Berrie White Capital Travels to Ottawa

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Ever since meeting and marrying my wife five years ago, I’ve traveled to Ottawa at Christmas every year to visit her family. The trips have become longer and more eventful every year - and that’s because I’m fallen in love with Canada’s capital city.

In the beginning, the Xmas trip was an interesting excursion, but a long bloody drive. To ensure my expenses were tax deductible, I used to try to seek out people to meet with. It surprises me that, unlike Toronto’s towers of power, Ottawa’s financial mangers are extremely accessible. The relationships I have created there are, for the more part, meaningful and lasting.

More surprising is how much I love the City of Ottawa, and the surrounding area. As a typical Southern Ontario resident, I’m hooked on the “live in the city, relax in the country” experience. However more and more, the cost of that relaxation is paid in stressful commutes to and from the cottage.

Ottawa is like Toronto was thirty years ago; there's hardly any traffic, lots of friendly people, and cheap cottage country less than an hour away. When you add lovely architecture and the historic national significance factor, Ottawa starts to become more than just a place to visit.

In my business, disclosure is a major virtue, so I'll tell you now that I was born in Edmonton, and grew up in Ontario’s Snow Belt; I love cold and snow. To those that live in Southern Ontario, Ottawa gets an unbelievable amount of snow. During the winter months little old ladies get the arms and posture of NHL hockey players from shoveling all that white stuff. For the boys who like their toys, there are few cities in the world were 4X4 vehicles and gas-powered-self-advancing snow-blowers are so necessary. Wee!

Recently we started visiting in the summer. Most people think of the Parliament Hill when they think of Ottawa and truly, it’s not something you do much more than once. In the summer the Hill is crowded and devoid of shade. Perhaps some people like to scorch while men in heavy wools suits try not to faint, but I happily retreated back to the comfort of the free underground parking.

Now when I go, I go for the week, instead of the weekend. I do all the silly tourist stuff and feel like a good Canadian. When doing business, I set my sights on big-money managers and instead of 15 high-pressure meetings, we have lunch and they buy! I love this town.

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