Whether Ottawa is a world-class capital is apparently a touchy subject. Earlier this month, Ottawa Citizen columnist Andrew Cohen dubbed it “the worst capital city in the G7.” A lively debate about Ottawa’s successes and failures ensued.
Every city is measured by metrics like tourism, culture and infrastructure.
They’re also measured by the quality of their sports teams. It’s not just wins that are important, but how a team fares financially and how it fits into the cultural fabric of their metropolis.
And so we come to the Ottawa Senators and the LeBreton Flats proposals.
LeBreton Flats is the last big chunk of undeveloped land in Ottawa’s core.
It’s rare, but not unheard of, for a major Canadian city to have so much space—9.3 hectares—up for grabs.
It’s also rare, and pretty unheard of, for a major Canadian city to have their NHL arena—the Canadian Tire Centre—on a patch of land not just outside the downtown core, but nearly 30 kilometres down the highway.
The call for proposals to redevelop LeBreton Flats was made a year ago.
Now only two proposals remain: from DCDLS Group, and Rendez Vous LeBreton Group in partnership with the Ottawa Senators.
At press time, details of each proposal were available through media reports. Both apparently have an NHL-calibre arena, both include libraries. The Senators proposal supposedly includes new ice pads and a training facility that will be available to the public.
A public campaign is already underway in support of the proposal that would see the Senators relocate to a new arena at LeBreton.
A “Bring Sens Home” Facebook page launched in late November has more than 5,500 likes.
Whether an NHL arena is appropriate use of the public land at LeBreton has been raised before. In December 2014, Coun. Catherine McKenney told the Citizen that an NHL rink is “not necessarily” the best use of the land, depending on what the rest of the proposal looks like.
There are residents who agree that moving the Senators closer to the downtown core is convenient, but say LeBreton Flats isn’the right venue.
“It seems a waste of this beautiful land to put a rink here,” wrote one fan on the Bring Sens Home page. Others are worried about traffic, the fate of the Canadian Tire Centre, the lengthy construction process and “downtown chaos.”
But if not there, then where? And if not now, then when?
This city—and Centretown especially—is dedicated to its sports teams. On summer nights when the Redblacks are playing at Lansdowne, foot traffic streams from north to south, busses fill, and a sea of plaid-clad fans make their way, cheering, into the stadium.
When the Fury made a run at the championship this fall, they were treated to roaring crowds. And the Senators have their own fan section at the Canadian Tire Centre, whose chants can be heard around the arena.
Many of those fans travel great distances at great personal expense to see the Senators in their current Kanata arena. Traffic down the 417 is typically at a standstill on game nights as residents from Orleans and the core migrate west.
It’s time Sens fans, especially in Centretown, had the opportunity to enjoy what Ottawa has to offer on their way to or from the arena, from Parliament Hill to the Sparks Street Mall, the ByWard Market and all the independent businesses downtown.
And it’s time the players experienced the buzz that fills the streets when a team makes the kind of playoff run the Sens did last season.
Whether Ottawa is a world-class capital is up for debate. But for the sake of the fans and the franchise, it’s time the Senators moved to their rightful place in the heart of the capital.