Ottawa voters head to the polls on Monday to vote for mayor, councillor and school board trustee. There are 181 candidates running for the various positions at Ottawa City Hall and on the four school boards in Ottawa. CTV News Ottawa will have coverage of the municipal election online once the polls close at 8 p.m. on Monday. CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at eight things to know about the City of Ottawa municipal election ahead of Monday’s voting day. Voting Monday is the last chance for Ottawa residents to vote in Ottawa’s municipal election. Voting locations will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in wards across the city. The city says to find your polling place, check the Voter Notification Letter, contact the Elections Ottawa Officer or use the Where Do I Vote? tool on ottawa.ca/vote. Ballots cast Approximately 10 per cent of eligible voters have already cast their ballot in Ottawa’s municipal election. The city says 59,093 votes were cast during the Advance Voting Day on Oct. 16, while 27,553 votes were cast during the four days of Special Advance Voting between Oct. 1 and 4. A total of 2,957 ballots were received through the mail by the Oct. 16 deadline. The City of Ottawa said, as of Sept. 20, there were 868,248 eligible voters for the municipal election. Voter turnout in the 2022 election was 43.79 per cent. Race for Mayor There are 14 candidates on the ballot for mayor of Ottawa. Incumbent mayor Mark Sutcliffe is seeking a second term after winning the 2022 election with 51 per cent of the vote. Coun. Jeff Leiper is running for mayor after serving three terms as councillor in Kitchissippi. Businessman Alex Lawson and economist and community organizer Neil Saravanamuttoo are also running for mayor as first time challengers. The other candidates for mayor are Queen Divine Priya Amber Bakshi, Zed Chebib, Bernard Couchman, Suraj Harish, Geoff Nicholas, Josh Rachlis, Ali Shayvard, Jacob Solomon, Amjad Ali Syed, and Peter Westaway. Two new councillors (at least) Two Ottawa wards are guaranteed to have a new councillor once the votes are counted on Monday night. Current Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper is running for mayor of Ottawa, while Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower is not seeking re-election after two terms at Ottawa City Hall. There are nine candidates running for councillor in Stittsville: Marie-Ange Yindaki Ahinful, Kevin Hua, Tanya Hein, Paul Meek, Devin Michael Fitzgerald O’Brien, Sheetal Narwal, Theresa Qadri, Mani Sharma, Chelsea Walton Four candidates are on the ballot for councillor in Kitchissippi: Joanne Chianello, Xavier Commerford, Brian Innes, Subhir Uppal. Races to watch Here are some of the councillor races to watch on election night. West Carleton-March: Incumbent Clarke Kelly won the 2022 election by 242 votes. Kelly is being challenged by Christine Harrison and Dylan Nose. Knoxdale-Merivale: Incumbent Sean Devine faces challengers Anna Ielo-Tal and Cole Fraser Jones in the west end ward. Ielo-Tal has received endorsements from several sitting councillors in the campaign. Rideau-Vanier: Incumbent Stephanie Plante won by 323 votes in the 2022 election. Plante is one of six candidates on the ballot, along with Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustee Lyra Evans, Eric Smith, Brian Paquette, Michael Karl Sewanaku and Julia Fiala Chartrand. Kanata South: Incumbent Allan Hubley is seeking a fifth term as councillor in the west end ward. Hubley won the 2022 election by 1,723 votes. Hubley’s three challengers include Erin Coffin, who finished second in 2022, Megan Strazds-Esenbergs and Sam Bhalesar. Two councillor incumbents acclaimed Two incumbent councillors are guaranteed to return to Ottawa City Hall for a four-year term without the ballots being counted. Coun. Riley Brockington has been acclaimed for a fourth term in River Ward after no challengers signed up for the election. Coun. David Brown will represent Rideau-Jock for a second term after no other candidates registered to run in the rural ward. According to the City of Ottawa, this is the second general election since amalgamation in which councillors were elected by acclamation. In 2003, Peter Hume in Alta Vista, Doug Thompson in Osgoode and Rick Chiarelli in Baseline were acclaimed. Eight school board candidates were acclaimed in Ottawa: Councillor/mayor salary The current salary for the mayor of Ottawa is $213,921. A councillor earns a salary of $119,620 a year. School board trustees Voters will also have the opportunity to cast a ballot for a school board trustee in either the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, Ottawa Catholic School Board, the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est or the Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario. There are new rules for trustees in all English public and Catholic school boards following the election, including: While candidates are running for school board trustee in the 10 Ottawa-Carleton District School Board zones, Education Minister Paul Calandra has said the newly elected trustees will not be reinstated after the election and the OCDSB will remain under provincial supervision.
