Mark Sutcliffe pitches 'comprehensive, serious' platform in bid for a 'mandate' as Ottawa's mayor

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe laid out his vision for the next four years and beyond as he unveiled his full platform on the top floor of the Westin Hotel on Thursday with a panoramic view of downtown Ottawa for a backdrop.

“We’re going to make Ottawa better than it was before,” Sutcliffe said to applause from supporters as he hit on the main points of a 70-page plan outlining his priorities for the local economy, public transit and transportation, infrastructure, the environment, homelessness and seniors, families and youth.

“We’re going to make sure that in 2030, in 2040, in 2050, this city continues to be a great place to live, continues to be a kind and welcoming city, continues to have more opportunities for our kids and grandkids,” he said.

Ottawa is poised to experience “historic” growth, Sutcliffe said, with a half-million new residents calling it home over the next 25 years.

“It’s not just about what we’re going to do for the next four years,” he said. “It’s about positioning Ottawa for the future. It’s about making sure we have a strong local economy and that we’re creating jobs. It’s about keeping Ottawa affordable at a time of rising costs.”

Sutcliffe was elected to his first term in 2022 with 51 per cent of the vote over challengers Catherine McKenney and Bob Chiarelli. He faces a decidedly different competition in 2026 from longtime progressive councillor Jeff Leiper, economist and frequent city hall critic Neil Saravanamuttoo and homebuilder Alex Lawson, who has mounted a grassroots campaign as a political outsider pushing for top-down reforms at city hall.

With his poll numbers hovering around 50 per cent in Sutcliffe’s internal polling, conducted by David Coletto of Abacus Data, and a similar showing in a recent Nanos poll conducted for CTV News Ottawa, Sutcliffe’s campaign has gone on the offensive in the final weeks before Election Day on Oct. 26.

During a televised CTV debate on Oct. 14, Sutcliffe challenged Leiper on his record as a three-term councillor who voted against the city budget in 2025.

He went after Saravanamuttoo as the “architect” of a $250-million bike lane plan while serving as McKenney’s economic adviser in 2022 and questioned Saravanamuttoo’s idea to restrict cars from Queen Elizabeth and Colonel By drives in favour of a national park.

Saravanamuttoo, for his part, responded by accusing Sutcliffe of spreading disinformation, called for an apology and said he had “no such plan” to install $250-million bike lanes.

Sutcliffe defended the recent shift in tone on Thursday and said Saravanamuttoo and Leiper had emerged as his “main opponents” in the race and both had levelled pointed criticism at his record as mayor.

“I think it’s important for the people of Ottawa to understand the ideology behind some of the candidates who are running for mayor,” Sutcliffe said.

“It’s a competition of ideas. It’s a competition of agendas, and it’s important for the residents of Ottawa to see that they have a clear choice in this election campaign,” he said.

“A choice between a very comprehensive, serious platform, or some candidates who, frankly, are keeping a lot of their ideas secret until after the election. I think I need to draw attention to the fact that both Neil and Jeff will not say how much they will increase property taxes, and they’ll tell everybody after the election. I think the time to tell people is now so they know what they’re getting.”

Sutcliffe said he was renewing his promise to cap property-tax increases between 2.0 and 2.5 per cent for the first two years of his next term if he wins re-election.

It was one of the key pledges in his 2022 platform and Sutcliffe said Ottawa had one of the lowest tax increases of any major city in Canada over the past four years.

He has also promised to draft a multi-year budget to ensure “predictability and reliability” for businesses and residents to allow for more strategic long-term investment decisions.

He had previously announced a pledge to attract more provincial and federal investment to the capital region, to implement a free interprovincial trade agreement with Gatineau and to continue cutting costs at city hall.

Sutcliffe touted the $252 million in savings and efficiencies at city hall over the past four years and pledged to find another $250 million in savings by maintaining the city’s hiring freeze for non-frontline staff for two years, freezing general operating spending and expanding a program review. He has also pledged to undertake a “benchmarking exercise” to compare costs against similar investments in other municipalities.

In his first platform announcement of the campaign, Sutcliffe promised to reduce the cost of an adult monthly transit pass from the current $138.50 to $95 for the full four-year term.

He has pledged to freeze recreation fees for seniors and families, to secure funding to increase the affordable housing supply, to increase the budget for food security and to expand property-tax deferrals for families, seniors and small businesses.

His platform also includes details on strengthening the economy in suburban and rural regions by expanding business improvement areas (BIAs), establishing a special economic district in Orléans, creating a vibrant town centre in Barrhaven, supporting a new Kanata North tech park and attracting more local employers to Riverside South.

The spiral-bound book containing his platform — 140 pages in English and French — also included endorsements from both Liberal and Conservative sides of the political aisle, including Conservatives John Baird and Lisa Raitt and Liberals Jenna Sudds and Yasir Naqvi.

Former police chiefs Charles Bordeleau and Vern White have also endorsed Sutcliffe and his plan to hire 200 more police officers, 100 more paramedics and 50 more firefighters if he is re-elected.

Sutcliffe said he felt “privileged” to serve his hometown and defended his record as a mayor, saying he inherited a dysfunctional council in 2022 and helped turn discord and infighting into collaboration and progress.

“I’m asking for a mandate from the people of Ottawa,” he said, “to tackle our challenges, to build on what we’ve accomplished, and to implement this plan.”

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