Kaczorowski: Why I said goodbye to Ottawa after 3 decades

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I first came to Ottawa in the summer of 1983 as a student employee in the federal government. Given my political science background, being in the nation’s capital was both exciting and a deeply personal experience.

It’s hard to imagine now how different Ottawa was in those days. You could walk the parliamentary precincts without airport-style security. I had access to the awe-inspiring Parliamentary Library, I could attend Question Period in the House of Commons and felt the palpable sense of history walking through the hallways.

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Back then, going to the ByWard Market was a genuine treat: the shops, the restaurants, the nightlife. In addition, the city offered a multitude of cultural and other pursuits, music, theatre, sports. Ottawa then was clean and affordable, a city that was easy to get around, a city that worked.

Ottawa would be my home for about 35 years. Yet when the time came to leave, I was ready to go. What changed in that time? In part the choice was personal, in part it was about the city, but another factor was the times we live in today.

On the personal side, my wife is from Nova Scotia, and we had many discussions over time about “going home.” My work had brought me to the Maritimes many times over the years, so I had had a good deal of exposure to the East Coast, the pace of life and the friendliness of the people. Family connections made the ties that much stronger.

Leaving the familiar is never easy, and it was hard to say goodbye to neighbours and others who had become good friends. Yet after dealing with the stress that comes with a long-distance move, and the initial sense of dislocation in a new environment, we have had no reason to regret our move to Nova Scotia.  Even during my casual visits over the years to visit family, I have always treasured the kindness of the people here, the sense of community, and the hospitality for which Maritimers are justly famous.

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The Ottawa I knew in the 1980s and 1990s is obviously not the Ottawa of today. I have long been concerned about what appears to be the deterioration of Ottawa as a livable city. There is the crumbling infrastructure, and of course the transit system chaos. I grew frustrated with the “village mentality” among some local politicians at the expense of Ottawa as a national capital. We have had interminable debates for decades now about what to do about Sparks Street, Bank Street, Lansdowne, LeBreton Flats — and the list goes on and on. The ByWard Market was once a must-see destination. Sadly, it has become a place to avoid, especially at night, given the crime and random violence.

Yet it is the coarsening of our political life generally, and in Ottawa specifically, that ultimately decided matters for me. What passes today for “populism” too often appealing to the lowest common denominator. Debate over ideas has degenerated into name-calling and cartoonish behaviour, while seeking to shout down contrary views and demonize one’s political opponents. At one time I followed Question Period in the House of Commons faithfully. I haven’t done so for years, as it has become unwatchable. Then, of course, there was the mob that paralyzed downtown Ottawa in February 2022, an ugliness that stained not only the city but the whole nation.

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I genuinely believe this is not who we are. Though it might seem odd, part of my evidence is based on funerals.

In our recent history, we have witnessed the passing of political leaders whose deaths evoked a sincere outpouring of public admiration and emotion: Pierre Elliott Trudeau (2000); John Turner (2020); Ed Broadbent (2024); and Brian Mulroney (2024). Different leaders, different parties. That their passing was marked by such respect cannot be explained by mere partisanship; in fact, far from it.

Instead, it suggests a recognition and even longing for a time that seems irretrievably lost. A time when public life represented a higher calling. A time of grand ambitions in our national life. A time when political leaders could disagree without being disagreeable and partisanship did not mean an absence of civility.

I miss that Ottawa.

Michael Kaczorowski is a retired federal public servant. He now lives in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

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