In this Q&A with OBJ, Naqvi discusses what he learned from the leadership race, his goals for the new year, the status of the Downtown Revitalization Task Force, and other priorities that he says are “front and centre” for his riding in 2024.
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After months of campaigning in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to secure the leadership of the Ontario Liberal party, Ottawa Centre MP Yasir Naqvi is heading into the new year feeling “optimistic,” with his sights set on housing, downtown revitalization and small business as priorities.
In this Q&A with OBJ, Naqvi discusses what he learned from the leadership race, his goals for the new year, the status of the Downtown Revitalization Task Force, and other priorities that he says are “front and centre” for his riding in 2024.
The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
How have you reflected on your campaign and your experience in the leadership race?
It was an incredible experience to run for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal party. I got to travel this beautiful province, every corner of it, and I met some remarkable people. I really learned about some of the challenges people are facing when it comes to their struggles around health care, access to good education for their children, and the affordability crisis that people are facing. The provincial government has a very important role, which is why I ran for leadership with some powerful, practical ideas that could make people’s lives easier to live.
After a busy six months of campaigning, what is your position moving into the new year?
While seeking the leadership, I continued to serve as a member of Parliament and I remained engaged in issues that are important to the community in large part thanks to an incredible team that I have in my constituency office. So at no point was I not around to serve my constituents. But, of course, moving forward, I remain really focused on some key issues that are important to Ottawa Centre and, not only to the community I represent, but to the City of Ottawa and the National Capital Region as well.
As we move into 2024, what priorities are top of mind for you and for your riding?
I think there are two big areas that remain very front and centre where more work needs to be done. One is accessibility to affordable housing, both in terms of ownership of housing but also for rent, as well as to build social housing.
That has been my priority since I ran as an MP and it remains … I continue to work to find ways to get funding to build more social housing in our community, but also work with government to find creative and innovative ideas to allow more housing to be built in Ottawa Centre.
Our community as it relates to the federal government is quite unique because there’s a fair bit of federal land situated within Ottawa Centre. So when I look at Tunney’s Pasture, Booth Street off of Carling (Avenue), LeBreton Flats … These are important opportunities for us to really leverage the federal government and build more housing that is affordable for people to own and to rent.
There’s a lot of talk about affordable housing and lots of different definitions. What does affordable housing mean to you?
The definition is different for different people. I think we need to make sure we try to build housing that works for everyone. I start with social housing, which is important for people who are marginalized and need social services to go along with the housing. Those projects are really important.
For example, the John Howard Society just completed a social housing project on Bronson and Carling (avenues). Multifaith Housing Initiative is going to be building at LeBreton Flats. These are examples of social housing geared towards people who are on housing waiting lists.
But in addition to that, we need to build housing that is also affordable for people to rent — middle-class people, young professionals who are working, students … so they can be able to rent an apartment at an affordable price. But there’s also an opportunity for them to save money and buy affordable housing.
We have opportunities for making land available at an affordable price by changes in policies that the federal government is championing and working along with the City of Ottawa to ensure we can build more housing at an affordable price for people.
You mentioned two main priorities for 2024. If housing is the first, what’s the second?
The second is, again, very important in my opinion: the revitalization of downtown Ottawa. That remains a priority for me. There remains a lot of work that’s happening there.
I initiated the Downtown Revitalization Task Force to look at ways to revitalize downtown Ottawa and the purpose was to bring the issue front and centre, which I think we’ve been doing. The City of Ottawa and everyone is paying more attention to it; the Ottawa Board of Trade is doing work on that. In addition, we’ve been able to bring voices together from our local community, from the Indigenous communities, from the business and tourism sectors, to work together to find creative solutions to help revitalize downtown.
The task force is completing its work and will be issuing a report in the new year, but we want to build on that and keep working with the city and the federal government and other organizations like OBOT and Ottawa Tourism so we can take those ideas and put them in real, concrete action and change the fortune of downtown Ottawa for better in years to come.
The Downtown Revitalization Task Force was initiated in the summer of 2022 and its report, which was originally slated for public release in late spring 2023, has been delayed. What updates or details can you share?
We are finalizing the report. There was a lot of work to be done, there was a lot of appetite for ideas, and we did a massive consultation in order to come up with ideas in that report. Some really good people volunteered their time to compile all of that information and draft it.
It’s gone through translation, so it will be available in both English and French, and we’re looking at some time in the new year to be able to share with the public.
Are you able to share a specific timeframe for when it will be available to the public?
Stay tuned. We’ll be sharing more information soon. It is a public product, absolutely, and we want to make sure the community is able to see themselves reflected in the work.
It won’t capture all the ideas and everything that people want to see; that’s just the reality. But the big part for me as a member of Parliament to initiate the task force was to have people thinking about the importance of downtown Ottawa and how, after the pandemic, we needed to bring people together to look at ways to revitalize downtown Ottawa.
We accomplished that goal. In the last municipal election, it was an important issue and we saw ideas from all mayoral candidates. We’ve also seen the Ottawa Board of Trade taking a very important leadership role in looking at ways to revitalize downtown Ottawa and highlighting that it’s a priority for them.
And, lastly, the federal government is also engaging in the conversation … around surplus properties downtown, conversion as a possibility for some of those buildings from commercial to residential … All these things together shine a light on the future of downtown Ottawa, which I remain quite optimistic about.
This report is a way of capturing all those ideas and providing a call to action for all our stakeholders to come together so Ottawa’s downtown remains one of the most vibrant places in our city and in the country.
In November, OBOT released a preliminary Downtown Ottawa Action Plan, which included findings from the task force and from work with Mary Rowe and the Canadian Urban Institute. How do you think this work has impacted the goal of downtown revitalization?
I’m really excited that OBOT has highlighted the revitalization of downtown as one of their core priority areas. They remain active members of the task force and the information they’ve taken from there they are building on, which is incredible.
I work very closely with (OBOT president and CEO) Sueling Ching and with other board members like Hugh Gorman, who are working very hard on that issue.
The Canadian Urban Institute is also an incredible organization with a lot of expertise, and Mary (Rowe) and I have worked together in the past, so I feel very optimistic that that kind of focus is going to yield some really good ideas and action by all three orders of government, who all have a role to play in this.
When discussing downtown revitalization, the topic of sports and entertainment is a common one. What can you share about plans to build a new entertainment and hockey arena and a new home for the Ottawa Senators, potentially on LeBreton Flats?
There is a memorandum of understanding between the National Capital Commission (NCC) and the Ottawa Senators to consider building at LeBreton Flats. The new owner (of the Ottawa Senators) is still looking at that possibility. I believe that the NCC has given them an extension on the memorandum of understanding, which is understandable given that Michael Andlauer is getting used to our city and, of course, to owning a new hockey franchise.
I remain supportive of having the Ottawa Senators move to LeBreton Flats. I think that will be really good for Ottawa, good for the team and good for downtown Ottawa, but of course those conversations keep moving forward with the new owners and the NCC.
Small businesses throughout the city are still working to repay Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loans. What are you hearing from the small businesses in Ottawa Centre that may be struggling to meet repayment deadlines?
Small businesses remain concerned, especially in the downtown core. Things are improving as we see more workers working through their offices downtown and people are getting used to a new rhythm developing with the hybrid nature of work. It’s to be expected that it has needed some time for people to get used to it, but for small businesses, although doing better than during the pandemic, some pressures remain.
That’s why I continue to work closely with them through the various BIAs in my riding. We advocated for the extension to the CEBA loans, which came through. People are shopping local, supporting local businesses, so that we can get back to the normal we had before the pandemic.
As Ottawa Centre heads into 2024, what is your outlook for your riding in the new year?
Things are getting better. We’ve gone through an extraordinarily challenging time through the pandemic. Now it's been over two years since our world turned upside down and it’s been one full year that a sense of normalcy is coming back.
I’m an optimistic person and I’m fairly confident that 2024 will be even better than 2023 in terms of us figuring out what the new normal looks like. We’re making sure our businesses continue to grow and that downtown sees life coming back again with new amenities and a new sense of revitalization that is much needed and that will result in a far more prosperous 2024.
