Mayoral Candidates
Fourteen candidates are vying for the office of mayor of Ottawa in the October 24 municipal election. The incumbent, Jim Watson, is not running. The 14 candidates for mayor, in alphabetical order, are:
Brandon Bay | mayor@brandonbay.ca |
Zed Chebib | ziad.fami.unif@gmail.com |
Bob Chiarelli | info@bobchiarelli.ca |
Bernard Couchman | bjc@bernardcouchman.ca |
Celine Debassige | celinedebassige@yahoo.ca |
Gregory Jreg Guevara | jreg4mayor@gmail.com |
Nour Kadri | kadri4mayor@kadri.ca |
Graham MacDonald | contact@macdonald4mayor.com |
Mike Maguire | info@mikeforottawa.ca |
Catherine McKenney | catherine@mckenney2022.ca |
Ade Olumide | endottawaelectiongambling@outlook.com |
Param Singh | voteparam@gmail.com |
Jacob Solomon | jacobsolomonmayor@gmail.com |
Mark Sutcliffe | mark@marksutcliffe.ca |
The Glebe Report invited the four top-polling candidates (Bob Chiarelli, Nour Kadri, Catherine McKenney and Mark Sutcliffe) to submit a short statement of their campaign promises and priorities. Statements were received from Nour Kadri, Catherine McKenney and Mark Sutcliffe and appear here. At time of publication, no statement has been received from Bob Chiarelli.
I love this city. That’s why I’m running for Mayor. I’m excited about Ottawa’s potential. When I’m knocking on doors, residents are telling me that they are excited too.
Ottawa needs transportation that you can rely on, whether you take transit, bike, walk, roll and/or drive. Our city has so much potential – but it fails us every time transit makes you late to work or to pick up your kids. The people of Ottawa deserve more than cancelled bus trips and cuts to our public services.
My plan for reliable and affordable transit includes freezing transit fares and free transit for youth ages 17 and under.
Changing how Ottawa gets around is also reflected in my cycling plan which will create a world-class city for cycling by building 25 years of cycling infrastructure in one term of council.
In light of the changes spurred on by the pandemic, we need to focus not just on commuters but also on communities. Thousands of Ottawans are now working from home either full or part-time. We need to build 15-minute communities everywhere so that everyone feels at home in their neighbourhood. The pandemic has changed how we think about commuting to work, and the city must change along with it.
Ottawa is in a housing and homelessness crisis. Everywhere you turn, people we know and love are getting priced out of our communities. My affordable housing plan ensures we will have housing that meets everyone’s needs and end chronic and family homelessness in four years. To accomplish this, we will build 1,000 new moderately and deeply affordable units per year, prevent individuals and families from falling into homelessness in the first place and retain Ottawa’s existing affordable housing.
It is also critical that we begin to transition to a green future. Our city urgently needs bold climate action, but we have been missing the political will to prioritize it. I have a plan that will improve the quality of life and bring our city to net-zero emissions by 2050. I will help build an Ottawa with green, affordable buildings, safe walkable neighbourhoods and a tree canopy that helps cool our homes.
For residents of the Glebe, you can expect that I will continue to advocate to ensure that the next iteration of Lansdowne is a place for everyone that is representative of our city, not just luxury condo owners. I advocated for more affordable housing at Lansdowne, and I will continue to do so as your mayor.
I will also ensure that the community is an active and valued participant in the planning process for their community. The New Official Plan and the Bank Street in the Glebe Secondary Plan support intensification of our established urban neighbourhoods, and so do I. Ottawa is facing a housing crisis, and it must be solved through smart, community-appropriate development that respects the heritage of our neighbourhoods and preserves as much green space as possible.
I will do all this without using the province’s new strong mayor powers. Strong mayor powers would take decision-making away from residents and their council representatives. We need to empower people, not centralize power to the head of Council.
Over the past few months, I’ve spoken with many residents of the Glebe. I’ve listened carefully to your hopes and your concerns about the future.
I’ve heard many comments about issues including traffic, crime, homelessness, climate change and affordability. I share those priorities. I lived in the Glebe and owned a retail store here for several years, at the corner of Bank and Glebe. Now I’m running for mayor because I want to bring everyone together to solve our challenges.
Ottawa is my hometown. I’ve lived here my entire life, and it’s where my wife Ginny and I have been raising our three children. Several years ago, I presented a TEDx talk in which I talked about the extraordinary role of luck in my life. That’s why I have always worked hard to help the less fortunate and make our city better for everyone.
I’ve been a tireless volunteer and activist on issues including mental illness and substance use disorder, housing and homelessness, children at risk and more. I’ve volunteered for organizations including the Royal Ottawa Hospital, OrKidstra, the Great Canadian Theatre Company, United Way, the Ottawa Food Bank and more.
Running for mayor was not an easy decision. Politics has become polarizing and even toxic. But Ginny and I decided we had to step forward and do our best to change that. In all the leadership roles I’ve held throughout my life, I’ve always been a collaborator and a consensus builder.
This election will bring change to city hall. The important question is what kind of change do we want?
Most people in the Glebe have told me that they want change that is balanced and puts people first. My plan is ambitious, but it’s detailed and achievable.
Here is what I will do for you and your family:
- Cut recreation fees for families by 10 per cent.
- Plant one million trees over four years to expand the urban canopy.
- Install 200 new electric vehicle charging stations (we currently have fewer than 30).
- Optimize OC Transpo bus routes so that they work for the post-pandemic reality of commuting and address traffic congestion, including in the Glebe.
- Make investments in social and emergency services to ensure every community is safe.
- Ensure that any changes to Lansdowne enhance the quality of life for residents.
- Build 10,000 new affordable homes over the next ten years.
- Respect community design plans with smart intensification downtown and near transitways and transit stations.
- Invest $100M over four years to improve the four-season safety of roads, cycling lanes, multi-use pathways and sidewalks.
- Fix LRT by implementing the key recommendations from the judicial inquiry on Phase 1 and delivering Phase 2.
Those are just some elements of my platform to make our city work better for everyone. If you’d like to read more about me or my commitments, please visit www.marksutcliffe.ca.
Change is coming to City Hall. Make sure it is the change you want. Make it change that works for everyone, change that puts people first.
Over the past two years, I have been deeply inspired by the resiliency and strength of my fellow Ottawans in the face of an unprecedented pandemic. I have been moved by the strength of Ottawans and the outpouring of civic pride and engagement during times of crisis including the floods from the Ottawa River, the convoy protest and the horrific tornado this past spring.
Central to my vision for Ottawa as an inclusive and liveable city are universal access to affordable housing, quality health and human services, effective policing, ecological responsibility and innovation, meeting the needs of diverse communities and an unflinching commitment to equity, anti-racism and Indigenous reconciliation. I strongly believe in an open, citizen-centred approach to good governance – efficient service delivery, accessibility and equity for under-served communities.
An innovative Ottawa will leverage the robust engineering, science and governmental communities to deliver high-tech jobs, sustainable infrastructure and service delivery. We can build on existing strengths, supporting existing businesses and attracting new ventures that work with government and community partners to create a diverse, sustainable economy. Ottawa’s economic growth relies on businesses in the community and the creation of new sectors, where leaders can create a competitive advantage through environmental and social responsibility.
As far as housing and homelessness in Ottawa are concerned, the problem is two-dimensional, spanning availability and affordability. The city has the responsibility to help augment and leverage the federal and provincial plans. Our plan includes changing density in targeted areas; refining the consultation process so that it’s open, efficient and responsive; building and/or guaranteeing 160,000 housing units over the next decade (with 25 per cent being affordable housing); and converting and retrofitting some of the empty government buildings in downtown to become affordable housing units.
Our Ottawa Green climate plan prioritizes a sustainable food and agriculture system that minimizes greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring community food security, integrated smart energy networks that reduces our overall energy intensity, land-use patterns focusing on the human scale and minimizing the use of fossil fuels, supporting our diverse businesses and institutions that embrace innovation and sustainable practices, climate-resilient water resources and a more efficient transportation network that reduces the use of single occupancy vehicles and balances the needs of all users for walking, cycling, transit, carpooling and movement of goods.
On the cultural side, we recognize, celebrate and will build on all that Ottawa offers – artistic communities and events, entertainment and tourism – to make this city a truly world-class capital.
These are just some of the ways we envision an inclusive, dynamic, and ecologically sustainable Ottawa. We hope you will join us. For more please visit www.kadri.ca/vision_ottawa/
Yours in community,
Nour Kadri