Hi Greg,
I'm in a similar position, new to astronomy and live in downtown Ottawa (golden triangle). I've tried several locations with mixed results.
Parking lot P16 (Meech Creek Valley) in Gatineau Park is my preferred site. Under 30 minute drive from downtown, decent skies, good field of view (large clearing), plowed in the winter.
The Ottawa light dome is south (might be a nuisance, depending on what you plan to obeserve). I have seen one other astronomer there recently. Gatineau Police came through one time, friendly, asked me what I was doing and left, but it made me wonder how safe the site might be if the police make an effort to patrol it. I tried the area around P15 as well but it wasn't great.
North Frontenac Dark Sky Preserve is amazing, I met some good people there the one time I went. Long drive though.
I think I will join the Ottawa RASC chapter and use their site (Fred Lossing Observatory) as others suggested. It's not much further than Gatineau anyway.
-Adam
