June byelection will be held to fill vacant seat on Ottawa Council

Ottawa City Hall (CTV News Ottawa)

Residents of Ottawa’s Osgoode ward will be heading to the polls in June to elect a new councillor.

Council approved a plan to hold a byelection to fill the seat left vacant by George Darouze, who resigned earlier this month after being elected the new Progressive Conservative MPP in the riding of Carleton.

There are two options to fill a vacant council seat – a municipal byelection or appointing a new member until the next municipal election in October 2026.

The plan would see a byelection held for Osgoode ward on Monday, June 16. Candidates will be allowed to begin registering to run on Thursday, with the final day to enter or withdraw from the race on May 2.

• Byelection to fill vacant Ottawa council seat will cost $500,000

One advance voting day would be held on June 6, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the election held on June 16. Polling stations will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day to vote for a new councillor.

Residents would have three options to cast their ballot during the byelection: voting in person during the one advance voting day and on election day, voting by a special mail-in ballot or by proxy. For voting in-person, the city will use the “anywhere voting” model, allowing electors to cast their ballot at any voting location in the ward on the advance voting day and on byelection day.

The ward of Osgoode has approximately 26,650 eligible electors. Voter turnout in the 2022 election was 46 per cent.

A report for council says it will cost $522,491 to hold the byelection.

The costs include $181,024 for voting events, $137,500 for staffing, $60,000 for special mail-in ballots, $45,267 for print production and mailing and $41,700 or legislative requirements and elections audit. The city would use funding from the tax stabilization reserve to cover the cost of the election.

The City of Ottawa has held three byelections to fill vacant council seats since amalgamation in 2001. In 2005, a byelection was held to fill a vacant seat in Ward 1 following the resignation of Coun. Herb Kreling. In 2019, the city held a byelection in Rideau-Rockcliffe following the resignation of Tobi Nussbaum, and a byelection was held in Cumberland in 2020 after Coun. Stephen Blais resigned.

In 2021, council appointed Cathy Curry to fill the vacant seat in Kanata North following the resignation of Jenna Sudds.