To revive downtown Ottawa, city must cooperate with the feds

The federal government wants to create a capital the citizens of Ottawa will be proud of. And it has resources the city does not.

Published Jan 02, 2025  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Might Wellington some day have a tramway running down it?

I grew up in the west end of Ottawa. As a kid, I loved to take OC Transpo downtown on the weekends and just hang out. I was so proud of my hometown. Today, it’s a lot harder to go to the core and find a reason to be proud.

Regardless of where you live in Ottawa, restoring pride in our city begins with downtown. It’s where many of us work. It’s what our visitors want to see. It’s how our city is viewed around the world.

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Leadership for revitalizing downtown ultimately rests with city hall. A first, then a second task force of local leaders provided recommendations on what should be done. Those recommendations boil down to three requirements: more people living, working and visiting the core.

While these task forces produced fine reports, there has been little action. And for good reason. The city doesn’t have the resources to do it alone.

The province has provided some modest funding, but that is being spent on a handful of initiatives including policing in the ByWard Market and a new Tourism Ottawa visitor centre on Elgin Street.

If we look at the third requirement — more people visiting downtown — there is one obvious solution that the city has not explored: work with the federal government to create compelling new downtown spaces that tourists and locals will want to visit.

The feds want to be a part of revitalizing downtown. The National Capital Commission is updating its Core Area Plan, which defines the federal vision for a capital fitting of a G7 country. That plan includes an interprovincial Confederation Boulevard that serves to “tell the Canadian story and showcase the nation’s treasures”; public spaces that better integrate with the Ottawa River waterfront; and easier access to and through the core for sustainable transportation.

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The federal government has the money to do big things that could anchor downtown revitalization. But it doesn’t currently have a willing partner in the City of Ottawa. The city owns key real estate such as Wellington Street, and unless the federal government exercises its ability to expropriate, the city can simply refuse to cooperate.

Mobilizing federal dollars would require that the city accommodate what is important to the feds.

Federal priorities were reflected in the recent Fall Economic Statement, with its support for the proposed Gatineau-Ottawa tramway and a sixth interprovincial bridge at Kettle Island in the east end. The tram would take up two lanes of the Portage Bridge; hence the importance of twinning it with a new crossing.

Other federal priorities include getting trucks out of downtown and mitigating the security risk inherent in allowing vehicles so close to Parliament and other national institutions.

The mayor and the local city councillor were quick to dismiss the proposed bridge. But support for these federal priorities is a key to unlocking millions of dollars to revitalize downtown Ottawa.

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City leaders have an opportunity to work constructively with the NCC and ensure that the updated Core Area Plan is something that fully benefits the people of Ottawa. The city has leverage right now and should be working to shape this plan so that it helps rebuild our downtown.

Most specifically, I would suggest the city require that any new public spaces be places where people actually want to go. Not beautiful empty boulevards, but busy and engaging public squares. Less Garden of the Provinces and Territories and more Lansdowne Christmas Market liveliness. I would also like to see the city insist that the federal government provide residents with a voice in co-designing these new spaces so that they can be used by local communities for activities and events.

Revitalizing downtown goes hand-in-hand with restoring the civic pride that many Ottawa residents feel has been slipping away. But revitalization, through getting more people visiting downtown, is unlikely to succeed without federal money.

That federal money is not going to come as a blank cheque, but rather as new investments to rebuild the national capital core.  Ottawa city hall will have to make a decision to start working constructively with its federal partners for those investment dollars to flow.

Neil Saravanamuttoo is a director of CitySHAPES, the author of the 613 on Substack and the former chief economist of the G20’s Global Infrastructure Hub.

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