Business owner running for Mayor for the fourth time, with a plan to cap yearly property tax growth at 3.57 percent.
Bernard Couchman has run for Mayor in several earlier elections, and the City's published results for 2022 show 471 votes, 0.15 percent. The City's list shows his nomination for 2026 dated August 21, 2026, the last day to file. His campaign posts on the site of his business, H2OBoy, propose a cap of 3.57 percent on yearly property tax growth for four years, a spending review of every department, and use of underused City buildings for businesses and housing. He declined CBC News's request for a questionnaire.
Researched by voche.me · Not a campaign-authored page
Ottawa municipal electionThe City's list of certified candidates shows Bernard Couchman's nomination for Mayor dated August 21, 2026, and gives no website or social media account for him. CBC News reported on August 21, 2026 that he was one of six candidates who filed on the last day. It said he has run in three previous elections and won 0.15 percent of the vote in 2022, and it quoted him as saying that his decision to register just hours before the deadline was psychological and that other campaigns have stolen his ideas in the past. The City's final 2022 results data for Mayor give him 471 votes, 0.15 percent, among 14 candidates. CBC News's 2018 questionnaire coverage records that he did not answer its questionnaire that year, which shows he was a candidate in 2018. The CBC News list of 2026 candidates records that he wrote to decline the invitation to submit a questionnaire or photo.
He publishes press releases on h2oboy.ca, the website of his business, H2OBoy. The address bernardcouchman.ca leads to that site. The posts are signed Bernard Couchman, Candidate for Mayor of Ottawa. voche.me treats them as his campaign's own statements. In a post of October 1, 2026 he writes that his civic involvement began with community service in 2008 and has included volunteer work with Ottawa Public Health and service with the African Canadian Health Network of Ottawa, and that he has owned H2OBoy for more than 20 years. He writes that he has run in 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026, and that he wrote a book called First to a Billion. These are his own statements, and voche.me has not checked them.
The same post presents what he calls The Couchman Municipal Re-Engineering Plan. It proposes a limit of 3.57 percent on yearly property tax growth for four years, which the post says is not a tax freeze and which it compares with the City's 2026 increase of 3.75 percent. It also proposes a 100-day review of City assets, a target of about $26 million in yearly savings that the post calls a modelling target and not a promise, 24 Indigenous Economic Zones (one in each ward) in underused City space, and a public scorecard of costs and verified savings. The post says every proposal depends on the City's finances, contracts and law.
Later posts, dated October 2 to October 5, 2026, add proposals on a spending review of each department, a review of the City's debt with a public dashboard, a pass for young people to use City recreation and cultural facilities at lower cost, help for single-parent households with housing, work for people with disabilities, partnerships with Quebec municipalities, and high-paying local jobs. In the October 5 post he describes his run as a bid to become Ottawa's first Black mayor. CBC News's profile of him in July 2022 said his platform then promoted a unified city where local companies can thrive.
Summarized from the campaign’s published profile. These are stated positions, not an assessment of results or a complete platform.
His campaign proposes a limit of 3.57 percent on yearly property tax growth for four years. The post says this is a ceiling and not a freeze, and that it is 0.18 points below the City's adopted 2026 increase of 3.75 percent.
The post says a projected saving is not a saving until it is verified, and that the proposals must pass tests of finances, contracts and law.
His campaign proposes a zero-based review of operating spending, in which each department must justify its discretionary spending, and a review of the City's debt with a public dashboard and independent checks.
The October 2 post says the campaign makes no predetermined savings promises and that he is not proposing blind cuts.
The October 3 post states a net long-term debt of about $3.69 billion at the end of 2025, based on an analysis of the City's audited statements. voche.me has not checked that figure.
His campaign proposes a 100-day review of the City's assets, and using underused municipal space for small businesses, technology companies, training and Indigenous-owned businesses.
It proposes 24 Indigenous Economic Zones, one in each ward, and examining a 15 percent Indigenous economic allocation of space in qualifying new municipal buildings and major redevelopments where that is legal and affordable.
The October 5 post proposes pathways into high-paying jobs, connecting large employers with local suppliers, and tracking job numbers and wages.
His campaign proposes exploring the conversion of suitable underused City buildings to housing, and a First Access plan with a $5,000 capital payment, property tax deferral and credits for insulating a home's utilities.
The post says these are campaign proposals that need financial, legal and eligibility review, and that they are not existing City benefits.
The post says the campaign will examine how the proposals could serve single-parent households.
His campaign proposes a Growth Pass that would give students, athletes and young artists discounted access to City recreation centres, arenas, pools, libraries and cultural spaces, using off-peak capacity.
The post says the pass is subject to financial analysis, eligibility rules and City approval.
Evidence reviewed on October 5, 2026: the City of Ottawa's list of certified candidates, the City's final 2022 results data for Mayor, eight campaign press releases and plan pages published on h2oboy.ca between October 1 and October 5, 2026, CBC News's reports of August 21 and August 28, 2026, and CBC News's coverage of the 2018 and 2022 mayoral races. His plans come from his campaign's own posts, and each is written here as his campaign's statement.
Gaps. The City's list gives him no website, so voche.me found the campaign posts through the address bernardcouchman.ca, which leads to the site of his business. The Instagram account linked on that site belongs to the business, and no posts could be read without logging in, so nothing from it is used. One post of October 3 contains personal statements about national security and about a 2014 interview, and one post contains statements about his family. They are not repeated here and were not checked. His claims about his business, his volunteer work and his book were not checked with any outside source. His 2014 and 2018 vote counts were not taken from the City's results and are left out. A report that he was removed from a 2022 debate appeared only in a footnote on a general reference website, and no news report of it was found, so it is not used. The questionnaire has not been sent, and he declined CBC News's questionnaire.
His October 1, 2026 campaign post says he has owned the business H2OBoy for more than 20 years, and that it has had no debt. voche.me has not checked this.
Bernard Couchman campaign · A Greener City, October 1, 2026His campaign post says his civic involvement began with community service in 2008 and has included volunteer work with Ottawa Public Health and service with the African Canadian Health Network of Ottawa. voche.me has not checked this with either organization.
Bernard Couchman campaign · A Greener City, October 1, 2026The City's final results data for the October 24, 2022 election show 471 votes, 0.15 percent, for Bernard Couchman in the Mayor contest. Mark Sutcliffe won with 161,677 votes, 51.37 percent.
City of Ottawa · 2022 Municipal Elections, official resultsCBC News reported on October 9, 2018 that he was one of the two mayoral candidates who did not answer its questionnaire. voche.me did not look up his 2018 result.
CBC News · Meet your candidates for Ottawa mayor, October 9, 2018Proposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.
No questions and answers have been supplied.
Ask Bernard Couchman directly. We send it to the campaign, and publish the reply here if we get one.
Facts voche.me can state about Bernard Couchman's page itself, answered directly rather than left blank.
No. This page is researched by voche.me from public sources, listed below, and is separate from Bernard Couchman's own campaign.
Not according to this profile. voche.me has not listed a current public office for Bernard Couchman.
This profile lists 13 sourced references, each with the date voche.me checked it, in the Sources section below.
The "Questions & answers" section on this page lists questions voche.me would put to Bernard Couchman in a future interview. They have not been sent yet, so the page says plainly that no answer has been supplied instead of leaving the section blank.
The 2026 Ottawa municipal election, including the Mayor race, is decided on October 26, 2026.
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