A tectonic shift in the future of downtown Ottawa

The federal government’s decision to sell off half of its office space over the coming years and allow federal government employees to work from home, represents a tectonic shift in the future of this city.

Personally, I am of two minds regarding this decision. First of all, I feel for all of the small business owners downtown who depend on government workers frequenting their establishments during the week for their bread and butter.

Many mom and pop shops have been hanging on by their fingernails hoping that the federal workers would return. And when they eventually did, even though it was only for two days a week, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Their expectation was that they would return five days a week, but that hope was quickly dashed with the two-daysa-week edict. Now the same small businesses must somehow hold on and hold out until the downtown core undergoes its makeover.

Which brings to my other thought on this matter and that was my long-standing belief that federal workers should be allowed to work from home and the government office towers that are only occupied from 8 to 4 from Monday to Friday could be converted to condos and apartments that are occupied