WE’RE FORTUNATE TO live in a wonderful community. I’m always heartened by the positive comments of residents, new arrivals and visitors to Ottawa, who talk about how much they love the city.
But we also live in a challenging time, with a lot of political and economic uncertainty. That’s why I’ve launched Ottawa’s Economic Action Plan, to keep everyone working together to build and enhance our local economy, create jobs, and invest in our priorities.
To support families and small businesses who are facing rising costs due to tariffs, we are keeping taxes as low as possible. Ottawa has had the lowest tax increases of any major city in the country for the past three years. We’ve also extended the small business tax discount, providing more than 10,000 local businesses with average savings of $3,700 this year.
I’ve been meeting regularly with the Mayor’s Economic Council, including Sueling Ching of the Ottawa Board of Trade, to respond to Ottawa’s challenges and capitalize on our opportunities. We’ve had great interest in our Shop Local, Buy Canadian campaign. And I’ve also travelled to Washington to join other mayors from throughout North America to call for the removal of tariffs and the resumption of free trade.
I’ve also been working with our partners in the provincial and federal governments, including our new Prime Minister, to advance Ottawa’s priorities, including public transit, housing, and revitalizing downtown and the ByWard Market. And our Housing Innovation Task Force is continuing its work toward streamlining approval processes and proposing other creative solutions to build more homes.
Let’s keep working together to respond to economic uncertainty and continue to build a great city for everyone!
Mark Sutcliffe, Mayor of Ottawa
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