OBoT Perspective: City Building

Welcome to the fourteenth edition of Capital Magazine, a publication designed to tell the diverse story of Ottawa through the eyes of our business and community leaders, to share emerging opportunities and to provide a line of sight to what is next for our Nation’s Capital.

This is our third edition published during a global pandemic. It has been a time of change and challenge unknown to most of us. And an opportunity to refocus our attention on the things that matter most.

Many lessons have been learned during the last year. The interconnectedness within our community and with communities around the world. The interdependency between our economy and our health. And the power of working together to achieve a goal. The widespread distribution of the vaccines provides hope that we are in the end game.

Now is the time to have candid conversations about how we will leverage what we have learned to build the best Capital City in the world. Recently, we hosted a virtual City Building Summit and invited over 200 local leaders to weigh in on how to move forward. Our aim was to create a community conversation about our future, inspire pride in what Ottawa has to offer and amplify the fact that we all have a part to play in designing the future of our city. We witnessed great enthusiasm for deepening the high level of collaboration we have generated during this crisis and finding more ways to engage all members of our community.

City building is the process of creating a thriving city through diversity, equity and inclusion, through the environmental stewardship and sustainability and through economic development. The beautiful part about growing our community prosperity is that everyone has a part to play; individuals, families, businesses, organizations and governments. Moving toward a collective vision can be driven by a variety of actions, collaborative ideation and progressive policies. Our community has endured extreme uncertainty, strain and loss. We have also demonstrated creativity, commitment and resilience. As we enter an era of recovery and rebound, you are invited to consider the part you wish to play in the future of Ottawa. You are invited to own your city.

Sueling Ching, President & CEO
Ottawa Board of Trade