Adam: Ottawa's nightlife doesn't need a bureaucrat to boost it
No appointed ‘nightlife commissioner’ can show people how to have fun. But if the city wants to help, it could focus on making the ByWard Market safer.
Published May 11, 2023 • Last updated 55 minutes ago • 3 minute read
The idea that Ottawa is boring and somehow needs a nightlife commissioner to jazz up entertainment in the city is patently absurd.
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But that’s where the city is going, in the misguided belief that this entertainment guru will help shed Ottawa’s reputation as a no-fun city, an unflattering moniker it has worn for years. The truth, though, is that Ottawa is long past the days when it was seen as the city fun forgot. Over time, it has ticked most of the boxes for a fun place.
Today, the city boasts some fine-dining restaurants, four of which are in the 100-best Canadian restaurants. Another cracked enRoute’s top 10 new Canadian restaurants. As well, Ottawa has some nationally acclaimed chefs, two of whom have won the Canadian culinary championships.
The city is also home to some fine museums, and from the Jazz Festival to Bluesfest, our summers are as fun-filled as any city’s. As are our winters. Ottawa’s problem, however, is that when people latch on to a narrative, it is hard to drop, even in the face of contrary evidence.
But even if Ottawa nightlife needs a boost, the idea that bureaucrats can show us how is laughable. The city doesn’t seem to understand that nightlife cannot be manufactured or created on drawing boards. Nightlife happens organically, and if people are not going out, city planners are not going to make it happen.
Regular nightlife in Ottawa revolves around two main places: Elgin Street and the ByWard Market. Sections of Bank Street have some appeal. There is the National Arts Centre, of course, which provides great nightlife enjoyment, even if its programming may not suit everybody. But if there is a lack of exciting places to go at night, it is because our decision-makers have lacked the imagination to make our city centres vibrant.
Think of what we could have done with LeBreton Flats, the Daly building site, or more recently, Lansdowne Park. Time after time, we take the easy road, pumping condos into areas that could have been developed for great entertainment.
Take Sparks Street. For decades, the city has flailed at bringing any nighttime spark to the downtown street. Now the ByWard Market, the beating heart of the city’s entertainment scene, is being allowed to turn into a slum, with increasing incidents of shootings and killings. The Market’s once vibrant nightlife has given way to drugs, addicts, gangs, crime and gunplay. You are courting trouble if you find yourself in the Market after midnight. So far this year, four people have been killed. Who needs that?
“I think there’s so much more we can do to promote nightlife and music and entertainment,” says Mayor Mark Sutcliffe. Yes, there is, and the fix does not lie in a nightlife economic action plan. It starts with cleaning up the ByWard Market. Whether the solution lies in a new police station, as Sutcliffe has suggested, or through other policies, something needs to be done.
If, as a city report says, people spend $1.5 billion on nightlife activities, it means we are doing something right. Citizens enjoy their nightlife, and will continue to do so under safe conditions. Those who mock Ottawa for not being great fun often make the mistake of comparing the city to New York, Paris, London, or even Toronto. But Ottawa is not Paris or New York, and it doesn’t need to have the Louvre or dozens of three-star Michelin restaurants to be hip or vibrant. If the capital is compared with cities of similar size and population, we can hold our heads high in the fun department.
The impending sale of the Ottawa Senators will provide a great opportunity to create an exciting entertainment hub close to downtown, the kind of thing the city should be fully invested in. Let’s focus our time and resources on exploring opportunities for meaningful change — not inconsequential nightlife commissioners.
Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa journalist and commentator. Reach him at nylamiles48@gmail.com
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