I was thinking the other day about what Ottawa-Vanier looked like when I was growing up in Ottawa. When I was a teenager, I spent almost every weekend at the Rideau Centre, Rideau Street, or in the Byward Market. If you wanted to go shopping or see a movie, you had to go downtown. I think we lost the heart of the city as the suburbs developed with their own malls and movie theatres in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The Byward Market in particular was a vibrant scene with unique shops, restaurants, and outdoor merchants. At night, the clubs were the place to be. I’m old enough to remember Stoney Mondays, Houlihan’s, and the Burger King on the corner of Dalhousie.

The decline in Ottawa-Vanier that we are experiencing now is in large part a result of the government-mandated Covid lockdowns that started in March 2020. For example, small businesses were crushed by the limitations put on them as they could not come close to competing with the big box stores that were operating with few restrictions. The businesses on Rideau Street were impacted years earlier by lengthy construction delays. Governments at every level hurt small businesses with higher taxes, limited parking or lack of reliable public transit, and multiple levels of government bureaucracy. This makes it difficult for anyone to want to open a business.

I want to see an Ottawa-Vanier that includes business owners of all backgrounds and age groups. I want to see more housing options available. We are lucky to already have transit options from buses to bike lanes and trails that run almost the entire length of the riding. Ottawa-Vanier should be a model for the way the rest of the city could operate if we loosened the grip of government red tape.