When the City of Ottawa hired its first nightlife commissioner in 2023, the move was meant to signal a shift in how the municipality supports the businesses, workers and cultural organizations that keep the city active after dark.
The role — held by Mathieu Grondin and often nicknamed the city’s “night mayor” — was created as part of a broader effort to strengthen Ottawa’s nighttime economy following the pandemic, when many venues were still recovering from closures, staffing shortages and changing consumer habits.
The commissioner’s job is to act as a connector between city hall and the nightlife sector, helping remove barriers for festivals and venues, coordinating across departments, and advancing recommendations from Ottawa’s Nightlife Economy Action Plan.
The position also looks beyond bars and clubs to include shift workers, cultural programming and late-night transportation — all part of what cities increasingly describe as a 24-hour economy.
Not everyone initially supported the idea.
Some residents and business owners questioned whether the role would produce measurable results, while others argued that city resources should first focus on issues like transit reliability, safety, and downtown recovery more broadly.
Two years in, with several initiatives launched and a new economic impact study underway, Grondin says the focus is now shifting toward Ottawa’s next nightlife strategy — and what comes after the first phase of recommendations.
The Ottawa Lookout spoke with Grondin about what has changed so far and what’s still ahead. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Lookout: You’re coming up to two years in the position. What do you feel you and the team have accomplished, and what are you most proud of?
Grondin: I think we’ve pretty much completed the 10 recommendations of the Nightlife Economy Action Plan.
The thing I’m most proud of is probably the success of Metcalfe Plaza and instigating these place-making initiatives, bringing that into the city. And doing this with young local Black entrepreneurs who had seen similar projects elsewhere in Toronto and Montreal, or elsewhere in the world, and thought that we needed this in Ottawa.
Believing in them, building their capacity to deliver this, introducing them to funding partners and more seasoned delivery partners — the moment it opened, it was a total success. It was sold out and lined up every night.
It brought a lot of vibrancy to that part of downtown, which wasn’t so busy at night. Sometimes people might have felt unsafe in that area because there was a lack of vibrancy.
All of a sudden, bringing 5,000 pairs of eyes on that street corner on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday nights totally changed the vibe of that neighbourhood. We got lots of positive feedback from that.
Doing that with very little budget, just by connecting people — that’s really what this position is about. It’s about connecting people.
I’m also looking forward to this year’s return of Nuit Blanche. These are big, high-impact events that can help reshape the city, bring a different vibe and show how much the city is invested in supporting new nightlife initiatives.
Lookout: Can you mention the names of the entrepreneurs?
Grondin: Amashowza — Michael and Godwin.
They run a small collective and were organizing Afro House shows in different clubs around town. Their capacity was around 300 and they were always sold out. They were telling me, “We need to move on to a 500-capacity venue,” but we don’t have that in the city.
It’s a gap in the venue ladder that we have here. So they came with this solution of having an open-air outdoor venue that could fit 500 people, and they were right.
Lookout: As you mentioned, you’ve accomplished all 10 of the recommendations from the Action Plan. So what’s next for you after that? Or for the nightlife plan in general?
Grondin: I think there are two priorities this year.
Some of these recommendations will need to be revisited and will stay there for a while, like bringing new nightlife initiatives. I have a little bit of a budget this year from council to support new nightlife initiatives, so that is going to help.
The second big thing is working on the next nightlife strategy to be presented to council after the election.
As part of that, we’re doing another economic impact assessment. We did one in 2021 using 2019 numbers because we were in the middle of the pandemic back then, so no one wanted to use the 2020 numbers.
So we’ll have a base for comparison — what was the impact of the pandemic, and how have we recovered?
We know since the pandemic there’s been a lot of change in the nightlife industries: shifts in consumer habits, younger generations going out differently, affordability issues and inflation.
We’re going to be the first city in Canada to do a second economic impact assessment.
We’re also expanding the scope of what we’re going to be looking at. What we did in 2021 was look at traditional sectors associated with nightlife, such as hospitality, culture, arts and entertainment.
Now we also want an idea of what the nighttime economy looks like more broadly.
People work at night but are not working in traditional nightlife fields. I’m talking about people who might work in warehouses, manufacturing, shipping services, transportation, emergency services, nurses working at the hospital, people working at the airport, cleaning services.
We’re a city of government workers. When we come in in the morning, our offices have been cleaned — there are people working at night doing that.
There’s economic activity 24 hours a day in Ottawa, and we want to understand who these people are, what their social and economic contributions are to the city, and what we could do as a municipal government to give better access to services or amenities for them.
So the second part is really consultation. This will help me craft the next strategy to be presented to council.
Lookout: You’re from Montreal. It has a more vibrant nightlife scene. What is your vision for Ottawa and its nightlife?
Grondin: I disagree that Montreal has a more vibrant nightlife than Ottawa.
Montreal is a much bigger city than Ottawa and much more dense. That’s why it might look more vibrant. But when you scale it, Ottawa is a very vibrant city when it comes to nightlife.
I know some people who can’t keep up with the number of shows and events going on.
My vision is really the community’s vision. I’m there to amplify what they think through those consultations and through the work of the nightlife council.
It’s a big city in terms of its territory, and there are different identities in those neighbourhoods. Nightlife should reflect that. Elgin Street is not the same as the ByWard Market. It’s not the same as New Edinburgh or Westboro.
How can we keep developing those identities and reflect them in the fabric of Ottawa’s nightlife? That’s what’s going to be interesting in the future, so we can offer different experiences in different parts of the city for residents and visitors.
Lookout: But what is the overall vision? I lived in Boston, where you can go out at any time of day, and there are always people around doing something in different neighbourhoods. What would you like to see in Ottawa?
Grondin: I’d like to see the same as you just mentioned.
I’d like to see vibrancy in all of those neighbourhoods. We want nightlife pockets throughout the city, and I would like these pockets to be different from each other to reflect their identities.
Some of the challenges we have as a city are wider structural issues related to how Ottawa was built. We need more density downtown. We need more residents downtown to have more vibrancy so they go out and shop, eat, dance and drink at night.
It’s the same in many neighbourhoods. We need reliable and affordable transit so people can move between different parts of the city.
These are big structural issues. I can advocate for them. There’s a consensus on these topics throughout the city, but this will take time.
Lookout: How do transit and safety tie into creating more vibrant nightlife?
Grondin: From any international study I’ve seen, vibrant nightlife pockets rely on efficient transit. That’s what moves people around.
When it comes to safety, it’s not safety or vibrancy. Vibrancy brings safety.
Metcalfe Plaza was a very good example of that.
Metcalfe Plaza has become a downtown summertime destination for food and culture. Provided photo.
Lookout: How have you personally seen the city change in the past two years?
Grondin: We’ve seen it in the general vibe and positivity in the industry.
There’s a lot of planning happening from different organizations and from the city itself. We talk about the downtown revitalization plan and the ByWard Market plan.
There’s a lot of energy and investment — even just in the number of hotels popping up and the Live Nation History venue they’re opening.
When companies decide to invest in cities like this, it’s because they see potential and expect a return on investment.
There’s a general positive sense that we’re heading in the right direction.
A lot of my work is influencing the long-term vision, but there are quick wins like Metcalfe Plaza and the return of Nuit Blanche.
Lookout: Some businesses have indicated they’ve never heard from you or don’t know what you’re doing. How do you respond?
Grondin: There are over 4,600 nightlife businesses in Ottawa, so it’s impossible for me to visit them all.
I am the city employee who has given the most interviews and public engagements. I’ve done over 100 interviews and 40 different public speaking engagements.
We have a website that details what we do. We have a newsletter. There are many ways to get in touch with and learn more about the work of the Nightlife Office and the Nightlife Commissioner.
Lookout: What is your favourite thing to do in Ottawa at night? And have you played any DJ sets here?
Grondin: I like to go out and dance. I like electronic music.
I was 15 years old the first time I went to a rave party in 1995, and I fell in love with the music. Yes, I played here last year for a fundraiser for a harm reduction organization called Safe Raving. But my job here is not to perform. My job is to support the whole ecosystem.
Lookout: What specific initiatives or by-laws have been implemented to ease the way for business owners?
Grondin: There was a whole by-law review process last year.
We’ve streamlined applications for events of municipal significance. We’ve streamlined applications for food trucks at public events and festivals.
We’ve given a one-hour grace period when there’s bad weather for festivals so they can go longer past the allowed time.
There’s also discussions around revisiting the noise by-law. That’s probably going to be part of the next nightlife strategy. It hasn’t been revisited in 24 years, and the landscape has changed a lot.
