‘Not really focused on the election’: Ottawa mayor says lots of work to come in 2026

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe sits down with CTV’s Patricia Boal for a year-end interview.

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says he intends to run for a second term in 2026, but he’s not focused on the election right now.

Municipal elections in Ontario are scheduled to take place on Oct. 26, 2026, which Sutcliffe says leaves lots of time to work on several issues facing the city of Ottawa.

In a year-end interview with CTV News Ottawa’s Patricia Boal, Sutcliffe said he still has nearly a full year of work ahead of him.

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“The election’s still a long way off. A lot of people are asking me about it because 2026 is an election year but it’s not ‘til the end of October and I still have a lot of work to do. I was given a mandate of four years by the people of Ottawa and we’re only three years into that now, so I’m continuing to work hard every day to do the job that residents elected me to do,” he said.

Sutcliffe was elected mayor with 51 per cent of the vote in the 2022 municipal election, beating his main opponent, former city councillor Catherine McKenney, by more than 42,000 votes. Voter turnout was just under 44 per cent.

“We still have a lot of work to do on affordability, on housing, on public safety, on public transit, on supporting the most vulnerable. I’ve got lots of issues I want to get to in the early part of 2026 so I’m hard at work on that and not really focused on the election,” Sutcliffe said.

The Lansdowne 2.0 debate

Looking back on 2025, one of the main files handled by city council was finalizing the Lansdowne 2.0 deal. Sutcliffe said he was excited to move forward with what he called a “terrific city-building project.”

“I’m very pleased at how that went and the outcome. I think it’s been a great year for the City of Ottawa on a number of different fronts,” he said. “We’re already starting to hear from event organizers about when the new events centre is going to be open, how soon can they bring their events to our city, so it’s going to be a major driver of tourism and economic activity to our city.”

The $418.8 million Lansdowne 2.0 project faced opposition from many residents in Ottawa, including some city councillors, most notably Shawn Menard, who represents the ward that contains Lansdowne Park. Opponents criticized the amount of debt the city would need to take on to finance the project and noted that the partnership with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group has not been profitable. Critics also challenged the new events centre, which would have a smaller capacity than the current TD Place Arena.

In the final days of discussion before the ultimate 15-10 vote to approve the plan, representatives from the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) came out publicly to say the hockey arena would put the profitability of the Ottawa Charge at risk, but the city manager said increasing capacity would add up to $100 million to the cost of the project and delay it by up to three years. The league was in the final year of its initial three-year lease at Lansdowne Park.

Sutcliffe said he understands where the PWHL was coming from, but council had to make the best choice for all residents.

“They were trying to get the best deal possible. I understand that; I’m a businessperson and I know what they were trying to do. They were trying to drive a good deal and get the best possible outcome for their business, but we had a job to do as well and I don’t think we wanted to be in a situation where we were giving extra money to one of the tenants at Lansdowne Park,” he said. “We’ll work it out. We’ll figure out a solution. The Ottawa Charge are here to stay. I know there are people interested in supporting the team, potentially buying the team, they continue to draw strong crowds, there’s a future in Ottawa for the Charge no matter what.”

The PWHL said in the days following the approval of Lansdowne 2.0 that the team would not play at the smaller arena and that all options were on the table.

Questions about public servants returning downtown

Sutcliffe said he’s never requested the federal government bring public servants back to downtown Ottawa offices, even in casual conversation, but also said he’s not opposed to having more people working in the core again.

“That’s their business, it’s between them and their employees and their unions. All I’ve said is that if more people are coming downtown, whether it’s to work or go to events, it’s better for the downtown economy,” he said.

Public sector unions raised the alarm this year about leaked documents purporting to show a plan to have all federal employees return to offices five days per week. Currently, federal public servants are required in the office a minimum of three days per week, with executives required in-office at least four days per week.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat would not say whether changes to the office mandate are being considered.

Sutcliffe said, if more public servants will be required downtown, the city is ready.

“If there are more people coming downtown, that’s great for downtown businesses, that’s better for the vibrancy downtown, but I’ve never made any requests to the federal government on that regard. At the same time, if more people are coming downtown, it’s going to be great for the city of Ottawa, and we’ll be ready for it. We’re ready to adjust our public transit, we’re ready to handle the larger number of people coming downtown and I think it’ll be good for the local economy.”

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Earlier this year, Ottawa City Manager Wendy Stephanson announced a five-day return-to-office policy for City of Ottawa employees, which she said would affect approximately seven per cent of the workforce.

Policing a growing city

The 2026 budget included the largest increase for the Ottawa Police Service in 15 years, after mandated caps on annual funding increases by Sutcliffe and former mayor Jim Watson.

Sutcliffe said the police need the resources to serve a growing population and a geographically large community.

“We need to give them the resources they need to do their job, so we’re going to hire more police officers, we’re going to hire more special constables, we’re moving to a district policing model that will serve every part of the community, so there’s a lot of good things happening,” he said.

But he stressed other options are in the pipeline.

“We’re investing in other solutions as well, like the ANCHOR program, which is designed to help people in a mental health or substance use crisis. Instead of sending the police, we’re sending experts, mental health workers, and people with expertise in that area, and that’s proven to be effective in the neighbourhood where we did the pilot project, in Centretown, and we’ll be expanding it to another community in Ottawa sometime in 2026.”

The budget includes $700,000 to accelerate the expansion of the ANCHOR program, which allows people to call 2-1-1 to have a non-police response to mental health or substance use crises in Centretown. In its first year, it received more than 4,400 calls and handled 92 per cent without requiring police intervention.

The Ottawa Police Service is receiving a $26 million increase next year.

Protest city

Sutcliffe says the debate on a proposed “bubble zone” bylaw to determine where protests are not allowed will continue in the new year.

City staff are currently developing a bylaw that would prohibit protests near certain areas, such as near schools or places of worship. Council directed staff to develop the bylaw with a bubble of up to 80 metres around protected areas, though staff say the distance is still being assessed based on operational needs and Charter considerations.

The mayor says hatred has no place within the city of Ottawa.

“It really hits home when we see these incidents happen in our city. Vandalism, there was a stabbing in a grocery store, there was a hate-motivated incident on an OC Transpo bus a couple of months ago. We don’t want that in our city; it has no place in our city. We must speak out and fight against antisemitism, Islamophobia, hatred in all its forms. I’ll be hosting a symposium early in the new year about how we build a kinder, more inclusive city,” he said.

The “bubble zone” bylaw must weigh the right to demonstrate against protecting vulnerable places, the mayor said.

“We understand that people have the right to demonstrate and Ottawa is the national capital, there’s always going to be political demonstrations, but I think most people would agree that when you’re dropping kids off at school, you don’t want there to be a political protest that’s taking place in that area. When you’re going to a church or a mosque or a synagogue, you don’t want to have to walk through a demonstration to do so. There’s a place for those kinds of demonstrations, and we’re going to see what the debate is like but I’m hoping that we can bring something forward that will protect those vulnerable cultural spaces.”

Expanding the LRT

This year saw the launch of the north-south O-Train Line 2 and the Line 4 airport spur, expanding light rail services in the city as part of Stage 2 of LRT.

The new year is expected to bring another expansion, that of Line 1 to the east.

Sutcliffe said it will launch when it is ready.

“We’re not going to make the mistake of rushing to an arbitrary deadline, but we’re making progress and we’re hearing good results. It’s going to have to go through rigorous testing before we accept the system from the people who are building it. I’m hopeful that it will be early in 2026,” he said.

The Stage 2 extension will bring Line 1 service east from Blair Station into Orléans, with stops at Montreal Road, Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard, Convent Glen, Place d’Orléans and Trim Road. It has been significantly delayed since construction began, with issues arising in the fall that pushed the launch beyond the end of this year, which was previously described as “achievable as a stretch goal” by city staff.

When it does open, Sutcliffe says it will make a big difference for residents in the east end of the city.

“This is going to take it deep into Orléans and it’s going to be a game-changer for the residents of Orléans because, instead of being in their car on the 174, they’ll have the option of taking the train and I think they’re going to see the train is a much faster solution. They’ll probably be able to get downtown in 35 or 40 minutes, where at rush hour it might take over an hour in their cars. Those trains are going to be zooming past the cars on the 174 and I think it’s going to be a game-changer for public transit in Ottawa,” he said.

The first city council meeting of 2026 is scheduled for Jan. 28.