I’ve been in Ottawa for the past week, with a weekend excursion to Quebec City to present a paper at the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship. It’s been a productive trip. On top of the conference itself, I was busy conducting some interviews and a focus group in Ottawa as part of my dissertation research. It’s been a virtuous cycle — the more research I do, the more I’m driven to finish my PhD. It’s the last leg, and the degree is wrapping up. The goal is to have a bulk of the writing done by the end of the summer. All else aside, it was nice to walk around Ottawa and Quebec City, cities I haven’t visited since 2007 and 2004, respectively. Next trip – either Yellowknife or Halifax.