Joanne Chianello has spent more than a decade holding Ottawa’s municipal politicians to account. Now, she wants to help shape the decisions she once scrutinized.
The longtime former Ottawa Citizen and CBC journalist has announced she plans to run for city councillor in Kitchissippi ward, becoming the first candidate to publicly declare in a race that will bring guaranteed change to the area’s representation.
Jeff Leiper has served Kitchissippi ward for the past three terms, but he announced last summer that he would run for the mayor’s seat against incumbent Mark Sutcliffe, who is a resident of Wellington West.
For Chianello, the decision to run is rooted in both professional experience and personal connection. She spent 12 years covering City Hall, including the Jim Watson era, significant transit controversies, including the launch of LRT, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2022 truck convoy occupation.
“I really understand how the place works. I understand procedure and process and the people — my own P3, if you will. And that’s kind of what you need to know to get things done,” she said. “If the people of Kitchissippi were to send me to City Hall, I could hit the ground running to work for them immediately.”
Chianello pointed to some of the investigations she led or helped drive during her journalism career, including scrutiny of Ottawa’s light-rail procurement, the transit inquiry that followed, and sexual harassment allegations against former College ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli.
“Frankly, it is my reporting that led directly to the province having a first-ever public inquiry on a transit infrastructure project,” she said. “I’ve never worked harder in my life than from 2019 to 2022.”
But while her professional life kept her inside council chambers and committee rooms, Chianello’s personal life was firmly planted in Champlain Park. She has lived in the ward for more than a quarter of a century, raised her daughter in the community, and built her routines around neighbourhood streets and public spaces.
“My daughter would take the bus — even in Grade 5 — after school. She’d take it to her piano lessons or to Ottawa School of Speech and Drama. She could get there on her own and then phone us when she arrived. You could do that here,” said Chianello. I don’t know a lot of other neighbourhoods where you have that kind of freedom and independence — where the things you want to do are right there, not halfway across town. It’s a really liveable community.”
That said, Kitchissippi has changed a lot over the last 25 years, said Chianello.
The Westboro and Wellington West neighbourhoods have seen rapid development, growing density, and increasing pressure on transportation, greenspace, housing, and affordability, she said. Chianello said those shifts make local representation more critical than ever.
“I know intensification and development are a challenge for some people. But welcoming more people into Kitchissippi also brings vibrancy. More people in the shops, more people on patios, more people to say hello to,” she said.
“I understand the balance between welcoming growth and making sure we have the amenities to support it. I’m in favour of intensification, managed properly,” added Chianello. “But it has to come with public space. Most of the homes being built now don’t have backyards. So, where is our outdoor space? Where are our gathering places? How are we protecting green space?”
That work begins by consulting the community, said Chianello. For example, if a large tower were being built and would take years to complete, she recommends installing art on the scaffolding to make it look more appealing.
Though she spent decades interviewing elected officials, Chianello said running for office was never a childhood ambition.
“Even though I’m pretty nerdy, I’m not such a nerdy person that as a kid I thought, ‘Oh, I hope I grow up to be a city councillor,’” she said. Journalism had always been the goal, and she took pride in pursuing difficult questions and mastering complex files.
Chianello described loving “the really boring part of the job — dry reports and digging into it,” and said persistence became a defining trait. “If I don’t really like the answer or I don’t think it’s the answer to the question, I ask it again.”
That same persistence, she suggests, is what she hopes to bring to public office.
After leaving CBC in 2023 following more than 30 years in journalism, Chianello spent about a year in municipal consulting, where she worked on governance and policy projects, including contributing to Toronto’s long-term financial plan. The experience gave her insight into how cities plan for the long term, beyond the daily political cycle, she said.
Still, stepping away from City Hall only reinforced her interest in civic affairs. “I have a deep interest in City Hall. Covering it every year, it became deeper,” she said. “It is interesting to be on this side of an interview. That’s for sure. It’s harder, for sure.”