Ottawa’s new ‘night mayor’ — oops, don’t call him that — has his work cut out | Opinion

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The first peculiarity when Ottawa’s inaugural nightlife commissioner, Mathieu Grondin, was introduced this week was that the city’s announcement took place at 9:30 a.m. Wouldn’t it have been more symbolic to hold the event at 9:30 p.m. instead?

The second was what Grondin said — or rather didn’t say — about how he expects to implement the city’s Nightlife Economy Action Plan, a 10-action blueprint intended to give O-Town’s after-dark experience a shot in the arm. Basically, he offered quips about turning Ottawa into “the city fun is going to remember,” but little more.

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“The first thing in my mandate is to implement the nightlife strategy action plan,” he declared. “I’m going to put my spices in the recipe at some point, but every city is different.”

Which brings us to the third curiosity: Grondin is from Montreal. That means his first step in implementing the plan, as he himself noted, will be to spend a few months hearing from various stakeholders in the city’s nightlife scene to learn what Ottawa’s particular challenges and opportunities are.

In other words, he’s going to hit the ground listening, not running.

A fourth thing is how Mayor Mark Sutcliffe insists the correct term is “night commissioner” and emphatically not “night mayor,” as though it might invoke a curse similar to speaking the name Voldemort. Does he not realize that night mayor is way more fun than commissioner of anything?

And then there was this fifth oddity: Grondin is reportedly not quite moving to Ottawa, telling a gathering of tourism and event stakeholders he’s chosen Gatineau as his new home. When I asked city officials about this, I received an emailed statement attributed to Cindy VanBuskirk, manager of High Economic Impact Programs, saying the city does not disclose personal information.

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Fair enough; Grondin won’t have to change his driver’s licence or health card. But still.

Yet despite the peculiarities, there are positives. Having a fresh set of eyes on the city’s nightlife scene isn’t a bad thing, and Grondin is well-qualified. In 2017, he co-founded and until recently ran MTL 24/24, a not-for-profit dedicated to enhancing Montreal’s nightlife. In 2020, the organization established a Night Council so the city’s late-night denizens could share their thoughts and concerns. The following year, it launched MTL au Sommet de la nuit, an international forum dedicated to identifying best practices for managing urban night-time activities.

“He’s a veteran nightlife promoter and a great guy,” says longtime Montreal Gazette reporter Brendan Kelly, who has frequently written about MTL 24/24 and Grondin. “And he’s in it for all the right reasons.”

The bilingual Grondin has long been embedded in Montreal’s night-time and arts scenes, notably under his electronic deejaying moniker, Grondini. He might actually know a thing or two about fun.

Montreal’s loss, which it seems to have brought upon itself, might be our gain. In 2021, the city of Montreal gave MTL 24/24 $600,000 to help it come up with a nightlife policy that Mayor Valérie Plante had promised four years earlier (the province also provided MTL 24/24 a $700,000 subsidy). In January this year, the city announced it would no longer fund the organization, essentially kneecapping it. According to Kelly, the writing might have been on the wall: Plante herself attended MTL au Sommet de la nuit in 2021, but at last year’s summit, no one from the city administration took part.

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Looking at those funding numbers for Montreal, I wonder whether the annual Nightlife Commissioner Office budget of $160,000 approved by Ottawa Council, which includes Grondin’s salary of $112,000, will be adequate. In an earlier column, I wrote that the expenditure was small enough that it wouldn’t be a great loss if the position and idea didn’t pan out. Now I wonder whether it’s too small to give Grondin a chance.

For while Grondin so far won’t reveal any ideas he might have, and won’t do interviews yet, there’s a near-endless list of things to consider to boost Ottawa’s nightlife, including keeping parks open and operating public transit 24/7; making streets safe; making it easier to rent public facilities for parties; easing noise restrictions in certain instances or changing the requirement of having paid-duty officers attend street closures.

Additionally, a shift in development priorities should be considered. In some cities, developers of new condominium buildings, for example, include a stipulation in purchase agreements that residents cannot make noise complaints about nearby establishments that already exist. This prevents new residents in growing and lively neighbourhoods from killing the vibe at 11 p.m.

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A thriving nightlife is a great economic driver for any city. It’s also vital to residents’ quality-of-life, just like sidewalks, schools, pools and parks. Finding a balance between the needs of the night owls and early birds is the delicate part, especially when most politicians making the decisions don’t go out late at night. Ensuring that our streets are safe is also fundamental, otherwise the night commissioner’s position would be in jeopardy.

We certainly don’t want government telling us how to have fun, but having someone inside city hall to help council navigate the benefits of a spirited nightlife can’t be bad. Grondin has been chosen, and I wish him the best. Maybe we’ll run into one another at a concert at Red Bird Live or at the rail of one of my favourite cocktail bars. I’ll buy the first round.

bdeachman@postmedia.com

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