OTTAWA — Canada’s capital has long held a reputation as a town that fun forgot.
Mathieu Grondin wants to be the one to change that for good.
Grondin was hired in June as Ottawa’s first nightlife commissioner — a position that’s become known as the “night mayor.” His goal is to transform the city from boring and bureaucratic to buzzworthy over the next 10 years.
“A lot of people seem to have this opinion about their own city that Ottawa is boring,” said Grondin, who has lived most of his life in Montreal.
“I don’t share that opinion.”
Ottawa’s workforce is heavily filled with federal government employees who, even before COVID-19 changed commuting habits, had a reputation for quickly fleeing the city’s core for its suburbs and beyond as soon as the workday was done.
Those workers don’t always contribute to nightlife and many inside and outside Ottawa see the city as a hub of bureaucracy.
In a move fitting of that reputation, officials have turned to a new bureaucrat to fix that.
Grondin was hired by the City of Ottawa to lead one of the first nightlife policy plans in Canada. He said nightlife governance is part of a global trend that has the potential to boost tourism, economic activity and fun.
The role has only existed for a number of months, and while similar roles have existed elsewhere, the notion is pretty unusual in Canada.
“It’s a new thing for everyone,” Grondin said. “I think everybody is looking at this with a bit of curiosity.”
Amsterdam is generally considered to have been the first with such a position, but cities such as New York and Washington followed suit. Montreal has a night council.
Grondin said the foundations for a lively nightlife already exist in Ottawa. The problem is, not enough Ottawa residents know about it.
“There’s a lot of stuff happening in Ottawa,” Grondin said. “Somehow, it seems that communication about these events is not super efficient.”
City of Ottawa figures suggest residents and visitors spend about $1.5 billion on nightlife activities each year. The city’s nightlife economy includes 4,600 businesses, which employ 38,000 workers.
“We want to create new initiatives and grow the ones we have, and eventually we want to be able to promote the city as a nightlife destination for night tourists,” Grondin said.
But how Ottawa residents perceive their own nightlife may prove to be Grondin’s greatest challenge.
“I think we need to rebuild that pride around the city, around our own nightlife, our own local scene,” Grondin said.