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Last week, Ottawa voters elected eight new city councillors.
As the rookies gear up for councillor boot camp — which covers everything from meeting procedures and office management to budgets, transit and trash collection — the Citizen caught up with the councillors-elect for profiles.
All of the interviews, conducted by Matthew Pearson, with Carys Mills and Joanne Chianello, have been edited and condensed.
Jeff Leiper, councillor-elect for Kitchissippi ward
Jeff Leiper won Kitchissippi ward.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: There was a moment a couple of days before the election when we were filling in poll scrutineers. We had about 50 people who had volunteered and we were filling their names in on the board and I realized at that point that this campaign was really in the hands of the whole community, and that was actually very emotional for me.
Q: How did election night feel?
A: It was a blur. The election results were slow to come in on the city’s official website and all the sudden, the full numbers came in, I was declared the victor, my phone went nuts with text messages and walking in to the Carleton Tavern and seeing everybody so excited and happy — that will be one of the biggest thrills of my life.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: To try to remove many more buses from Scott Street. The current plan with respect to constructing the light rail is to divert all of the buses that would normally use the Transitway trench on to Scott Street. I believe that we can move many of them to alternate routes and that will be one of the first things I start working on.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: There are a lot of areas where residents feel the city should be doing much better, ranging from how we communicate within the ward to how light rail will be implemented in our community through how the ward is going to grow with respect to the built form, and achieving everyone’s expectations on those really big issues is going to be a challenge that I do not want to underestimate.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: Stop listening to people.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: Listen to people. I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that I have blind spots, that the city’s mechanisms have blind spots. I will absolutely always be asking, ‘Have I heard from everyone? Is everyone’s voice at the table?’
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: Can I say two? There’s the incredible work that Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi does to stay accessible to his constituents that I absolutely want to follow in the footsteps of, and then the conscience that Diane Holmes brought to her job as councillor. Her deep respect for residents of Somerset ward is something that I really want to emulate.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: It’s green, it is creative and it has a really strong tradition of tolerance.
George Darouze is the new councillor-elect in Osgoode.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: The stuff that you hear from the residents. You can’t Google it and you can’t find it in a map or any document. You’re hearing it right from the resident. That’s what sticks out to me from the campaign — doorknocking and speaking to residents.
Q: Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: Red Dog Café in Osgoode.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A I’m going to start looking right away to build my advisory committee … and I’m looking forward to the budget because it’s coming in January, and that’s where I need to work toward my goals and objectives, and see what I’m going to do and how I’m going to start working on getting funds for my ward.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A Getting acclimatized at city hall and understanding the processes. You need the patience of your constituents so they don’t think you’re not doing much because there is a learning process at the beginning, so this is a little challenge.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: I will not make irrational, quick decisions (that) affect my residents and the City of Ottawa. I will make sure I review all the contracts, I’ll check them twice, I’ll ask the right questions — that’s my promise.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I’m hoping to be on the agriculture and rural affairs and transportation committees. I don’t know if that’s jumping the gun, but I’m hoping to be on ARAC for sure. I want to look into the congestion issue we have in our ward. I’d like to speed up the widening of Bank Street and Earl Armstrong. I want to work with the city staff and my colleagues to be able to change the policy for adopting more light-industrial business and growth in the south.
Q: Who is your political mentor? Why?
A: Margaret Thatcher. She served for the people and she took lots of heat, but she always cared about the people she served.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: Ottawa allows three different lifestyles — urban, rural, suburban — to live together under one city, that’s unique, you don’t see this in lots of cities. Second thing, we’re the biggest small town in Canada. The third one is about our city governance and our understanding council. We work together, we’re not like any other city; we have respect, we’re civilized, we can understand each other.
Riley Brockington, councillor-elect in River ward
Former school board trustee and community association president Riley Brockington coasted to victory in River Ward.
A: Some people really didn’t like what was happening at city hall, but no one said, ‘I can’t stand that Brockington.’ Some people said, ‘I’m not going to vote for you,’ but the level of negativity was almost non existent.
Q: How did election night feel?
A: It’s a combination of anxiety and nervousness and excitement. It’s kind of like Christmas Eve — you know something good is hopefully about to happen and, at the end of the night, the whole campaign’s over. Everything that you’ve been working for, that your team has been working with you on, will come to an end, so you don’t want to disappoint people.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: To meet with key stakeholder groups in River ward to continue the dialogue that we had during the campaign and to start prioritizing issues that have come to my attention. I also want to start building cohesive relationships with my colleagues, to meet those I have not yet met, and to just start understanding their priorities and vision and what we can work collaboratively on together.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: I can control my time and where I go and who I meet, but we can’t control everything that comes into our office, and it’s just to make sure that we have a good handle on everything that’s coming in, we do the research and we get back to folks in a timely manner.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: Quit.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I will consistently provide a full effort to both the local issues and the issues at the city level. It requires a heavily-involved, immersed councillor, and that’s what I’ll be. This is a full-time job, full-time pay, it will receive my full commitment.
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: Both Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela. They showed deep perseverance under extreme conditions.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: The people. We are diverse, we are kind, we are compassionate. The abundance of green space and natural beauty, whether it be two rivers, the waterfalls, the forests, the open green space. And the fact we are the capital of Canada. I just think all Canadians need to come to Ottawa at least once in their life and I believe the city and citizens have responsibility to unroll the welcome mat and make sure all visitors feel welcome and are happy to visit here.
Michael Qaqish, councillor-elect for Gloucester-South Nepean ward
Michael Qaqish is replacing his former boss as councillor of Gloucester-South Nepean.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: One of the big surprises was obviously when we got Sue Sherring registering toward the last two months of the campaign. I enjoyed talking to people, listening to the issues, learning about the issues. You learn about their priorities and about the community.
Q: How did election night feel?
A: We knew we were doing good. But in the end it was a much wider margin than we had expected and obviously we were pleased with that, but it just reflected the hard work we put in, the ideas I put out there and my background at City Hall and my experience. I think people wanted someone at the table that was ready to go on Day 1.
Q: Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: I actually stayed at my place in Barrhaven. I wanted to get an idea of the preliminary numbers before I went in to address the crowd at Broadway’s. I wanted to know if I was going in with a victory speech or a losing speech.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: I’d like to see the O-Train extension to service Riverside South and Findlay Creek. There’s no recreational complex to service Riverside South and Findlay Creek, so that’s another big project. The other big issue is the road network in Barrhaven. I want to work on Prince of Wales, Jockvale, Strandherd, because right now, with the east-west light rail, we’re not getting much in terms of transportation. The bridge has helped significantly because of the east-west connectivity with the buses, so I want to invest.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: I think it’s about working together and getting to know the 23 councillors. I’ve been at City Hall for the past six years so I know all the incumbents and the ones that came back, but there’s seven new faces, so I’d like to build relationships with those people.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: I’m not taking the councillor’s car allowance because that was one of my campaign pledges.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: Have regular office hours in the riding. Again, that was one of my pledges, so people will have an accessible councillor.
Q: Who is your political mentor? Why?
A: I don’t really have any particular person. Having worked with a lot of politicians, they all sort of have their strengths and weaknesses but what impresses me is you’re principled and you stick to your principles, and that is what makes you stand out.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: The Parliament Buildings and Sparks Street. I love politics and I love government and this is the place to be. The people are always very generous in this city, very united.
Catherine McKenney won Somerset ward with 40 per cent of the vote.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: What sticks out for me the most is the level of engagement of residents at the door. I’d never knocked on a door for myself, as a candidate, before.
Q: How did election night feel? Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: I worked right up until 7 p.m., knocking doors. When I stopped and could think about it, obviously it was tense. I’ve worked enough campaigns to know when things feel like they’re going well. Things felt like they were going well. But I’ve also worked enough campaigns to know you don’t know until the results come in. When they did come in, it was obviously relief. I was in my campaign office.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: I start next week with new councillor orientation. I’m looking forward to that. The last term of council, I actually gave some of the orientation sessions. The refresh is good and it’s a great opportunity for me to meet my new colleagues. After being sworn in, we’ll be looking at the budget, governance and what the priorities are for the downtown core.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: I think I’ve eased into it a bit with the campaign, having been out and away from my family as much as I have. That was an adjustment for us. My seven-year-old about three weeks ago said she’d like her old life back. I said, “If I’m not successful, we get it back. If I am, it will never be quite the same.” It will be an adjustment for the family.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: I won’t be taking any long vacations … and I won’t promise anything that I can’t deliver on.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I will continue to work with my community and especially use the expertise out there. There are folks in the community who understand the needs, the issues in their neighbourhoods, and I will always reach out.
Q: Who is your political icon? Why?
A: Marion Dewar. She was a leader for women in politics. When Marion was mayor, we had a much higher percentage of women councillors and I believe that was largely due to her leadership. She would step out of her comfort zone and she would take on issues that were sometimes outside of the municipal realm but that also changed our city for the better.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: We’ve got things like the canal, good cycling paths and we’ve got a lot of recreational opportunities. We have the Greenbelt, where we’ve got opportunity to make sure we grow well. And it’s a friendly city — I’ve learned that more than anything over the last seven months, people are friendly, they’re engaged, and they’re fun.
Jean Cloutier takes over from Peter Hume in Alta Vista ward.
A: When I heard that Peter (Hume) was not running. That was, of course, before the campaign … But when he first told me that he was not going to run is a moment that sticks in my head.
Q: How did election night feel? Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: Election night was wonderful. I was not at the campaign headquarters, I was at a friend’s house. I was with my wife and my three children. Peter had told me to go a place where you felt safe, in case we would have lost, to be able to digest the results. We had a good feeling, but in a nine-candidate field, with there being no incumbent, you just don’t know how it will go.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: To get to know my council colleagues. We’ll be working as a team, we will establish a strategic plan, we will establish the council term of priorities and then we will execute them to the benefit of the people of Ottawa and, for me, the benefit of the people of Alta Vista.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: I’m a chartered professional accountant, I’ve always worked for private businesses. Learning to operate in the political sphere will be one of the things I’ll need to be sensitized to.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: I will never be complacent. I will not take the trust of the people of Alta Vista for granted. I have lived in that community for 27 years. I am well-known, I will not let them down.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I will execute the plan that I ran on. I will plant those 10,000 trees — not me personally … but we will re-tree the ward because we’ve lost so many to the emerald ash borer and, as a resident of the ward for 27 years, we’ve seen such a change in the treescape. It’s almost painful.
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: In my capacity as president of the Canterbury Community Association, I really appreciated Peter’s approach to ward issues and city issues. Peter has been a good public servant, has served the ward well and I’ve always appreciated his pragmatic, dedicated approach to the issues and his support of community associations.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: I love the bilingual nature of Ottawa, I love the industry of Ottawa — the federal government and the municipal government, I just like that environment — and I like how clean how Ottawa is. I’ve lived here all my 55 years. What’s there not to love about Ottawa?
Tobi Nussbaum.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: I had been out doorknocking and came back up to the office and the team was all gathered there — about 15 to 20 people, the core team — and I thought, ‘Wow, I’m the luckiest candidate ever. I’ve got this incredible team of people, all of whom are working hard for this effort.’ And I realized then that we were giving it our best and, whatever the results, I was going to be really happy with the effort we put in and really, really grateful for this incredible team of residents who came out to support the idea of a better ward and a better city.
Q: How did election night feel?
A: I was on tenterhooks right up until when the results came in. You don’t have polling in these ward races, so although you can have hope or a gut feeling, you don’t actually really know what the result will be.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: My first priority is making sure that I’m ready to go on day one, so I’ll be spending the next month meeting with people, meeting with fellow councillor-elects and existing councillors, working on staffing up my office, really diving in to the issues.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: Work-life balance. I have the sense already that this is a job that one could do 24/7, and making sure that I’m, on the one hand, being as effective a councillor as I can be, and, on the other hand, carving out sufficient space for my family and for my personal life.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: Be dishonest. All elected officials have a lot of work to do to ensure trust between citizens and their political institutions, and in order to do that, it needs to be restated that people expect their elected officials to be honest, to be transparent, to be accessible.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A” Be and remain accessible to the residents of Rideau-Rockcliffe.
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: Jane Jacobs. Although she wasn’t a political leader per se, she is someone who piqued my interest in cities earlier on in my life.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: The three things I love about Ottawa are its size and accessibility. I think being a small, big city has real advantages. The second thing I love about it are the green spaces, the river pathways, the accessibility to nature. And third, the various cultural, sporting and festival amenities we have as a city. We’re so blessed to have lots of different activities going on to ensure that our extracurricular life is rich, and I think that’s something I really appreciate for a city our size.
Innes ward winner Jody Mitic arrives with wife Alannah Gilmore and daughters Kierah, 2, and Aylah, 6, at Tartan Pub and Grill in Orléans for his victory party on election day.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: The day Cpl. (Nathan) Cirillo was shot, I was in a debate at Garneau high school and I came out to Parliament Hill being locked down and one of comrades being killed in action on Canadian soil. Out of respect we didn’t campaign that night, but the next morning, the volunteers show up for our sign wave with Canadian flags and so we waved those and we waved at cars.
Q: Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: We were in my living room and somebody called and said, ‘CTV’s leaving the Tartan (Pub, where his supporters were gathered) in eight minutes,’ so we jumped in the car and drove to the Tartan. After that, it was like being in a dream — walking in, the clapping, the TV cameras, my daughter screaming, ‘Daddy won! Daddy won! Daddy won!’
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: Learn. I have six points on my task list, so I have to learn what I need to do to make them happen. It’s going to be like drinking out of a fire hose — I need to learn as quickly as possible what to do to implement the wishes of my constituents.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: It’s going to be tough for me to remember to take me time. I was the same way in the military. Quite often the job always came first, but now I have a family that depend on me being there. I got home last night after the girls were in bed and I left this morning before they woke up again.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: My honour is something I take seriously and sometimes I think I make some decisions that might hurt me in the long run, but if my integrity and honour stay in tact, then that’s what matters to me.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I will absolutely get the tasks of my task list done. That’s the mission I put in front of myself and I want to achieve my mission by any means necessary, as long as it doesn’t compromise my values.
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: Ed Campbell, former councillor for Gloucester. Ed’s a very soft-spoken man, but he doesn’t mince words and when he talks, it’s always something worse listening to.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: Ottawa reminds me of my hometown, Kitchener, Ont. I love that we have so much outdoor recreation, which leads us to consistently be ranked one of the fittest cities in Canada, and I love that we’re the capital of Canada. We’re ready to start taking the lead in the country on certain things, and I’m hoping this term of council will make the decisions that puts us in that position.
查看原文...
As the rookies gear up for councillor boot camp — which covers everything from meeting procedures and office management to budgets, transit and trash collection — the Citizen caught up with the councillors-elect for profiles.
All of the interviews, conducted by Matthew Pearson, with Carys Mills and Joanne Chianello, have been edited and condensed.
Jeff Leiper, councillor-elect for Kitchissippi ward
Jeff Leiper won Kitchissippi ward.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: There was a moment a couple of days before the election when we were filling in poll scrutineers. We had about 50 people who had volunteered and we were filling their names in on the board and I realized at that point that this campaign was really in the hands of the whole community, and that was actually very emotional for me.
Q: How did election night feel?
A: It was a blur. The election results were slow to come in on the city’s official website and all the sudden, the full numbers came in, I was declared the victor, my phone went nuts with text messages and walking in to the Carleton Tavern and seeing everybody so excited and happy — that will be one of the biggest thrills of my life.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: To try to remove many more buses from Scott Street. The current plan with respect to constructing the light rail is to divert all of the buses that would normally use the Transitway trench on to Scott Street. I believe that we can move many of them to alternate routes and that will be one of the first things I start working on.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: There are a lot of areas where residents feel the city should be doing much better, ranging from how we communicate within the ward to how light rail will be implemented in our community through how the ward is going to grow with respect to the built form, and achieving everyone’s expectations on those really big issues is going to be a challenge that I do not want to underestimate.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: Stop listening to people.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: Listen to people. I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that I have blind spots, that the city’s mechanisms have blind spots. I will absolutely always be asking, ‘Have I heard from everyone? Is everyone’s voice at the table?’
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: Can I say two? There’s the incredible work that Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi does to stay accessible to his constituents that I absolutely want to follow in the footsteps of, and then the conscience that Diane Holmes brought to her job as councillor. Her deep respect for residents of Somerset ward is something that I really want to emulate.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: It’s green, it is creative and it has a really strong tradition of tolerance.
— Matthew Pearson
George Darouze, councillor-elect for Osgoode ward
George Darouze is the new councillor-elect in Osgoode.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: The stuff that you hear from the residents. You can’t Google it and you can’t find it in a map or any document. You’re hearing it right from the resident. That’s what sticks out to me from the campaign — doorknocking and speaking to residents.
Q: Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: Red Dog Café in Osgoode.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A I’m going to start looking right away to build my advisory committee … and I’m looking forward to the budget because it’s coming in January, and that’s where I need to work toward my goals and objectives, and see what I’m going to do and how I’m going to start working on getting funds for my ward.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A Getting acclimatized at city hall and understanding the processes. You need the patience of your constituents so they don’t think you’re not doing much because there is a learning process at the beginning, so this is a little challenge.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: I will not make irrational, quick decisions (that) affect my residents and the City of Ottawa. I will make sure I review all the contracts, I’ll check them twice, I’ll ask the right questions — that’s my promise.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I’m hoping to be on the agriculture and rural affairs and transportation committees. I don’t know if that’s jumping the gun, but I’m hoping to be on ARAC for sure. I want to look into the congestion issue we have in our ward. I’d like to speed up the widening of Bank Street and Earl Armstrong. I want to work with the city staff and my colleagues to be able to change the policy for adopting more light-industrial business and growth in the south.
Q: Who is your political mentor? Why?
A: Margaret Thatcher. She served for the people and she took lots of heat, but she always cared about the people she served.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: Ottawa allows three different lifestyles — urban, rural, suburban — to live together under one city, that’s unique, you don’t see this in lots of cities. Second thing, we’re the biggest small town in Canada. The third one is about our city governance and our understanding council. We work together, we’re not like any other city; we have respect, we’re civilized, we can understand each other.
— Matthew Pearson
Riley Brockington, councillor-elect in River ward
Former school board trustee and community association president Riley Brockington coasted to victory in River Ward.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out the most?
A: Some people really didn’t like what was happening at city hall, but no one said, ‘I can’t stand that Brockington.’ Some people said, ‘I’m not going to vote for you,’ but the level of negativity was almost non existent.
Q: How did election night feel?
A: It’s a combination of anxiety and nervousness and excitement. It’s kind of like Christmas Eve — you know something good is hopefully about to happen and, at the end of the night, the whole campaign’s over. Everything that you’ve been working for, that your team has been working with you on, will come to an end, so you don’t want to disappoint people.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: To meet with key stakeholder groups in River ward to continue the dialogue that we had during the campaign and to start prioritizing issues that have come to my attention. I also want to start building cohesive relationships with my colleagues, to meet those I have not yet met, and to just start understanding their priorities and vision and what we can work collaboratively on together.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: I can control my time and where I go and who I meet, but we can’t control everything that comes into our office, and it’s just to make sure that we have a good handle on everything that’s coming in, we do the research and we get back to folks in a timely manner.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: Quit.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I will consistently provide a full effort to both the local issues and the issues at the city level. It requires a heavily-involved, immersed councillor, and that’s what I’ll be. This is a full-time job, full-time pay, it will receive my full commitment.
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: Both Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela. They showed deep perseverance under extreme conditions.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: The people. We are diverse, we are kind, we are compassionate. The abundance of green space and natural beauty, whether it be two rivers, the waterfalls, the forests, the open green space. And the fact we are the capital of Canada. I just think all Canadians need to come to Ottawa at least once in their life and I believe the city and citizens have responsibility to unroll the welcome mat and make sure all visitors feel welcome and are happy to visit here.
— Matthew Pearson
Michael Qaqish, councillor-elect for Gloucester-South Nepean ward
Michael Qaqish is replacing his former boss as councillor of Gloucester-South Nepean.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: One of the big surprises was obviously when we got Sue Sherring registering toward the last two months of the campaign. I enjoyed talking to people, listening to the issues, learning about the issues. You learn about their priorities and about the community.
Q: How did election night feel?
A: We knew we were doing good. But in the end it was a much wider margin than we had expected and obviously we were pleased with that, but it just reflected the hard work we put in, the ideas I put out there and my background at City Hall and my experience. I think people wanted someone at the table that was ready to go on Day 1.
Q: Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: I actually stayed at my place in Barrhaven. I wanted to get an idea of the preliminary numbers before I went in to address the crowd at Broadway’s. I wanted to know if I was going in with a victory speech or a losing speech.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: I’d like to see the O-Train extension to service Riverside South and Findlay Creek. There’s no recreational complex to service Riverside South and Findlay Creek, so that’s another big project. The other big issue is the road network in Barrhaven. I want to work on Prince of Wales, Jockvale, Strandherd, because right now, with the east-west light rail, we’re not getting much in terms of transportation. The bridge has helped significantly because of the east-west connectivity with the buses, so I want to invest.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: I think it’s about working together and getting to know the 23 councillors. I’ve been at City Hall for the past six years so I know all the incumbents and the ones that came back, but there’s seven new faces, so I’d like to build relationships with those people.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: I’m not taking the councillor’s car allowance because that was one of my campaign pledges.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: Have regular office hours in the riding. Again, that was one of my pledges, so people will have an accessible councillor.
Q: Who is your political mentor? Why?
A: I don’t really have any particular person. Having worked with a lot of politicians, they all sort of have their strengths and weaknesses but what impresses me is you’re principled and you stick to your principles, and that is what makes you stand out.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: The Parliament Buildings and Sparks Street. I love politics and I love government and this is the place to be. The people are always very generous in this city, very united.
— Matthew Pearson
Catherine McKenney, councillor-elect for Somerset ward
Catherine McKenney won Somerset ward with 40 per cent of the vote.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: What sticks out for me the most is the level of engagement of residents at the door. I’d never knocked on a door for myself, as a candidate, before.
Q: How did election night feel? Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: I worked right up until 7 p.m., knocking doors. When I stopped and could think about it, obviously it was tense. I’ve worked enough campaigns to know when things feel like they’re going well. Things felt like they were going well. But I’ve also worked enough campaigns to know you don’t know until the results come in. When they did come in, it was obviously relief. I was in my campaign office.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: I start next week with new councillor orientation. I’m looking forward to that. The last term of council, I actually gave some of the orientation sessions. The refresh is good and it’s a great opportunity for me to meet my new colleagues. After being sworn in, we’ll be looking at the budget, governance and what the priorities are for the downtown core.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: I think I’ve eased into it a bit with the campaign, having been out and away from my family as much as I have. That was an adjustment for us. My seven-year-old about three weeks ago said she’d like her old life back. I said, “If I’m not successful, we get it back. If I am, it will never be quite the same.” It will be an adjustment for the family.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: I won’t be taking any long vacations … and I won’t promise anything that I can’t deliver on.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I will continue to work with my community and especially use the expertise out there. There are folks in the community who understand the needs, the issues in their neighbourhoods, and I will always reach out.
Q: Who is your political icon? Why?
A: Marion Dewar. She was a leader for women in politics. When Marion was mayor, we had a much higher percentage of women councillors and I believe that was largely due to her leadership. She would step out of her comfort zone and she would take on issues that were sometimes outside of the municipal realm but that also changed our city for the better.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: We’ve got things like the canal, good cycling paths and we’ve got a lot of recreational opportunities. We have the Greenbelt, where we’ve got opportunity to make sure we grow well. And it’s a friendly city — I’ve learned that more than anything over the last seven months, people are friendly, they’re engaged, and they’re fun.
— Carys Mills
Jean Cloutier, councillor-elect for Alta Vista ward
Jean Cloutier takes over from Peter Hume in Alta Vista ward.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: When I heard that Peter (Hume) was not running. That was, of course, before the campaign … But when he first told me that he was not going to run is a moment that sticks in my head.
Q: How did election night feel? Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: Election night was wonderful. I was not at the campaign headquarters, I was at a friend’s house. I was with my wife and my three children. Peter had told me to go a place where you felt safe, in case we would have lost, to be able to digest the results. We had a good feeling, but in a nine-candidate field, with there being no incumbent, you just don’t know how it will go.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: To get to know my council colleagues. We’ll be working as a team, we will establish a strategic plan, we will establish the council term of priorities and then we will execute them to the benefit of the people of Ottawa and, for me, the benefit of the people of Alta Vista.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: I’m a chartered professional accountant, I’ve always worked for private businesses. Learning to operate in the political sphere will be one of the things I’ll need to be sensitized to.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: I will never be complacent. I will not take the trust of the people of Alta Vista for granted. I have lived in that community for 27 years. I am well-known, I will not let them down.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I will execute the plan that I ran on. I will plant those 10,000 trees — not me personally … but we will re-tree the ward because we’ve lost so many to the emerald ash borer and, as a resident of the ward for 27 years, we’ve seen such a change in the treescape. It’s almost painful.
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: In my capacity as president of the Canterbury Community Association, I really appreciated Peter’s approach to ward issues and city issues. Peter has been a good public servant, has served the ward well and I’ve always appreciated his pragmatic, dedicated approach to the issues and his support of community associations.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: I love the bilingual nature of Ottawa, I love the industry of Ottawa — the federal government and the municipal government, I just like that environment — and I like how clean how Ottawa is. I’ve lived here all my 55 years. What’s there not to love about Ottawa?
— Joanne Chianello and Matthew Pearson
Tobi Nussbaum, councillor-elect in Rideau-Rockcliffe ward
Tobi Nussbaum.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: I had been out doorknocking and came back up to the office and the team was all gathered there — about 15 to 20 people, the core team — and I thought, ‘Wow, I’m the luckiest candidate ever. I’ve got this incredible team of people, all of whom are working hard for this effort.’ And I realized then that we were giving it our best and, whatever the results, I was going to be really happy with the effort we put in and really, really grateful for this incredible team of residents who came out to support the idea of a better ward and a better city.
Q: How did election night feel?
A: I was on tenterhooks right up until when the results came in. You don’t have polling in these ward races, so although you can have hope or a gut feeling, you don’t actually really know what the result will be.
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: My first priority is making sure that I’m ready to go on day one, so I’ll be spending the next month meeting with people, meeting with fellow councillor-elects and existing councillors, working on staffing up my office, really diving in to the issues.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: Work-life balance. I have the sense already that this is a job that one could do 24/7, and making sure that I’m, on the one hand, being as effective a councillor as I can be, and, on the other hand, carving out sufficient space for my family and for my personal life.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: Be dishonest. All elected officials have a lot of work to do to ensure trust between citizens and their political institutions, and in order to do that, it needs to be restated that people expect their elected officials to be honest, to be transparent, to be accessible.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A” Be and remain accessible to the residents of Rideau-Rockcliffe.
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: Jane Jacobs. Although she wasn’t a political leader per se, she is someone who piqued my interest in cities earlier on in my life.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: The three things I love about Ottawa are its size and accessibility. I think being a small, big city has real advantages. The second thing I love about it are the green spaces, the river pathways, the accessibility to nature. And third, the various cultural, sporting and festival amenities we have as a city. We’re so blessed to have lots of different activities going on to ensure that our extracurricular life is rich, and I think that’s something I really appreciate for a city our size.
— Matthew Pearson
Jody Mitic, councillor-elect in Innes ward
Innes ward winner Jody Mitic arrives with wife Alannah Gilmore and daughters Kierah, 2, and Aylah, 6, at Tartan Pub and Grill in Orléans for his victory party on election day.
Q: It was a long campaign. What moment sticks out for you the most?
A: The day Cpl. (Nathan) Cirillo was shot, I was in a debate at Garneau high school and I came out to Parliament Hill being locked down and one of comrades being killed in action on Canadian soil. Out of respect we didn’t campaign that night, but the next morning, the volunteers show up for our sign wave with Canadian flags and so we waved those and we waved at cars.
Q: Where were you when you learned you’d won?
A: We were in my living room and somebody called and said, ‘CTV’s leaving the Tartan (Pub, where his supporters were gathered) in eight minutes,’ so we jumped in the car and drove to the Tartan. After that, it was like being in a dream — walking in, the clapping, the TV cameras, my daughter screaming, ‘Daddy won! Daddy won! Daddy won!’
Q: What’s your first priority, now that you’ve been elected?
A: Learn. I have six points on my task list, so I have to learn what I need to do to make them happen. It’s going to be like drinking out of a fire hose — I need to learn as quickly as possible what to do to implement the wishes of my constituents.
Q: What do your foresee the biggest challenge will be for you personally?
A: It’s going to be tough for me to remember to take me time. I was the same way in the military. Quite often the job always came first, but now I have a family that depend on me being there. I got home last night after the girls were in bed and I left this morning before they woke up again.
Q: What’s one thing you will never do over the next four years?
A: My honour is something I take seriously and sometimes I think I make some decisions that might hurt me in the long run, but if my integrity and honour stay in tact, then that’s what matters to me.
Q: What’s one thing you will absolutely do over the next four years?
A: I will absolutely get the tasks of my task list done. That’s the mission I put in front of myself and I want to achieve my mission by any means necessary, as long as it doesn’t compromise my values.
Q: Who is your political role model? Why?
A: Ed Campbell, former councillor for Gloucester. Ed’s a very soft-spoken man, but he doesn’t mince words and when he talks, it’s always something worse listening to.
Q: Name three things you love about Ottawa.
A: Ottawa reminds me of my hometown, Kitchener, Ont. I love that we have so much outdoor recreation, which leads us to consistently be ranked one of the fittest cities in Canada, and I love that we’re the capital of Canada. We’re ready to start taking the lead in the country on certain things, and I’m hoping this term of council will make the decisions that puts us in that position.
— Matthew Pearson
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