Nightlife commissioner Mathieu Grondin has kept a low profile in Ottawa. But nightlife councillor No. 19 has some updates.
In which our intrepid columnist, who applied last year to be on Ottawa’s nightlife council but was, strangely, not accepted, continues his quest as self-proclaimed nightlife councillor 19 to understand the role and actions of the city’s night mayor.
NIGHTLIFE COUNCILLOR No. 19: Nightlife Councillor No. 19 reporting, ma’am: I found the night mayor.
BOSS: You really must stop eating cheese before bed. Gives you nightmares.
NC19: Not nightmare, ma’am. Night mayor. The guy the city hired last June to help boost Ottawa’s nighttime economy.
BOSS: Isn’t he an urban myth, like Polkaroo or winter maintenance standards?
NC19: He exists. I saw him. Mathieu Grondin. Remember? He came from Montreal, lives in Gatineau and …
BOSS: Wait! He doesn’t live here?
NC19: No, but many people working in Ottawa don’t.
BOSS: Are you sure it was him? Almost no one has ever seen him in person.
NC19: Yes. Also, he asked me to refer to him by the title “nightlife commissioner” and not night mayor. Who but the actual night mayor would do that?
BOSS: Where did you see him?
NC19: At a Live Nation Canada PR “event” at the old Rideau Street Chapters. A 2,000-seat live-music venue, History Ottawa, is being built there. Some officials spoke about how great this is for the city.
BOSS: He was one of them?
NC19: No, he watched from the second row. But the day mayor, Mark Sutcliffe, did speak. I briefly talked with Grondin afterwards, though.
BOSS: Was that awkward?
NC19: How so?
BOSS: Didn’t you — unsuccessfully — apply to be part of his 18-person volunteer advisory nightlife council?
Evening Update
NC19: Water under the bridge, ma’am. Besides, as a self-appointed unofficial member, I can maintain my unmuzzled independence.
BOSS: Well then, what’s he been doing? He’s been invisible since getting the job, and people are wondering. Does he even go out at night?
NC19: I didn’t ask about where he goes or what he does at night, but if his sporadically maintained Facebook page is any indication, he still occasionally deejays under the name Grondini.
BOSS: Cool! Where?
NC19: Erotique Discothèque, CLUB SAT, Le Système.
BOSS: I’m not familiar with those places.
NC19: They’re in Montreal.
BOSS: Oh … So let’s get back to the job and the nightlife council. Its members were announced three months ago. What’s happened since?
NC19: They met twice. Once in December to say hello and take a photo, and again in January to meet bylaw officials and mostly talk about special events and delegation of authority.
BOSS: Delegation of authority? Please tell me more!
NC19: Let’s say you operate a venue and want to hold an event of municipal significance and stay open until 5 a.m. and serve alcohol til 4. Previously, Grondin said, there was no standardized process to do this, But it will now (or soon?) be part of the bylaw department’s purview. Additionally, there will be added flexibility on what qualifies as an event of municipal significance.
BOSS: I was going to ask …
NC19: An event of municipal significance is one that, and I quote, “brings benefit to the community.”
BOSS: That’s vague. Did he give an example?
NC19: Yes. He suggested that if you want to bring in a top DJ to your club, so long as your permits, licences, etc., are in order, you should be able to remain open later. “It doesn’t have to be just New Year’s Eve or Bluesfest anymore,” he said.
BOSS: And are Ottawans clamouring for this?
NC19: I suspect most aren’t, but Grondin described it as a “big win” and a “direct outcome” of the work that he and the council have been doing, and also (perhaps) a stepping stone towards a 24-hour nighttime economy, a goal he championed in Montreal.
BOSS: Twenty-four hours? A day?
NC19: “If you want to go towards a 24-hour economy,” he said, “you’ve got to have the discussion that 2 a.m. is a bit early, especially for different genres and scenes, for example electronic music.”
BOSS: I wonder how big a win getting a whisky sour just before breakfast is, but either way, why am I only learning about it from you? Shouldn’t he be sharing these accomplishments with the people paying his nearly $112,000 salary? Clément Léon, a former nightlife mayor in Paris, said that as he worked towards promoting nightlife, a critical aspect of his job was getting out in the community and making personal contact with locals. Shouldn’t our night mayor be doing that?
NC19: When the day mayor announced Grondin’s hiring, he said the position required a “deep understanding” of community engagement, and that he expected Grondin “will also go to a lot of events in the city as well.” Grondin, though, describes the position as a “policy-making” one and himself as a bureaucrat in a large corporation. “A lot of my work happens behind curtains,” he explained, surely only inadvertently invoking the Wizard of Oz. Many residents see the job as a public-facing one, but I don’t think he does. He was hired, he said, to implement the 10 recommendations of Ottawa’s Nightlife Economy Action Plan, and has until the next municipal election, in 2026, to get it done.
BOSS: Uh … remind me?
NC-19: There’s a full list, but the ones that stand out for me involve developing better lighting, reducing crime, and developing a city-wide Nightlife Safety and Security Plan for nightlife workers and participants, which include improvements to public transit and access to public washrooms.
BOSS: Has he done those things?
NC-19: He didn’t mention them to me.
BOSS: So how will we find out if and when he does?
NC19: He is supposed to present an annual Nightlife Commissioner’s Report to city councillors, stakeholders and the public, highlighting developments and achievements. One was due by the end of 2024.
BOSS: And … ?
NC19: I couldn’t find such a report anywhere on the city’s website, ma’am. I reached out to two city councillors who also haven’t seen it. One of them, Beacon Hill-Cyrville’s Tim Tierney, said he has sent an official request to have Grondin attend a council meeting to report on his progress.
BOSS: OK, great. Anything else?
NC19: That’s all for now, ma’am.
BOSS: Thank you. Might I suggest you continue your research by inviting the commissioner for a late-night drink at an Ottawa bar? I suspect it would benefit everyone.
