Three candidates are on the ballot for councillor in Ward 2- Orléans West – Innes. Incumbent Laura Dudas won the 2022 municipal election with 71 per cent of the vote and is seeking a third term representing the ward in Ottawa’s east end. The two other candidates in the ward are public servant Jenna Jessop and former Canadian Armed Forces member and public servant David Purchase Orléans West – Innes The ward of Orléans West – Innes includes Blackburn Hamlet, Chapel Hill, Hiawatha Park, Orléans Wood, Orléans Village, and Orléans Southwest. It will be served by the O-Train East Extension when it opens later this year. Meet the candidates CTV News Ottawa invited all registered candidates to answer a questionnaire and submit a video introducing themselves to voters. Laura Dudas Age: 47 Political experience: I have served my community as City Councillor since 2018. During my two terms on Council, I have been Deputy Mayor, Chair of the Community Services Committee, Chair of the Emergency Shelter Task Force, and sat on various Boards, including on Ottawa Public Health. I am a Board Member with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, I sit on the Board of the Heart of Orléans Business Improvement Association, and I am a member of the following City Committees: Transportation, Emergency Preparedness Protective Services, Finance and Corporate Services, and Planning and Housing. Professional experience: I started my career as a newspaper journalist, spending more than a decade covering stories, conducting research and asking the tough questions. I then worked for the city in the Communications Department for nearly eight years, and I served as the president of my local community association for nearly a decade. In a volunteer capacity, I sat on school parent councils, was a Girl Guide leader, and was a member of the former Chamber of Commerce. How long have you lived in Ottawa? I have lived in Ottawa for more than 25 years. Favourite Ottawa location/landmark: The Ottawa River Pathway in the east end. It’s beauty and tranquility is unmatched. What was the last book you read? Long Walk to Freedom, a biography of Nelson Mandela What is the top song in your playlist? Anything by Blue Rodeo How often do you use OC Transpo? I regularly ride the bus and the train several times a week to get around our city. Would you work to increase or decrease transit fares as part of a plan to improve OC Transpo? I would work to decrease transit fares as part of a broader plan to improve OC Transpo. Over the past term, I was proud to collaborate with several Council colleagues to introduce free transit for youth throughout the summer. I also opposed the proposed increases to youth and seniors’ passes, as well as the general fare hike that had been put forward. With the anticipated savings from the LRT upload, we have an opportunity to use those savings to make transit more affordable for everyone and bring fares down across the board. Would you support increasing the police budget? Over the past year, the Ottawa Police Service has introduced vital initiatives that make a tangible difference on our streets, including dedicated Neighbourhood Resource Teams and a specialized unit tackling speeding, stunt driving, and dangerous road behavior. Rolling out body-worn cameras for frontline officers was also a critical, long-overdue step toward modern transparency, fixing an area where Ottawa was lagging. These programs directly enhance community safety and officer accountability across our city, but expanding them requires proper backing. I believe that supporting these essential services means providing the necessary resources to sustain them. Do you support an infrastructure levy to improve road and sewer infrastructure? I am not opposed in principle to an infrastructure levy, but my support depends on two essential conditions. First, the city must proactively and publicly share exactly which projects are being funded with the revenue. Second, if the choice comes down to an infrastructure levy or a general property tax increase of the same overall amount, a levy could be the preferable option—provided it is instead of, not in addition to a property tax hike. A dedicated levy ensures that funds go where they are needed, into urgent infrastructure upgrades. Describe in 250 words or less what the biggest issues are in your ward in this election: What I hear most from residents is the need for continued investment into our aging infrastructure. Ward 2 is an older community, and our roads, sidewalks, parks, pathways and city buildings are showing their age. During my time on Council, I have secured tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure investment to breathe new life into our ward and to ensure residents see their tax dollars at work. Another subject that I frequently discuss with residents is local transit. With the impending launch of LRT East Extension, OC Transpo must also turn its attention to improving bus routes and bring reliability to the system. As a Councillor and as a transit rider, I have, and will continue to push OC Transpo for better service, more buses on our local routes, better communication and an improved system overall. We deserve it. Jenna Jessop Age: 39 Political experience: I am a first-time candidate. I have previous political campaign experience as a volunteer and canvasser. Professional experience: I have been a Federal public servant with experience in change management, stakeholder engagement, communications since 2020. My public service experience has taught me how to navigate government, engage people and turn complex issues into practical solutions. I also have over 10 years experience in the private sector in corporate travel. How long have you lived in Ottawa? I moved to Ottawa to attend university in 2004 and have lived here ever since. Favourite Ottawa location/landmark: Petrie Island. I love how much wildlife there is to discover, and of course the beach! What was the last book you read? The Alice Network by Kate Quinn What is the top song in your playlist? I knew it, I knew you by Taylor Swift How often do you use OC Transpo? Occasionally. If it were more reliable, I would take it much more regularly. Would you work to increase or decrease transit fares as part of a plan to improve OC Transpo? I would not support increasing fares while service remains unreliable. My priority would be improving reliability and rebuilding ridership, while keeping transit affordable for the people who depend on it. Would you support increasing the police budget? I would support funding the police adequately to meet our city’s public safety needs, but any increase should be clearly tied to demonstrated needs and results. I also believe we need to invest in prevention, and community supports that can reduce pressure on police. Do you support an infrastructure levy to improve road and sewer infrastructure? I strongly support increased investment in our aging road and sewer infrastructure. With deteriorating roads in older neighbourhoods and the flooding Ottawa has experienced, we can’t afford to keep putting this work off. I would consider an infrastructure levy, but I would want to assess whether it is the fairest and most effective way to fund that investment. Describe in 250 words or less what the biggest issues are in your ward in this election: The biggest issues I hear about across Orléans West–Innes are unreliable transit, aging infrastructure, road and pedestrian safety, and making sure our community keeps pace with growth. Residents need local bus service they can actually depend on, not only to reach the LRT, but to get to work, schools, appointments and businesses within Orléans. Many older neighbourhoods are also dealing with deteriorating roads and infrastructure that has gone too long without renewal. Speeding, unsafe crossings and difficult intersections are also frequent concerns. As Orléans continues to grow, we need to make sure infrastructure, recreation, parks and other community services grow with it. Underlying many of these issues is something I hear repeatedly at the doors. Residents do not feel heard. People want better communication from City Hall, meaningful consultation before decisions are made and greater transparency about what is being done in their neighbourhoods. For me, this election is about getting the basics right while making sure residents have a meaningful voice in the decisions that affect their communities. David Purchase Age: 27 Political experience: I’ve spent three years on the Blackburn Community Association board, working with residents, advocating for them, and working with City Hall to get things done. That’s the experience I’d bring. Knowing how to move something through the city on behalf of residents, not how to explain the City’s answer back to them. Professional experience: I served in the Canadian Armed Forces as an infantryman. I’ve worked in the federal public service with Health Canada and Elections Canada, and at Ottawa Community Housing. I’ve worked as a mortgage broker and I’m a licensed realtor, and I work in both official languages. That work means I understand how housing costs, infill and property taxes land on an actual street, not how they look in a staff report. How long have you lived in Ottawa? My entire life. I grew up in this ward and I’m raising my son here now. Favourite Ottawa location/landmark: The old train trestle ruins at Green’s Creek. The bridge came down in 1940 and all that’s left now is the concrete footings. What was the last book you read? Why Nothing Works by Marc Dunkelman. It’s about why governments that spend more keep delivering less. What is the top song in your playlist? Black Sheep by Ben Fuller How often do you use OC Transpo? I don’t anymore, and that’s part of the point. I took the bus constantly growing up. School, work, getting downtown for events. It worked. We had express routes that took you where you were going. I drive now, partly because real estate work requires a vehicle, but also because today’s system doesn’t get people in this ward where they need to go. More transfers, longer trips, everything funnelled into a train that isn’t always reliable. Plenty of residents tell me the same thing. They used to take it and they stopped. Would you work to increase or decrease transit fares as part of a plan to improve OC Transpo? I wouldn’t raise fares. But I’m not going to pretend a fare cut fixes OC Transpo. Riders didn’t leave over the price of a ticket, and they aren’t coming back for a cheaper one if the bus still doesn’t show. Rebuild routes that take people where they’re actually going, get reliability back, and ridership follows. Then we can have a serious conversation about fares. Would you support increasing the police budget? I’d support the resources, and I’d want them directed at what residents here are actually dealing with. The City talks about its speeding and stunt driving enforcement, and that’s aimed at arterials and highways. That isn’t what people describe to me. What they describe is happening on residential streets in their own neighbourhoods, and those streets need to be part of the enforcement plan, not the part that gets handled after everything else. My question on any budget increase is simple: what did it buy, and did it reach us? Do you support an infrastructure levy to improve road and sewer infrastructure? Not without answers first. In 2017 the city set out to close an infrastructure gap of $70 million a year. Council doubled annual infrastructure funding over the decade that followed, and this year’s staff report puts the gap at $229 million a year. That’s the City’s own number, not mine. So, before residents in this ward pay a new levy on top of what we already pay, someone has to explain how doubling the spending left us further behind than when we started. The work needs doing, I’m not disputing that. I’m disputing that asking residents for more money is the right first move when nobody has accounted for the last ten years. Describe in 250 words or less what the biggest issues are in your ward in this election: Transit, speeding, and roads. That’s what I hear at nearly every door. On transit, people don’t describe a system that’s bad. They describe one that got worse. Residents remember the express buses that worked for them, and what they have now is more transfers and longer trips feeding a train they can’t always count on. People who used to ride have given up. Speeding is the one that makes people angry, and it’s the one where the City’s answer doesn’t match what residents live with. Enforcement gets talked about in terms of arterials and stunt driving. What people describe to me is Bearbrook Road in Blackburn, Jeanne d’Arc in Convent Glen, Willowbark beside Forest Valley Elementary where kids walk home. Drivers going through reds. Seniors out for an evening walk. These are streets residents have been raising for years, and they are not where enforcement shows up. On roads, a lot of our neighbourhoods have been here forty, fifty years or more, and the surfaces show it. People want to know when their street’s turn comes, and nobody can tell them. Underneath all three is the same thing. Residents pay more every year, watch services get worse, and get a process instead of an answer when they call. Right now, this ward has a representative of City Hall to the residents. It needs a representative of the residents to City Hall. Those are opposite jobs. I’ve lived here my whole life. I’m not learning this ward. I’m from it.
