[QuantumLeap]

Sparks Street in Ottawa is an utter failure. While the Rideau Centre is very successful (I believe the most successful downtown mall in Canada by sales/square feet), there is little other shopping anywhere in downtown Ottawa, which makes that city's downtown feel cold and boring. Too many cities have experimented with pedestrian malls and found that they failed.
I am all for eliminating some of the parking on Dundas in favour of wider sidewalks, and I am all for the sort of investment you would make in a pedestrian mall (newer/nicer street furniture, sculptures, fountains, murals, trees, paving), but not at the expense of eliminating traffic altogether. This would be murder for an already much battered strip.