Ottawa business leaders were quick to condemn a campaign issued Wednesday by the Public Service Alliance of Canada calling on its members to “buy nothing” from downtown businesses.
In its original statement posted to social media, PSAC encouraged members to hold off on spending at downtown businesses as a way to protest the federal government’s recent return-to-office mandate, which took effect this week. PSAC cited concerns that public servants were being used as “leverage” for commercial interests.
Speaking at a business event Thursday morning, Ottawa Board of Trade president and CEO Sueling Ching said the campaign “penalizes downtown businesses” and called on the union to rescind its statement.
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“OBOT has a very long and proud history of working with labour,” Ching said. “We know that public servants are also committed residents who understand that supporting family, friends and neighbours who work at or own our local businesses is the foundation of our city.”
Ching made the comments at the Mayor’s Breakfast, hosted by OBOT and the Ottawa Business Journal, where Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe sat down for a conversation with recently elected Gatineau Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette.
In a statement later in the event, Sutcliffe echoed Ching’s sentiments, adding that now is the time for unity.
“We have to look forward and our partnership with labour is critically important, but we shouldn’t be turning against each other at a time like this,” he said. “We shouldn’t be singling out businesses in the downtown core and saying let’s not go to those businesses. We should be supporting the downtown.”
Sutcliffe added, “I hope (PSAC) rethinks the statement that they put out yesterday and withdraws that statement and encourages its members, when they’re downtown, to support our local economy.”
After a swift backlash to its initial wording, PSAC clarified its intentions in a statement to OBJ.
“I apologize for the impact and confusion this miscommunication has caused,” said Ruth Lau MacDonald, regional executive vice-president, PSAC-NCR.
Lau MacDonald said that the union has spoken to many local business leaders and its own members and acknowledged that its approach did not have the intended effect.
“Our intention has never been to pit federal workers against small downtown businesses,” she said. “We recognize the many challenges small business owners downtown have faced since the pandemic.”
While the union is opposed to its members being seen as part of the solution to increasing foot traffic to downtown businesses, Lau MacDonald added that part of the motivation for Wednesday’s statement was to acknowledge the small businesses located in neighbourhoods outside the downtown core that could be impacted as workers return to office.
“It’s important to remember that remote work has allowed small businesses outside the downtown core to thrive by giving workers the opportunity to support businesses in the neighbourhoods where they live and raise their families,” she said. “These businesses will also suffer as tens of thousands of public service workers are funneled into the downtown core.”
The union has asked the federal government to work with the City of Ottawa and the business community to help revitalize the downtown core, without placing the burden on federal workers.
A swift backlash from business leaders
Business leaders were quick to share their thoughts about PSAC’s initial statement when it was released on Wednesday.
Shawn Hamilton, a senior commercial real estate executive and principal at Proveras Commercial Realty in Ottawa, said on LinkedIn that the campaign from PSAC was in “poor form.”
“I understand that you feel frustrated that the ‘needs of the downtown core should not fall on the backs of workers and the federal public service,’” he wrote. “But remember, the very existence of 100 per cent of your group falls on the backs of taxpaying Canadians; we’re not particularly ‘jazzed’ about that either.”
He added that he wasn’t sure what the union was trying to accomplish with its approach and that those who will be most impacted have no safety net to fall back on.
“Your note is rife with your own myopia. You forget that all Canadians pay taxes, which fund the public service. You forget that almost the entirety of downtown Ottawa was built, over decades, to cater to you. You forget that your members are contributing citizens of Ottawa where we all benefit from lifting each other up,” he wrote, adding, “Be a part of our community not a destroyer of it. We are happy to work with you.”
Karla Briones, a local business development consultant and founder of Immigrant Entrepreneur Canada, said the statement was “disappointing.”
“I had to read this twice,” she said on LinkedIn. “The problem is with the feds, not the hard-working downtown businesses that have had a hell of a time recovering since 2020.”
She added, “This is a major setback to four years of relentless work of trying to help those small businesses in the area. Gang-bullying is not the answer. We have seen so many businesses close already that this senseless bullying tactic could further harm those who are merely trying to survive and rebuild.”
For Ottawa restaurant owner Anish Mehra, whose East India Company Restaurants has a location on Somerset Street near Elgin Street, the statement from the union came as a surprise.
“I don’t know if it was their intent necessarily to target small (downtown) businesses and I know that they’re trying to stand up for their membership,” Mehra told OBJ Wednesday. “But I feel like this tactic is all wrong.”
