7 wards to watch this municipal election | CBC News

In just one week, voters will choose city councillors in 24 wards across Ottawa.

Last election saw a lot of turnover as few incumbents sought re-election, opening the door for closely fought races. This time, there are 22 sitting councillors running again, with all the advantages that come with name recognition and campaign experience.

Two wards won’t see any race at all after no one stepped forward to challenge their incumbents.

But that doesn’t mean every incumbent is facing a cakewalk. Some wards are showing signs of competitive, well-funded or at least unpredictable races. 

Some had tight margins last time around. Others have high-profile challengers or incumbents who’ve been in the news for the wrong reasons. A few have outside political players or third-party groups entering the fray.

These aren’t the only races with credible challengers, but here are at least some of the wards we’re watching for the 2026 election.

Scroll down to learn more about the races in Kanata South, Knoxdale-Merivale, Kitchissippi, Rideau-Vanier, West Carleton-March, Orléans East-Cumberland and Stittsville.

Kanata South

Elected four times, Allan Hubley is one of the two longest-serving sitting members of council. But his winning margins have become tighter. Last time, he got 34 per cent of the vote compared to 23 per cent for his closest competitor.

That competitor, Bridlewood Community Association president and federal public servant Erin Coffin, is now back for another try.

Mostly for that reason, Hubley said he views Coffin as his main rival. But she isn’t the only one. Megan Strazds-Esenbergs, a policy analyst with the federal government, is also running, as is former Liberal Party of Canada secretary Sam Bhalesar.

Bhalesar accepts that Coffin is “a contender,” but she’s adamant that this isn’t just a Hubley-Coffin rematch.

“Whatever happened in the past, each election is different,” said Bhalesar.

Coffin feels like she’s in a better position than ever, with an extra four years of experience in the ward and the lessons learned from the last campaign.

Both say they’re running well-funded campaigns — reporting more than $22,000 for Bhalesar and more than $15,000 for Coffin when CBC asked in early October — while Strazds-Esenbergs said she has brought in less. Coffin has the endorsement of a former city councillor for the area, Peggy Feltmate, and says former Kanata mayor and city councillor Marianne Wilkinson is also backing her.

But the three challengers aren’t the only ones trying to unseat Hubley. Kanata South is one of three wards left-wing advocacy group Horizon Ottawa has selected to target and defeat a right-leaning incumbent.

“We are definitely focused solely on Allan Hubley, his voting record and reminding people about all of these reasons why his time really should be up on council,” Horizon co-ordinator Tom Ledgley said of their efforts in the ward.

He brought up Hubley’s record leading transit committee in the run-up to what he called “the LRT debacle.”

Ledgley acknowledged that Horizon is putting more resources into two other wards, and Hubley dismissed its efforts to target him as, in his view, based on misleading and negative attacks.

The challengers listed transit, traffic and infrastructure as big issues for the ward, while Hubley, who described himself as a fiscal conservative, added taxes and fiscal responsibility to the list.

Knoxdale-Merivale

Sean Devine won this inner suburban ward in old Nepean last election with 39 per cent, compared to 21 per cent for his closest competitor.

That was in a crowded field of seven candidates. Now he’s facing just two competitors, Cole Fraser Jones and Anna Ielo-Tal, both federal public servants.

The race has been one of the most acrimonious in the city. Ielo-Tal has posted signs with slogans like “Stop the War on Drivers” and “Faith Deserves Respect” as she tries to frame Devine as anti-car and critiques his opposition to the bubble bylaw restricting protest near schools and places of worship.

Devine has accused her of spreading misinformation over his record and past statements.  What’s more, he said he sees signs that outside forces are targeting the ward in a bid to unseat him.

That includes at least two city councillors who have supported Ielo-Tal. Devine has the support of Capital ward’s Shawn Menard, while Gloucester-Southgate’s Jessica Bradley has been out canvassing with him. See our full coverage of the dispute in the link below:

Both Ielo-Tal and Devine are running well-funded campaigns, while Jones is operating on a tighter budget as he uses social media to highlight priorities like public safety and fiscal responsibility.

The ward was among those hardest hit by the Canada Day floods, so it’s little surprise that the candidates agree on at least one thing: calling the state of stormwater infrastructure a top priority in the ward.

Kitchissippi

One of two wide-open wards with no incumbent, Kitchissippi is drawing big-name endorsements to a race between several well-funded candidates.

Tech entrepreneur Subhir Uppal, former CBC and Ottawa Citizen journalist Joanne Chianello and former Hintonburg Community Association president Brian Innes all say their fundraising totals are either at the maximum spending limit or close to it.

A fourth candidate, Xavier Commerford, joined the race later than the others and said they have raised far less — but is relying on volunteers to push a “very progressive grassroots platform.”

Most candidates agree that intensification is a key issue in the ward, which keeps seeing tall towers and infill development.

Innes said more growth is coming and residents want more of a voice. He said projects are being approved “without really understanding the impact on citizens who live here.” His platform says he would protect the character of neighbourhoods by keeping “mega towers” close to transit hubs — not main streets or residential areas.

Chianello said she, too, will push back against projects that aren’t good for the community, though she said a councillor can’t stop every application for tall towers if they comply with policy. She said she supports “smarter intensification” that makes sure recreation, services and infrastructure keep up with growth.

Both Chianello and Uppal got off to an early start, registering on the first day of nominations, and both have picked up endorsements.

Ottawa Centre Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi and NDP MPP Catherine McKenney are backing Chianello. So is mayoral candidate Jeff Leiper, his communications director Tessa Franklin confirmed to CBC, though Chianello is not herself endorsing anyone for mayor. Mark Sutcliffe was at her launch event, though he is not formally endorsing any ward candidates.

Uppal has the backing of Leiper’s predecessor as city councillor, Katherine Hobbs, as well as former Orléans councillor Bob Monette. For his part, Innes said his campaign is based on community, not what he called star politicians and political networks.

The candidates also highlighted transit as a top issue in the ward. Uppal has proposed zone-based transit fares that would mean people taking shorter trips pay less. He has also criticized the new paid parking on Richmond Road as bad for business, and residents seeing spillover onto side streets.

“I don’t think it’s a fair system, and I’d want to suspend paid parking until we get a fair solution,” he said.

Rideau-Vanier

Stéphanie Plante won this ward by just 323 votes in 2022, one of the closest margins in that election. It’s also the ward with the lowest turnout in Ottawa, opening up new opportunities if any candidate can succeed in mobilizing people who usually stay home.

This time, Plante is facing five competitors. Most waited until the final week of nominations to register.

Brian Paquette has almost no budget and views the race mostly as an “educational” test-run for the next election, barring what he called a “miracle.”

Michael Karl Sewanaku, said he has little money and few volunteers. He stated publicly at a debate that he’s firmly convinced he would be the “biggest failure of a city councillor this city has ever seen,” though he later said that’s because his standards are too high. 

Eric Smith, has no website and has provided no contact information for his campaign.

Lyra Evans, the elected public school board trustee for the area, said that points to a wide gap in the level of seriousness between some of the candidates.

“I do perceive this to be a two-person race,” said Evans, who registered in the first week and has contributed thousands of dollars to her own campaign.

She said she’s watched things getting worse in the ward, from unhoused people not getting support to transit deteriorating. Plante said she’s also hearing on the doorsteps about general social disorder and crime.

“Housing and homelessness is way more on the front burner than it was the last time — completely understandable,” said Plante, who said there’s no quick fix but pointed to recent “game changers” like plans to transform the Shepherds of Good Hope into transitional housing.

Transit and housing have both produced tense exchanges at the debates, including over Evan’s proposal for a landlord licensing regime.

Plante has something that Evans doesn’t: fluency in French, a key asset in a ward with one of the highest francophone populations in the city. 

“There’s literally people who cannot speak English at all,” Plante said, arguing that a councillor who can’t communicate with them can’t serve them effectively when they face challenges at city hall.

Evans said her French is at a beginner or elementary level, but she added that she has been studying it for the better part of a year. She said she’s committed to learning French to a fluency level should she be elected and will hire at least two francophones in her office.

Another candidate, Julie Fiala Chartrand, said she’s better placed than Evans to take on Plante, in part because of her bilingualism and her family’s deep history in the area. She has run before, getting less than six per cent of the vote in 2022. This time, she registered on the last possible day.

“The reality is, we’re underdogs,” she said.

West Carleton-March

Clarke Kelly won a wide-open race in the rural West Carleton-March ward by one of the narrowest margins in 2022, taking just 242 more votes than his closest competitor.

This time he’s facing a challenge from psychotherapist Christine Harrison, who runs a network of clinics and is also a board member at the Stittsville Business Association, as well as construction business owner Dylan Nosé.

Harrison has racked up endorsements from the area’s former councillor, Eli El-Chantiry, and from former Ottawa Police Service chief Vern White. Kelly has the support of neighbouring councillor David Brown.

Both Kelly and Harrison registered to run in the first week. Their campaigns are running ads in local media, while Harrison has also been buying Facebook ads.

“Fundraising for me has not been a challenge,” said Harrison. “People have been very motivated to donate.”

Nosé said it certainly has been a challenge. He said he wasn’t expecting the cost of campaigning to be so high. As of early October, he had raised less than $2,000. He’s also had to play catch-up, after registering to run months after his better-funded competitors.

All of the candidates say that road safety and the state of rural roads is a top concern for voters, as is ensuring rural Ottawa has a voice at city hall. But the sharpest exchanges in a recent debate came over growth, and whether the suburbs are encroaching too much into rural Ottawa.

Council will have to decide early in the next term how far to expand the urban boundary that limits sprawl. Kelly said he has opposed every single expansion that came to council and will continue to do so.

“We all live in Ward 5 because of its rural nature,” he said. “If you want to move to Kanata, go for it … but I don’t want Kanata to move here.”

But Harrison said that’s not realistic, since developers can simply take the issue to a provincial tribunal that’s likely to overrule the city.

“Saying, ‘I’m going to dig my head in the sand’ or ‘I’m going to draw my line and we are not going to grow,’ is not a way to deal with this,” she said. “It will continue to be taken away from us.”

Kelly said he isn’t opposed to growth, but believes there’s enough land within the urban boundary. Nosé backed Harrison’s position, saying it’s possible to protect rural land while protecting development.

Orléans East-Cumberland 

Matt Luloff won by almost 60 points four years ago, but that hasn’t scared away six challengers who have made this race one of the most crowded fields in the city.

And it isn’t just the challengers looking to unseat him: Horizon Ottawa co-ordinator Tom Ledgley said Orléans East-Cumberland is one of its two highest-priority wards, and its canvassers are dropping off thousands of flyers campaigning against Luloff across the ward.

Horizon is endorsing lawyer Bob Bell, who has raised about $30,000 for his campaign, though he isn’t the only challenger with a well-funded effort. See our full coverage of the race at the link below:

Luloff said he’s a responsive city councillor who’s gotten results. He said Orléans voters aren’t interested in the kind of “American-style attacks” he said Horizon is running.

But his challengers say voters on the doorsteps are raising an issue that could be a vulnerability for Luloff: his conviction on an impaired driving charge this year.

Luloff said he made a grave mistake and has taken action to be accountable, like giving up drinking and donating to Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada.

Stittsville

One of Ottawa’s fastest growing wards, Stittsville has been represented by Glen Gower since 2018. He isn’t running for re-election, making it one of just two open races.

That has attracted the largest field of any ward, with nine candidates vying to replace him. It’s so crowded that even some candidates are struggling to make sense of the state of the race.

“It’s really hard to gauge with so many candidates,” said paralegal and former Stittsville Village Association president Tanya Hein.

But a few candidates have been picking up endorsements and raising more money than the others. Gower endorsed Chelsea Walton. So did College ward Coun. Laine Johnson. Walton worked in both their offices, and has also worked in the city’s traffic services department. She also has the support of former Goulbourn Township mayor Janet Stavinga.

She said she has dozens of volunteers and has raised about $20,000. Walton said she’s also seen signs of well-organized challenges from rivals like Sheetal Narwal and Theresa Qadri.

On the opposite extreme, Devin Michael Fitzgerald O’Brien, who runs a Pokemon and anime store, said he has been running his campaign essentially single-handed and is spray-painting his signs himself.

“I have spent $700 on spray paint and that’s the only thing I’ve needed so far,” he said in early October.

There are several candidates with campaign experience. Hein ran in 2022 and got 12 per cent of the vote, while federal public servant and West Side Pride co-founder Kevin Hua got nine per cent. Farmer and software engineer Mani Sharma got six per cent when he ran in the neighbouring Ward 5. 

Qadri, on leave from her role as Stittsville Food Bank chair, isn’t a stranger to campaigning either. Her husband Shad was Gower’s predecessor as city councillor. She said she has the endorsement of former Kanata mayor and Ottawa city councillor Marianne Wilkinson.

For the most part, this has not been a race marked by stark policy differences. At the debates, there was wide agreement that the main issues facing the ward are congestion, poor transit and inadequate infrastructure in the face of that galloping growth.

The main dispute has been over who has the experience to solve those problems. Walton has relied on her deep experience at city hall, while others — like cybersecurity company CEO Narwal, Leading Ladies Canada founder Marie-Ange Ahinful or Kichesippi Beer Company founder Paul Meek — talk up leadership skills learned in the private or non-profit sectors.

The biggest exception is Hua, who has shown more willingness to accept higher taxes.

In a debate, he called the obsession with maintaining taxes below the rate of inflation “ridiculous.”