Mayor Mark Sutcliffe officially enters election race in bid for second term
Sutcliffe said his campaign was following the rules "to the letter," after a complaint about the mayor's advertising was filed to the integrity commissioner before he registered.
By Aedan Helmer, Ottawa Citizen
Published May 25, 2026 | Last updated 21 hours ago
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he hopes to continue cleaning the “mess” he inherited when he was first elected to City Hall in 2022 as he formally signed the nomination papers Monday in his bid for a second term as mayor.
“In 2022, after the trucker convoy, the pandemic, the light rail inquiry, Ottawa was struggling. And city council was toxic and dysfunctional,” Sutcliffe said. “So we got to work, we got everybody working together in the community and at city council, and we went from division to collaboration.
“We went from gridlock to real progress. We went from Ottawa falling behind to moving Ottawa forward, and we got a lot done in our priority areas, including public transit, public safety, affordable housing, and more. But the work isn’t done,” Sutcliffe said.
Sutcliffe said he rode the O-Train over his lunch break to the City of Ottawa’s elections office, where he was flanked by his family and by former Ottawa-Vanier Liberal MPP Madeleine Meilleur, who the mayor said was a longtime “friend and mentor.”
Sutcliffe joins a mayoral race with three candidates who registered on the first day of the nomination period on May 1 — longtime city councillor Jeff Leiper, community organizer and economist Neil Saravanamuttoo and homebuilder Alex Lawson.
Sutcliffe said his campaign was following the rules “to the letter” when asked by reporters about a complaint filed to the city’s integrity commissioner by community advocacy group Horizon Ottawa earlier in the day.
The complaint, filed by Horizon Ottawa board member Sam Hersh, centred on a series of advertisements in community newspapers across the city that included a list of Sutcliffe’s priorities and “messaging that closely resembles campaign-style advertising.”
The group is asking the integrity commissioner to look into whether the ads constitute election-related activity conducted using municipal resources.
“The rules around this are very clear and we’re following all the rules to the letter,” Sutcliffe said, adding that he had consulted with the city clerk to ensure the ads were compliant with election regulations.
“People change their ads over the course of a four-year mandate,” Sutcliffe said. “I think the people of Ottawa would rather talk about issues like public transit, public safety, building more homes, more affordable homes, fixing our roads and sidewalks then talk about what words or email addresses were in a particular ad.
“It’s important to follow the rules. We’ve done that. The clerk has confirmed we followed the rules. Let’s get back to talking about the issues that matter to the people of Ottawa.”
Sutcliffe said there is a “very clear line” between his re-election campaign and his duties as mayor.
“I want to underline the fact that this is the registration period. It’s not the election period. The registration period continues until Aug. 21,” he said. “I continue to be the mayor of Ottawa during this entire period.”
Sutcliffe’s campaign underscored a number of priorities since he was elected mayor, from fixing roads and sidewalks to increasing housing starts to purchasing 500 new buses and launching the O-Train’s Lines 2 and 4 during the council term.
Transit has emerged as a major campaign issue among the challengers for the mayor’s seat and among councillors running for re-election.
“Everything about the transit file has been extremely challenging, and these are decisions that this term of council inherited,” Sutcliffe said. “There were a lot of decisions that were made by previous terms of council, and those of us who joined in 2022 have been cleaning that up.
“It took us years to get into this situation. It’s going to take time to get out of this situation,” he said. “It’s very frustrating. I deal with it every single day. I spend more time on transit than any other file.”
Sutcliffe pointed to recent signs of progress with the hiring of new OC Transpo general manager Rick Leary, more train cars returning to service after mechanical issues were detected in January, new e-buses arriving after a lengthy production delay and bus reliability metrics that have improved in recent weeks.
“The service we’re delivering to our residents is getting better,” Sutcliffe said. “It needs to be even better than it is, but it is getting better. It’s going in the right direction.”
Sutcliffe pointed to the long-awaited Line 1 east extension to Orléans and the much-anticipated LRT upload to the province, which he called a “game-changer” that will save $85 million each year for other transit priorities.
Sutcliffe said he remains focused on the mayor’s job and said the campaign “will take care of itself” closer to the Oct. 26 voting day.
“Let’s not forget, we’re five months away from election day,” he said. “Municipal election campaigns are not five months. This campaign will be probably something like 60 days, starting around the end of August. … I’ve got a job to do to deliver results for the people of Ottawa. I’m going to keep doing that.”
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/mayor-mark-sutcliffe-enters-election
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