By Cheryl Jahn

Night life plan for PG?

Apr 2, 2025 | 3:30 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The downtown is always topical and City Councillor Cori Ramsay wants to follow suit with a number of other communities worldwide in creating a Night Time Economic Action Plan, derived from a trip to Ottawa for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention.

“And so what they’ve done is they’ve built this action plan that really beautifully illustrates the importance of having a nighttime economy, having nighttime spending. And I think for us, when we see concern over what’s happening in the downtown, it can be met with one of two resolutions. You can increase bylaws, you can increase police and public safety. But the flip side of that is can we not also increase support for businesses?”

According to the City of Ottawa the “Nightlife Economy Action Plan is aimed at developing and promoting nightlife activities and experiences between 6 pm and 6 am, creating a more vibrant, diverse, inclusive, viable, safe, and well-managed nightlife across the city.”

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“The objective of the offices is really to hear from the industry, understand the barriers to achieving as vibrant a nightlife as possible in our city,” explains Catherine Callary, Vice President of Destination Development for Ottawa Tourism. “And then to tackle those barriers as a voice that is a support for the nightlife, for people whose livelihoods count on nightlife within City Hall.”

As for the local downtown, Councillor Ramsay believes the pandemic made a hugely- negative impact economically.

“We saw fewer people, less traffic, less opportunity. You know, we need more events downtown to reengage. The foot traffic down there, we’re seeing tourism down there. You know, there are events going on now, but we need more of that. That’s how you rejuvenate your downtown.”

An argument can be made that having a more vibrant downtown will attract people and more people, there’s less trouble. But it’s a fine line according to Ramsay.

“I think we have to find a balance between how do we make sure that having events downtown supports businesses and the economy and gives people what they want by all, but also support social services for people who need them. A lot of our social services are located downtown.

In the meantime, Tourism Ottawa has some advice: choose who sits around the table wisely.

“There are different sector associations. There are different economic development agencies and city planners, as well as those who are doing the work every day,” says Kelleagh Alexander, Director of Experience Development, Ottawa Tourism. And those boots on the ground, folks that are producing the physical experiences or events or offerings from a tourism and resident perspective.”

On the flip side, what the City of Ottawa has laid out is a long-term plan, not a quick fix.