Are you looking for the greatest challenge of your life, one that requires the patience of an LRT rider, the diplomacy of a server at Zak’s at 3 a.m., and the PR savvy of Ottawa Tourism selling February in the capital? Do you thrive on
being criticized
by business owners, residents,
visitors
and the press?
If so, you may be the perfect candidate to become the new executive director of the ByWard Market District Authority. With Zachary Dayler stepping down from the position in August, the search is on for a new leader. Applications close Oct. 2.
But be careful what you wish for — this is a role where everyone has an opinion,
the challenges are seemingly endless
, and it will be impossible to please everyone. But if you can do this, there’s no limit to how far you can go. If you can navigate the bumps and endure the bruises along the road to restoring the
ByWard Market’s former lustre
, I promise you will suddenly have the CV to pursue anything you want to afterward. Want to be Prime Minister or Mayor of Ottawa? This is the way to go.
This is, after all, not a BIA position that advocates strictly for businesses in the area. If only it were that simple. The ByWard Market BIA and Ottawa Markets — the latter the municipal services corporation that ran the public markets — were rolled into one beginning in 2023 to form the BMDA, which reports to a board that includes city officials, the mayor and private-sector appointees.
Unlike a traditional BIA, the BMDA does not receive funding through a levy on local businesses. “This allows us to serve the entire district equitably—residents, visitors, and businesses alike,” it reports on its website. It sounds great as an idealistic bumper sticker, but merchants aren’t exactly thrilled by this new acronym. Business owners have told me the BMDA has largely ignored their needs, whether by closing William Street to motorists as part of the $129-million
ByWard Market Public Realm Plan
or flooding the area with outdoor vendors selling cheap tourist trinkets.
Yet dealing with businesses in the area will only be one part of your job as head of the BMDA. Additionally, it will fall to you “to steward the historical and vibrant ByWard Market District” and manage the ByWard and Parkdale public markets. You will, according to the
job posting
, elevate “the streetscape and public realm beyond standard municipal service levels, enriching the resident and visitor experience, and fostering cultural, economic and social vitality across these iconic public market spaces,” whatever all that means. Essentially, you’ll provide upkeep, programming, marketing, advocacy and safety coordination. How hard can that be?
Oh, and while you’re trying to juggle those balls like one of the buskers you’ll be responsible for, don’t forget that the Market is celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2027. You’ll be planning and hosting that party, too.
The ByWard Market is a unique neighbourhood in Ottawa — it’s a beloved historic district, retail hub, nightlife magnet, tourist draw and home to thousands of residents. It’s an almost-defunct produce market that many people want revived. And it’s a social-services flashpoint where the convergence of homelessness, drug use, mental-health issues and crime, a potpourri that discourages many people from visiting, desperately needs answers.
The Market is also the canary of Ottawa’s downtown recovery. If it continues to feel unsafe or uninspiring, if businesses shutter, it paints the entire city in sombre shades of grey. If you, the new executive director, can lead the way to getting this right, the Market could again be the bustling postcard we want to visit and show off.
Keep in mind, you won’t simply be managing a business district. For all intents and purposes, you’ll already be the mayor of a small city within the city, and each day, you’ll be tasked with balancing the unbalanceable. You’ll have to make sure business owners thrive and visitors and residents are happy through next year’s construction. You’ll need to address safety concerns, and do it humanely. More programming might be needed to increase the number of visitors, especially outside the popular patio season, and if some of those efforts fail — last winter’s artificial skating rink on William Street was one notable example — you alone will wear the blame.
Hopefully the pay, which isn’t specified in the posting, is worth it. But that’s not why you’re doing this. This is a job that will test your patience, diplomacy, organizational skills and salesmanship every single day. Think of it as trying to sell February in Ottawa — all year long.
But once you’ve succeeded, you’ll get to call the shots. See that dilapidated old house at 24 Sussex? It’d be a nice project to get to next, wouldn’t it?
