Sitting Mayor of Ottawa, running for a second term.
Mark Sutcliffe has been Mayor of Ottawa since the election of October 24, 2022, according to the City's own page, and the City's list of certified candidates shows his nomination for Mayor dated May 25, 2026. His campaign says Ottawa needs a steady hand and a smart plan that works for every part of the city. On October 2, 2026 CBC News reported that he was the only one of the four candidates at a Board of Trade debate to promise a limit on property tax increases: 2.5 percent for the first two years.
Researched by voche.me · Not a campaign-authored page
The City of Ottawa's page about the mayor says Mark Sutcliffe was elected Mayor on October 24, 2022. The City's list of certified candidates shows his nomination for Mayor dated May 25, 2026. CBC News reported on that day that he filed his papers at the City elections office on Cyrville Road and told reporters that Ottawa cannot afford to go back to the way things were four years ago CBC News also reports that he received 51.4 percent of the city-wide vote in 2022, and that 13 other candidates are running against him on October 26, 2026.
The City's page lists him as chair of the Finance and Corporate Services Committee and of the Debenture Committee, and as an ex officio member (a member because he is mayor) of the other standing committees. Council's minutes of December 10, 2025 record his recorded votes on the 2026 budget. He voted for the motion that adopted the 2026 budgets, which carried 21 to 4, with Jeff Leiper among the four councillors against. He also voted for the 2026 Ottawa Police Service budget, which carried 20 to 5. CBC News reported that the budget raised property taxes by 3.75 percent.
His campaign website lists his priorities as a stronger local economy, $10 billion of investment in infrastructure, more housing, transit (including a $95 monthly pass), rural communities, public safety, ending homelessness, affordability, a Francophone action plan and protecting the environment. Its page on his record says that Council passed his budgets, the housing plan and the plan for the province to take over the light rail line 'unanimously or almost unanimously', and that he found a quarter of a billion dollars in savings. These are the campaign's own statements, and voche.me has not checked each one against City records.
CBC News reported three of his 2026 announcements. On September 3 he promised 200 more police officers, 100 more paramedics and 50 more firefighters, and a new 'downtown safety czar' (a City employee who leads the response to drug use, mental health and homelessness downtown). CBC News noted that Council approves the overall police budget but the police chief and the civilian police board decide police staffing. On September 9 he promised to raise the number of affordable homes in Ottawa from 20,000 to 30,000 by the end of the decade, and to end the use of hotels for homeless families, but gave no date for either goal. On October 2 he promised to limit property tax increases to 2.5 percent for the first two years. CBC News reports that he made a similar pledge in 2022 and kept it for the first two years of his term, and that the increase was 3.9 percent in 2025 and 3.75 percent for 2026.
Two complaints involve his office. On May 25, 2026 Horizon Ottawa, an advocacy group that CBC News calls left-leaning, asked the City's integrity commissioner (the person who reviews complaints about the conduct of council members) to investigate newspaper ads that the mayor's office pays for. The group says an ad in the May 2026 edition of the OSCAR community newspaper looks like a campaign ad. Sutcliffe said his office checked with the City Clerk and that the clerk confirmed the ads follow the rules. The City Clerk told CBC News that the ad does not appear to contravene the rules. voche.me found no published decision by the integrity commissioner on this complaint.
The second complaint was made by another candidate, Alex Lawson, in early June 2026 about Syntax Strategic, a communications firm. Lawson alleged that the firm had not registered its contacts with the mayor's office on the City's public list of lobbyists, and said the firm had a close relationship with the mayor. The mayor's office told CBC News that most of the contacts were not lobbying. On July 27, 2026 CBC News reported that the integrity commissioner closed the matter with no penalty. The firm's chief executive admitted one breach, paying for a lunch for the mayor's chief of staff in January 2026. The agreement does not say what the commissioner found on the other allegations. Lawson called the result 'useless', and the firm's chief executive called the complaint politically motivated. Sutcliffe's office acknowledged that the matter is closed. The complaint was against the firm and its chief executive. It also argued that the firm put the mayor in an actual or perceived conflict of interest, which the firm and the mayor's office rejected.
Summarized from the campaign’s published profile. These are stated positions, not an assessment of results or a complete platform.
On October 2, 2026 he promised to limit property tax increases to 2.5 percent for the first two years of a new term. CBC News reported that he was the only one of the four candidates at the debate to promise a number.
CBC News gives the increases as 3.9 percent in 2025 and 3.75 percent for 2026.
Jeff Leiper and Alex Lawson questioned the pledge at the debate. Lawson asked why he promises tax increases while saying he can find $250 million in savings.
On September 3, 2026 he promised 200 more police officers, 100 more paramedics, 50 more firefighters, a downtown safety czar, and removal of homeless encampments within two to five days of a report.
He did not give a cost and said it would come with his financial plan.
CBC News noted that the police chief and the police board decide police staffing, and that Ottawa has one of the lowest scores of any large municipality in Canada on the crime severity index, which weighs each crime by how serious it is.
On September 9, 2026 he promised to move from 20,000 affordable homes to 30,000 by the end of the decade, including 650 supportive housing units within five years, and to end the use of hotels for homeless families.
He gave no date for ending homelessness. He told CBC News that the plan only sets a direction.
He said he would expand the role of Ottawa Community Housing, the City's public housing agency.
His campaign says he would secure provincial funding for new rapid transit lines, start Stage 3 of the light rail line, and cut the monthly transit pass to $95.
As of August 4, 2026 CBC News reported that he had not yet released a transit plan, and his campaign said one was coming.
At the October 2 debate Jeff Leiper said the provincial money in his transit plan is not guaranteed. Sutcliffe answered that the province signed an agreement with the City to take over the light rail line, and Leiper replied that the province agreed only to talk.
This is the campaign's statement and no City record shows any of it as approved.
His campaign says he would invest $10 billion in infrastructure to make Ottawa more resistant to floods and to expand roads and transit.
On October 2, 2026 CBC News described the plan as appearing to rely heavily on new commitments from higher levels of government and on debt.
This is the campaign's own figure.
Evidence reviewed on October 5, 2026: the City of Ottawa's list of certified candidates and its page about the mayor, the minutes of City Council of December 10, 2025, five pages of his campaign website, and CBC News reports dated December 10, 2025 to October 2, 2026. His role comes from the City's own page. His plans come from his campaign and from the reports that quote it, and each is written here as his campaign's statement.
Gaps. The integrity commissioner's decision on the Horizon Ottawa complaint about the mayor's newspaper ads was not found. His X, Facebook and Instagram accounts showed only a profile line and no readable posts, so none is used. The minutes of other Council meetings were not opened, so only the December 10, 2025 votes are attributed to him. His campaign's figures on savings and housing starts were not checked against City records. The questionnaire has not been sent.
The City's page says he was elected Mayor on October 24, 2022. It lists him as chair of the Finance and Corporate Services Committee and the Debenture Committee, and as co-chair of the Invest Ottawa board.
City of Ottawa · Mark Sutcliffe, MayorThe City's page says he covered politics as a broadcaster for CFRA, CityNews, Rogers TV and CPAC, and was executive editor and columnist at the Ottawa Citizen.
City of Ottawa · Mark Sutcliffe, MayorThe City's page says he co-founded the Ottawa Business Journal in 1995 and led several other small and medium-sized businesses.
City of Ottawa · Mark Sutcliffe, MayorThe City's page says he chaired the boards of United Way Ottawa, the Ottawa Board of Trade, OrKidstra, the Great Canadian Theatre Company, the Ottawa Community Housing Foundation and Run Ottawa, and was inducted into the Order of Ottawa in 2016.
City of Ottawa · Mark Sutcliffe, MayorProposed 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 Mark Sutcliffe directly. We send it to the campaign, and publish the reply here if we get one.
Facts voche.me can state about Mark Sutcliffe'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 Mark Sutcliffe's own campaign.
Yes. Mark Sutcliffe currently serves as Mayor of Ottawa.
This profile lists 19 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 Mark Sutcliffe 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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