Coun. Jeff Leiper eyes mayoral run against Mark Sutcliffe

Three-term city councillor Jeff Leiper is seriously exploring a run for mayor in next year's municipal election.

"At this point, I am planning to run for mayor. The conversations that I've been having with people who want this city to be better than it has been have been very encouraging," he said.

"I'm exploring with a very small team right now about what that candidacy might look like, but nothing is certain until you put your name on a ballot."

The election is slated for Oct. 26, 2026. Incumbent Mayor Mark Sutcliffe confirmed to CBC on Tuesday that he is also running.

"I intend to run for re-election in 2026, but right now my sole focus is serving the residents of Ottawa and not a campaign that is still more than a year away," Sutcliffe said in an emailed statement.

Leiper was first elected to council for Kitchissippi ward in 2014 and now chairs the planning and housing committee. He has won reelection by crushing margins, earning 85 per cent of the vote in 2018 and 72 per cent of the vote in 2022.

He was previously an executive with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and also served as president of the Hintonburg Community Association.

He said he's running to improve city services — from overflowing garbage in city parks to crumbling sidewalks — and to make transit a first choice, not a last option.

"One of the things that I am committed to doing if I go down this path is to ensure that our transit networks are frequent, reliable, convenient and affordable," he said. "Today, I don't think there's any resident who believes that they are, and that would be a key priority for me going forward."

He said he differs with the mayor on budgeting. In his view, council hasn't devoted sufficient resources to deliver quality city services.

"I understand really well the appetite that residents have for change in the city so that they get the services that they deserve and expect," he said.

Leiper has opposed the Lansdowne 2.0 project and voted against the 2025 city budget. He led an unsuccessful charge against reducing LRT frequencies. He also called for a royal commission to investigate the convoy occupation of downtown Ottawa in 2022.

Rivals aim to keep campaign out of council chambers

Leiper said he has met with Sutcliffe to inform him of his plans.

"The commitment that we have both made if in fact I do run is to ensure that for the remaining year and a half of city council, that we are working in the public interest," Leiper said.

"Neither Mark nor I, no one around the council table, wants to see council devolve into an election campaign every two weeks."

Leiper's Kitchissippi ward includes the neighbourhoods of Hintonburg, Mechanicsville, Tunney's Pasture, Wellington Village and Westboro.

"One of the reasons I'm contemplating running is I'd like to bring my experience of effecting really positive change in my community to the whole city," he said.

"I've grown up in Orleans. I was a small child in Nepean. I've lived in the south end. I love this city, and I would love for people to have the kind of experience of their neighbourhoods that we've been fortunate to have in Kitchissippi ward."

The last election pitted a candidate supported largely by suburbanites against a candidate with a base in the central city, with the suburban candidate winning the day. Leiper will be hoping to prevent a repeat of that result next year.

"Certainly as I talk to people who are supportive of my running, that's one thing that they've made really, really clear is to make sure that I go out into the suburbs, hear the concerns that residents have and then address those in my platform," he said.

"I think I can talk to suburban residents with an experience of having lived there, grown up there, worked there in a way that maybe other candidates couldn't in the past."