A follow up to this story. The final flight reservation that Air Canada made for me was improperly booked, so my seat on the final leg of my trip was not reserved (but a spot for my luggage was). Thus my luggage was sent on a different flight than I was and I had to plead with the people at United to get me on my next flight. Thankfully they were more than helpful and got me a ticket on a flight leaving shortly after.

I heard other stories from travelers in Ottawa about how bad the Air Canada's customer service is. Apparently due to a non-weather delay they put a traveler up in a hotel and offered free meals. However, when he returned for his flight they refused to believe he had stayed in a hotel and would not give him the free meals.