Ottawa’s ‘night mayor’ wants to transform quiet capital into after-dark destination

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.

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.