense of ‘farmers’. Punjab levies maximum taxes on farm produce, due to arbitrary nature of taxes on APMCs the state benefits. On the other hand, there is not much difference between the annual income of farmers among different states. This is because lower taxes are levied by other state govt on APMCs. I believe the mischief in numbers is now clear for everyone to understand. MSP is not helping the farmers, it is the state Punjab that is making money out of MSP.

1

Punjab by imposing 15% taxes on MSP given by the central government is filling its coffers, while the condition of farmers is almost the same whether he is from Punjab or Bihar. The Rs.64,000 crore net worth of wheat fetches Rs.9600 cr. In taxes to the state. This is what drives the Punjab political support to the so-called agitation. 

1

Here, the state government and its ‘arhtiyas’ keep getting rich with the continuation of MSP and by imposing taxes, while farmers and FCI are at the receiving end. We the common man, pay our taxes to keep the state that acts as a middle man happy. It is now easy to understand that the farmer’s agitation serves two purposes of ‘Opposition politicians’, One bleeds Modi of political capital earned through hard-work while using farmers as fodder, keep them subdued to the old system. 

Photo and charts/graphs courtesy - Google images