I took off for Ottawa the morning of Saturday the 28th January 1989. Somebody had mentioned Kanata to me and I thought why not go to Kanata. Kanata is a suburb and former city within Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about 22 km. (14 m.) west of the city’s downtown core.
I checked into a motel in Kanata on Highway 417. I told them that I wasn’t sure how many days I would be there. They had no problem with that. In addition to bringing enough clothes, I had also brought my computer and printer with me.
It took me a week to find and move into a 3-bedroom house, sharing with two other guys. I had my own bedroom but I had to share the kitchen as well as the bathroom.
It didn’t take too long for me to find an office to rent in a building at 300 March Road in Kanata.
I learned that the Department of Supply and Services was the purchasing and accounting arm of the federal government:
- The supply administration was responsible for purchasing, printing, publishing, traffic management, security, equipment maintenance and repair for the federal public service. It offered its services to customers on a cost-recovery basis; and
- The services administration provided payment or cheque-issuing services for all federal departments; and accounting, auditing and computer services for federal departments and agencies. The department was also responsible for the redistribution of tax dollars to the provinces.
I figured if the services department was responsible for providing computer services to federal departments and agencies, they must also be responsible for hiring computer consultants. Based on that assumption, I was trying to get in touch with somebody who could tell me what to do in order to get registered with them.
My problem was that I didn’t know anybody in Ottawa who was knowledgeable to help me. I ended up calling and leaving messages to make appointments but never heard back.
I was also trying to get familiarized with the City of Ottawa. I was thinking why should I focus only on the federal government. Why can’t I look into the possibilities of doing business with local companies?
Initially I had called Lynda and let her know that I managed to find a place to stay, and an office in a nice building. I gave her my telephone number and she appeared to be happy with my progress.
However, this was my third week in Ottawa and I never got around to thinking about going home until I heard from Lynda.
She said is everything okay there.
I said I am going through the process of finding ways to get hooked up with the right offices and people here in Ottawa. I also said I was so busy doing that I didn’t think about coming home. She said she understood how I must be dealing with things in Ottawa.
I said I need a break and I am coming home on Friday. I will try to get there around 6:00 PM and if Adam’s not working, we all will go out for supper.
I had a wonderful restful weekend with my family. I never stopped talking about what I had gone through the last three weeks in Ottawa. Lynda always had so much patience to listen to me.
Adam was busy with his school, part time job, and friends; but he made time to go out with us a couple of times.
Before I left for Ottawa on Sunday, Lynda asked me if I had been talking to David or Mike in Fredericton. I said yes and they were very happy with the progress that I made in a short period of time. I said I don’t know why they have so much confidence in me, which is scary.
She said they know you and they also know that you’re doing your best.
I also told Lynda that David was coming to Ottawa in the middle of the week; just to spend a couple of days and take a look at what’s going on there. It would be nice to see him.
Driving back to Ottawa wasn’t that bad. It provided me with an opportunity to review things in my mind that I wanted to accomplish the next week.
I was working on a paper to define what’s needed to be done to start a business in Ottawa. I never heard back from Supply and Services, but I knew that was the right department to get in touch with.
I mentioned to Lynda on the phone that I might not be able to come home this week as David’s going to be in Ottawa and he’s not going back until Saturday.
David arrived in the middle of the week and he was very impressed with the office. We spent time driving around Ottawa just to get to know where the departments were located. It wasn’t a very productive week but it was nice to see David. He never stopped talking about Fredericton and Edmonton where we used to go barhopping.
On Friday David said let’s go for a drink in downtown Ottawa before he goes back to Fredericton. Consequently we ended up somewhere in a dark pub where David had been before. It seemed like almost everybody popped in to talk about their day in the office after work, not to mention the politics of the day.
At the next table folks were discussing free trade.
I knew that the push for free trade had begun during then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s first term in power. It had remained a major ballot-box issue when he and the Progressive Conservatives won a second majority government in November of 1988.
Everybody knew that the deal had been announced in 1987 and subsequently signed by Mulroney in January of 1988. But the Free Trade Agreement didn’t come into effect until January 1,1989.
At another table a bunch of civil servants were chatting away. The topic was the same –Free Trade. One of them was saying did you know that President Ronald Reagan called the Prime Minister on the last day of the year to congratulate him for getting the free trade bill passed through the Canadian Senate.
While we were chatting we kept hearing all kind of things. I said to David sarcastically thanks for bringing me here.
He said whenever he came to Ottawa he used to come here to have a drink or two just to pick up some hot topics.
We ordered some food to go with the drinks and we changed the topic to talk about my plan for the next week. We got really serious. I was in the process of explaining to David how I would handle the Supply and Services issues, when somebody called and said – Is it you Mir?
I turned around and stood up to look at the guy and found Gareth Hugh standing, shaking his head.
I said where the heck did you come from, Gareth?
He said I just cannot believe that I found you out of nowhere here in Ottawa in a pub, and you don’t even drink.
I said come here. I will introduce you to my friend.
I said meet David Niles, my friend from Fredericton; and here’s my friend Gareth Hugh from Calgary.
Gareth turned around and told the guys he was having drinks with that he would be back in a few minutes.
Gareth grabbed a chair and joined us.
David asked Gareth how we knew each other. Gareth said I used to work for a guy who reported to Mir at Alberta Treasury Branches.
David asked Gareth what area of expertise you represent.
Gareth said he was in charge of all networking for the branches and offices in the bank.
David said wow! That must be a huge responsibility.
Gareth said it was, alright.
I said what the heck are you doing in Ottawa, Gareth.
He said he works for a consulting company in town. He said he left ATB a couple of years back. Working there after I left wasn’t that interesting anymore.
I said I am flattered. He said he wasn’t kidding. They made a real mess and changed almost everything you had established as standards in the networking in ATB.
He said let’s talk about you.
The last thing I heard was that you landed a nice contract with Citibank to help them with their strategic plan.
I said it was indeed a nice contract, but I decided to go to Saudi Arabia.
He said wow! It must be a huge change even for you.
I said we can talk about that some other time.
I continued – David and I worked together for the Government of New Brunswick before I came to Calgary. We kept in touch with each other.
David is now vice-president for a consulting company in Fredericton and they are interested in expending their business in Ottawa. He got in touch with me when I was away and offered me a job to start a consulting practice here. I said this is only my fourth week in Ottawa.
Somebody from Gareth’s table shouted, are you coming back?
Gareth said how about having lunch on Monday, Mir.
I said here’s my card. Why don’t you come to Kanata? You will see our office and we can have lunch in a nice restaurant not too far from the office.
Before he left, he asked after Lynda and Adam. I said they are not in Ottawa yet but they are doing just fine.
I asked him about his girlfriend and he said he would talk to me about her
on Monday.
When Gareth left, David said what a coincidence, Mir.
I said – who can imagine that in such a dark place somebody would recognize me.
David was curious about Gareth and kept asking questions. He said he didn’t know that I had all the networking people also reporting to me in Calgary.
I said Gareth reported to Chris Beard and Chris reported to me. They had a bunch of technicians with all kinds of expertise working for them. Gareth is very smart and a reliable manager. He was also a part of the team which was responsible for migrating banking applications from Toronto to our shop in Calgary.
David changed the topic and asked me what’s the plan, Mir?
Meeting Gareth unexpectedly seems like a gift from god to me. Now I can say that I know somebody in Ottawa. It makes me feel good. Even if Gareth doesn’t know anything about how to get registered with the Supply and Services Department, he must know somebody who has that knowledge.
David said please let me know how your lunch goes with Gareth on Monday.
We left the pub and I dropped David off at his motel and went back to the office. David was going back to Fredericton first thing in the morning.
It was getting late but nobody was waiting for me where I was living.
As soon as I got to the office, I called Lynda.
Lynda said are you still in the office?
I said I just came back from having a nice supper with David in a pub in downtown Ottawa.
She asked how David is.
I said he is doing fine. He just wanted to come to Ottawa to check it out, I guess. He was happy with the progress I am making.
I said to Lynda guess who I bumped into at the pub this evening.
She said Santa Claus.
I said don’t be cheeky. Do you want to know or not?
She said alright, who?
I said Gareth Hugh.
She said the same Gareth Hugh who used to work for you at ATB. Who came to our Christmas party and the next day showed up with truck full of firewood for our fireplace.
I said the same one and only.
She said what the heck is he doing in Ottawa?
I said he has been in Ottawa for a couple of years. He works for a consulting company.
She said what a nice surprise. Now you can say that you know somebody in Ottawa.
