While Mayor Mark Sutcliffe hasn’t officially announced he’s planning to run for a second term, the Wellington West resident has hinted in various media interviews that his name will be on the ballot again in 2026.
And if social media is any indication, it appears unofficial campaigning season has already begun. Throughout July, Sutcliffe posted a series of videos to social media where he ran through a highlight reel of accomplishments over the past three years.
On public safety, Sutcliffe said the city hired 134 new police officers in 2024, which is “the largest group of new officers in the history of the Ottawa Police Service.”
“We also expanded our special constable program to add extra support to frontline officers so they can focus on what they do best,” said Sutcliffe. “And we are introducing the district policing model to bring police officers to every community in the city.”
The Mayor also emphasized that level zero instances when there were no paramedics to respond to emergency calls were reduced by 80 per cent in 2024. He said that for the first time since 2020, Ottawa paramedics met all provincial legislative time targets.
In December, city council passed the 2025 budget with a 3.9 per cent tax hike. Six councillors voted against it, stating there was not enough money to adequately fund city services. Sutcliffe himself admitted he was “frustrated” and that difficult decisions had to be made due to a funding shortfall from the provincial and federal governments.
To put a positive spin on it, Sutcliffe is highlighting that the roads budget has increased by 40 per cent and the sidewalk budget by 30 per cent.
The city is also investing “in building a stronger and greener local economy,” said Sutcliffe, noting OC Transpo is going through the biggest transportation infrastructure transformation in history.
“We are expanding our electric light rail line, we are introducing hundreds of zero carbon buses and replacing our old diesel buses,” he said
OC Transpo was expecting 26 electric buses by the end of 2024 and another 77 by the end of 2025, but as of February, only eight were running. It has blamed a “delay in electrical infrastructure work at OC Transpo maintenance facilities” for the slowed rollout. A total of 350 new zero-emission buses are expected to be on city streets by the spring of 2027.
Because of an aging fleet, OC Transpo purchased 11 used buses from Waterloo, Ont. which were 15-years-old, but were “in good condition.” The transit organization also said it purchased 50 new diesel buses that would arrive in 2026 and 2027.
Sutcliffe also highlighted work Hydro Ottawa is doing to increase capacity. By 2043, Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator estimates that electricity use in winter will jump 166 per cent in Ottawa, with summer demand at a slower rate of 33 per cent.
That work, costing in the hundreds of millions of dollars, will come with higher rates for Hydro Ottawa customers.
An application before the Ontario Energy Board proposes raising the distribution part of the bill for which Hydro Ottawa is responsible by 17.6 per cent in 2026, which would be an average of $6.08 per month. Yearly monthly increases between $2.78 and $3.79 would follow until 2030.
At this time, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper is the only other person saying they are considering a run for Mayor. Sutcliffe won with a little over 51 per cent of the vote in 2022, with much of his support coming from the suburbs and rural parts of the city.