The question came up Tuesday after a presentation by the Ottawa Board of Trade at a meeting of city council's finance and economic development committee.
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Does the federal government have a responsibility to improve the economic health of Ottawa’s downtown by bringing public servants back to offices?
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The question came up Tuesday after a presentation by the Ottawa Board of Trade at a meeting of city council’s finance and economic development committee.
Coun. Mathieu Fleury asked board of trade president and CEO Sueling Ching if the organization had formalized a request to the federal government for more information about when employees would be coming back to downtown offices after COVID-19 forced thousands of public servants to work from home.
But Ching said the unknowns applied to all workplaces, not just federal ones.
“What we’re trying to get a handle on with frankly, not just the government as an employer, but all employers, is what the appetite is for return to office,” Ching said.
“Even CEOs that we have met with who have a national mandate are struggling with how to get back to the office in a safe way, in a way that supports what their workforce wants to do, and that they can retain that workforce.”
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Ching said the board of trade was working on ways to boost “employee confidence” about going back to the office.
For months, city hall has been trying to learn the intentions of the federal government when it comes to the return of public servants to downtown offices.
The status of federal workers is particularly important as the city tries to project ridership levels for OC Transpo. When the 2022 municipal draft budget is tabled on Wednesday, there could be plenty of guesswork at play when it comes to revenue forecasts in the transit department.
The city also has its eye on the economic health of retail and service industries in the core as the traditional consumer base thinned out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are positive signs, however.
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Cushman & Wakefield’s analysis of Ottawa’s downtown retail showed a vacancy rate of one per cent in the second quarter of 2021, an improvement from 1.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the downtown retail vacancy rate was 3.1 per cent, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s research.
During the committee meeting, Coun. Eli El-Chantiry encouraged Mayor Jim Watson to liaise with the federal government on “promoting and encouraging people to come back to work.”
A downtown Ottawa-based cabinet minister now has oversight of the federal government’s administration, with Ottawa-Vanier MP Mona Fortier taking over as Treasury Board president. Fortier’s riding includes part of downtown, east of the Rideau Canal, including the ByWard Market and Rideau Centre.
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After the committee meeting, Coun. Laura Dudas, who as the committee’s vice-chair has also worked closely with the business community during the pandemic, said work-from-home mandates issued by downtown employers had generated economic activity for shops outside the core.
Dudas said businesses on St. Joseph Boulevard had been fairing well during the pandemic with work-from-home residents spending money at their local shops.
But the downtown question looms large.
“I think now is the opportune time to have that conversation about how can we as a city, but, even as residents, support local businesses in the downtown core who over time have become very reliant on daytime workforces supporting their businesses,” Dudas said in an interview.
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Downtown businesses will need to diversify their customer bases and consider what services residents need, Dudas said. The city can do its part by promoting downtown events, she added.
The city has no control over when, or if, employers bring workers back to their offices.
Dudas agreed that the city can no longer rely on the federal government to protect the economic health of downtown.
“There’s an opportunity here to see how we can strengthen our downtown businesses for the long term (considering) we don’t know what the future of work looks like,” Dudas said.
Do the feds have a responsibility to help Ottawa's downtown economy recover? - Ottawa Citizen
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