--- title: A Fifth of Ottawa's Residents Are on Cheating Site Ashley Madison description: Canada's capital is it's most adulterous city, with 20% of residents reportedly signed up to a site that enables spouses to arrange affairs canonical: https://time.com/3967081/ottawa-canada-ashley-madison-cheating-infidelity-affair-hack/ author: Joanna Plucinska article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-22T04:34:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:22:24.406Z og:title: A Fifth of Ottawa's Residents Are on Ashley Madison og:description: 189,810 users in a city of 883,000? That's pretty spicy of you, Ottawa. og:url: https://time.com/3967081/ottawa-canada-ashley-madison-cheating-infidelity-affair-hack/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5f849642450e4e2/69885bdf0a4a2270499c53ef/177959999.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: HONG KONG-LIFESTYLE-INTERNET-SEX og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Fifth of Ottawa's Residents Are on Ashley Madison twitter:description: 189,810 users in a city of 883,000? That's pretty spicy of you, Ottawa. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5f849642450e4e2/69885bdf0a4a2270499c53ef/177959999.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Twenty Percent of the Canadian Capital's Residents Are Registered on Ashley Madison by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Jul 22, 2015 4:34 AM UTC  This photo illustration taken on Aug. 20, 2013, shows the homepage of the Ashley Madison dating website displayed on a laptop in Hong Kong This photo illustration taken on Aug. 20, 2013, shows the homepage of the Ashley Madison dating website displayed on a laptop in Hong KongPhilippe Lopez—AFP/Getty Images by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Jul 22, 2015 4:34 AM UTC Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, is also it’s most potentially adulterous, Reuters reports. Around 1 in 5 of the population is registered on Ashley Madison, a social network aimed at married people that touts “Life is short. Have an affair” as it’s slogan. The sleepy city, with a population of around 883,000 boasts 189,810 users, according to Avid Life Media, the Toronto-based company that owns the service. ALM faced a [huge hack](http://time.com/3964059/ashley-madison-affair-adultery-infidelity-cheating-hack/) this week from a group called the Impact Team, exposing 37 million users’ data in a demand to take down Ashley Madison and sister site EstablishedMen.com. The hackers referred to the site’s clients as “cheating dirtbags who deserve no discretion.” The site says that it has [suspended fees](http://time.com/3965641/ashley-madison-hack-delete/) for users who want to delete their accounts. Meanwhile, it seems like Ottawa’s politicians and civil servants are the ones having the most difficulty staying faithful — the most-registered postal code in the city represented Parliament Hill, the seat of power in the country, Reuters reports. ALM CEO Noel Biderman thinks “power, fame and opportunity” are the likely causes of infidelity in the city. In a newspaper report published earlier this year, Biderman admitted that capital cities usually top subscription rates for the adulterous service. Ottawa residents seem to think the reason is much simpler — everyone is just bored out of their minds. “Why do you think everyone goes to Montreal to have a good time?” Kary, who refused to give her last name, told Reuters. “Ottawa is the city fun forgot.” \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/21/us-ashleymadison-hack-ottawa-idUSKCN0PV26H20150721)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3967081/ottawa-canada-ashley-madison-cheating-infidelity-affair-hack/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3967081/ottawa-canada-ashley-madison-cheating-infidelity-affair-hack/"},"headline":"Twenty Percent of the Canadian Capital's Residents Are Registered on Ashley Madison","datePublished":"2015-07-22T04:34:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:22:24.406Z","description":"That's pretty spicy of you, Ottawa","url":"https://time.com/3967081/ottawa-canada-ashley-madison-cheating-infidelity-affair-hack/","keywords":["Living","Newsfeed","relationships","Canada"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5f849642450e4e2/69885bdf0a4a2270499c53ef/177959999.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joanna Plucinska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5f849642450e4e2/69885bdf0a4a2270499c53ef/177959999.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HONG KONG-LIFESTYLE-INTERNET-SEX","caption":"HONG KONG-LIFESTYLE-INTERNET-SEX","creditText":"Philippe Lopez—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3967081/ottawa-canada-ashley-madison-cheating-infidelity-affair-hack/","name":"Twenty Percent of the Canadian Capital's Residents Are Registered on Ashley Madison"}}]}] ```