Ottawa is our nation’s capital, with the good and bad that comes with hosting the federal government. But keep in mind it is home to a million people, many of whom have little to do with the federal government.
News & Media
Ottawa is one of Canada’s most liveable cities, with little help from the city
March 12, 2026
The Globe and Mail recently declared Ottawa the Most Livable “major” city in Canada. But the top spot is mostly thanks to the NCC.
So when the Globe and Mail recently declared Ottawa the Most Livable Cities in the “major cities” category, there are a few issues.
The reasons for getting top spot include skating on the Rideau Canal, open water swimming in the Ottawa River, plentiful natural settings and places to visit. All of which are federally funded, operated and maintained, thanks to the National Capital Commission (NCC). Almost nothing on the list of things that make Ottawa such a livable place are the responsibility of the city.
Ottawa’s municipal government is counting on the federal government to make the city beautiful and wonderful. It has no trouble taking credit for what the federal government does when it suits them, and no trouble blaming them if they feel like it.
This includes Ottawa Mayor Sutcliffe’s infamous “Good morning, Ottawa” social media posts that mostly feature federal properties. The irony is apparent to everyone.
If you visit the Ottawa Tourism website, the majority of the images you can use to promote an event are of federally funded places or activities. We don’t celebrate the places we create with our own municipal budgets to promote ourselves. In tourism, marketing, branding and promotion, we freeload off the federal government’s investments.
Nowhere is this more evident than the historic ByWard Market.
Step away from the beauty of an NCC maintained courtyard and you’re quickly confronted by municipally owned and operated public space, dominated by cars and parking.
While the City has spent millions of dollars on reports and studies and has consulted (and then ignored) public input, little has changed in the Market in nearly a decade. Plans to replace a failing, crumbling, parking garage died with an inadequate plan to privatize its redevelopment. Pedestrian space remains poor. Parking is rarely, if ever, removed, unless it’s to bring in a one-day festival for racing snowmobiles as part of the (federally funded) Winterlude.
Recent announcements that the Market is going to finally get attention are welcome… until you start reading past the headline and realize it’s simply a repeat of a 2022 election promise with no new ideas. Even the images are the same ones generated by a Toronto consulting firm in 2020 based on pre-pandemic ideas, budgets and consultation.
Ottawa has a knack for squandering opportunity to make substantive changes. The City’s lack of design leadership renews and reinforces the dominance of cars and parking in a place that is already terrible to drive.
The Globe article only lightly addresses some of the challenges in Ottawa. It doesn’t touch on the financial mess successive terms of council have burdened future generations: hundreds of millions of dollars in risky privatization schemes with uncertain outcomes like Lansdowne, or the creation of a costly new suburb on the fringes of the city.
Rebecca Leslie, an Ottawa native now playing for the PWHL team, the Ottawa Charge, is quoted in the article but there is no mention of the fact that municipal leaders have made the decision to push through the risky development plan that may push the Ottawa Charge out of the city, undermining women’s hockey and professional sports for generations to come.
The city ranks near the bottom of 454 cities on climate (408), housing (387) and safety (296). Surprisingly we only ranked 48th in transportation, maybe because traffic isn’t that bad here, compared to places like Toronto or Vancouver. Meanwhile, Ottawa residents are suffering from a poorly built LRT that has struggled to operate consistently since it opened nearly seven years ago.
The City has done little to support vibrant places for people in the centre of the city other than participating in studies and successful one-off projects that are funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Again, an outside organization is doing the work that the City should be doing.
Municipal parks, community centers and pools continue to be underfunded and are undermaintained. Many existing city-owned buildings are in poor or marginal condition, contributing to an $11 billion infrastructure backlog.
The heart of the city, inside the Greenbelt, is home to half the population and pays more than half of the city’s property tax revenue but lives on just 13 per cent of the city’s land. This area hasn’t seen a new community centre in more than 20 years. A new Central Library is years behind schedule. When finally complete, the downtown area will lose its only community library branch, housed in an award-winning mid-century masterpiece.
The central area is also the area suffering the worst effects of poor transit. It has the lowest number of households with car ownership. It is inundated with traffic by those who have given up attempting to bike or bus. It’s narrow sidewalks hail from a bygone era and haven’t seen substantive investment in generations.
Other top-ranking cities, like Vancouver, Winnipeg and Quebec City don’t have the NCC investment that propelled Ottawa to the top.
Ottawa deserves to top the Globe & Mail’s list of best places to live. But the municipal government should pull its own weight instead of relying on federal partners.
By Toon Dreessen, President of Architects DCA.
Originally published in The Ottawa Citizen.
Photo from Tony Caldwell/POSTMEDIA