Abolish, improve or ignore? Here's what the four main candidates say they plan to do with the nightlife office.

Any Ottawa resident who browses social media is likely to come across critical comments about Mathieu Grondin, the Montreal native hired two years ago as the capital’s first nightlife commissioner.

The night mayor, as they call him, is accused of making too much money and failing to bring anything cool to the city. Possibly even more audacious is the fact that Grondin decided to reside in Gatineau and to commute across the Ottawa River to city hall.

Mayoral candidate Alex Lawson, a 38-year-old construction-business owner, echoes the perception of many observers when he questions the value of the job.

“Calling it a night mayor and hiring someone who lives in Montreal is silly,” Lawson said in an interview, perhaps not realizing Grondin now makes his home in West Quebec.

“It’s performative and silly. We just hire a night mayor and a safety czar, and they could be the new dynamic duo and solve all our problems? What are we doing?”

If elected, Lawson says he would abolish the night mayor position and focus on making the downtown area safer.

Candidate Neil Saravanamuttoo is on a similar track, noting his focus is on the bigger issues of homelessness and public safety.

“Until we have better solutions to those problems, it will be difficult to build the vibrant nightlife economy Ottawa needs,” Saravanamuttoo said in an email.

However, the mis-characterization of the nightlife-commissioner position riles Jeff Leiper, the Kitchissippi councillor now running for mayor. He believes the city has failed Grondin.

“The city has done a very poor job, I think, of communicating what the nightlife commissioner’s role is,” Leiper said in an interview.

“In the minds of the public, and it has been allowed to be perpetuated, Mathieu is the DJ laureate of Ottawa,” he said. “People are upset that there is a well-paid bureaucrat at city hall who they think is supposed to be organizing great parties, and they’re not seeing the great parties coming from the city.

“But that was never what that role was intended to do.”

A decade ago, Leiper said he was the person that live-music and nightlife businesses came to when they needed help with the system. He still feels it’s worthwhile to devote someone to the task.

“I continue to believe that there is a really important role for a bureaucrat within the bureaucracy to help our nightlife economy navigate city hall,” he said, not for that person to organize “kick-ass” parties.

“The job of organizing kick-ass parties belongs to people who have that experience,“ Leiper added.

“But sometimes in the course of creating those parties you run up against city hall or you need city hall’s partnership, and I am glad that there is someone at city hall whose job it is now to facilitate those discussions.”

According to statistics gathered by the city, an estimated $1.5 billion is spent on nightlife activities each year in Ottawa, an amount representing about 30 per cent of daytime consumer spending. Approximately 84 per cent of that amount is spent by local residents, with the remaining 16 per cent spent by visitors.

A 2021 report showed the sector included about 4,600 businesses and some 38,000 workers.

Incumbent mayor Mark Sutcliffe is a champion of the nightlife strategy and has been a supporter of Grondin during his term in office, though he bristles when he hears the term night mayor.

“The nightlife commissioner is an economic-development position within the city’s Economic Development department,” Sutcliffe said in an email, describing the role as “a member of city staff with responsibility for advancing the city’s approved nightlife strategy.”

He explained that neither the mayor nor council had the authority to “abolish” a city staff position. Instead, that responsibility rests with the city manager.

The aforementioned nightlife strategy refers to the Nightlife Economy Action Plan approved by council in May 2023. It contains 10 recommendations to be implemented by the nightlife commissioner.

Grondin’s annual report covering 2025, the first full year of operation, noted that eight of the 10 actions were complete, while two were ongoing.

Meanwhile, discussion of arts, culture and the nightlife economy is set to continue Sept. 29 at a mayoral candidates’ debate organized by Arts Ottawa and starring the top four contenders: Leiper, Lawson, Saravanamuttoo and Sutcliffe. It is to run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Arts Court Theatre. Register to attend online.

Also on the radar is the Canada After Dark nightlife summit, a national forum focusing on the potential of nighttime economies. It’s to be presented at the National Arts Centre on Oct. 7-8 as part of the second annual Capital Music Week, which runs Oct. 2-10 in various venues across the city.

lsaxberg@postmedia.com

Lynn Saxberg is the arts reporter at the Ottawa Citizen. For years she has been covering music festivals like Bluesfest, performances at the National Arts Centre and Canadian Tire Centre, as well as art exhibitions, comedy shows, the club scene and more. Sign up to receive weekly updates from Lynn Saxberg