Frith: Will Ottawa choose to be a capital of culture or a city that forgets itself?

Josiah Frith is the former co-chair of the ByWard Market Business Improvement Area. Photo by Jean Levac /PostmediaArticle content

For nearly two centuries, Ottawa has been defined by its quiet contrast — between Upper Town and Lowertown, power and practicality, government and community. But today, that old divide feels irrelevant.

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Much of Upper Town has already been overtaken by towers and traffic. What remains in Lowertown is more than a memory. It’s one of the few places in Ottawa where you can still feel the city’s origins.

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And yet, we are dismantling it by neglect.

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With Bytown’s 200th anniversary in 2026 approaching, Ottawa faces a choice. Do we continue down the path of North American metropolises — hollowing out what works in favour of what profits? Or do we take inspiration from the historic European capitals we claim to admire, where cities protect their past, centre daily life around livability, and plan with culture and community in mind?

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Lowertown and the ByWard Market are already at risk. Once defined by food vendors, small shops and a stable residential fabric, they’re now marked by absentee landlords, pop-up tourism, and shrinking affordability. What’s happening here is what’s already happened in large parts of Toronto: community displaced by commercial speculation.

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But it doesn’t have to go that way.

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Across Ottawa, from 1870s brick homes to post-war bungalows, we already have a housing stock that works — if we care for it. These homes are still more affordable than new construction, and they’re adaptable to real family life. But they’re falling through the cracks because we’ve abandoned the skills and policies that once supported them.

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In today’s market, with tariffs inflating material costs, developers chasing profit per square foot, and a growing shortage of skilled labour —thanks to incentives that favour new builds — there’s no such thing as a truly affordable new home. At best, you’ll get a shoebox for the cost of restoring a full-sized heritage home. If we want to make that choice viable, we need to help people relearn how to fix the homes they live in.

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That starts with “carrots.” Grants, tax relief, and repair support for homeowners maintaining heritage properties. A Community Heritage Land Trust to acquire and stabilize homes before they’re lost. Training programs and apprenticeships to close the hands-on knowledge gap.

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And we need “sticks.” Shorter vacancy limits for heritage buildings — 60 or 90 days, not 120 — before mandatory repairs are triggered. Transparent, enforceable repair orders, and automatic liens for persistent neglect. Demolition penalties, including zoning freezes or façade reconstruction requirements, to ensure no one profits from destruction.