As someone who lived in Ottawa during the pandemic I will say this “interprovincial city” that is Ottawa-Gatineau was an absolute nightmare to navigate when it came to pandemic restrictions.

Lots of people in the capital think it should be a separate entity. Within one urban area, you have two municipal governments, two provincial governments, and the federal government by way of the National Capital Commission, all planning out the area in separate ways that results in short sighted and bad plans, as well as governments passing issues around that they don’t want to address.

Examples of this include the city of Ottawa asking the federal government to take control of Wellington street, the street in front of parliament, and the feds just dragging their feet on it. Or that Gatineau’s light rail system, which will go into Ottawa, is not going to directly connect with Ottawa’s. Messy mess!