The City of Ottawa’s list of elected officials for 2022 to 2026 shows Shawn Menard as Councillor for Ward 17 Capital. The City’s list of certified candidates shows his nomination for the same ward dated June 4, 2026, with the same date for his registration in the Contribution Rebate Program. The City’s published results for the October 24, 2022 election give him 11,358 of the 14,412 votes cast in Ward 17, which is 78.8 percent, the most votes in a race of 3 candidates (Rebecca Bromwich received 1,986 and Daniel Rogers 1,068). CBC News and CTV News Ottawa report that he was first elected in 2018 and is seeking a third term. The other two candidates are Farah Gulzar and Jaac Doduck.
The Council minutes of four meetings record his votes by name. On December 10, 2025 he voted against the 2026 Ottawa Police Service budget (carried 20 to 5, with Councillors King, Johnson, Bradley and Troster also against), for a motion by Councillor King that would have matched a $5.4 million police reserve allocation with $5.4 million for ANCHOR (a program that sends non-police crisis teams) and community hubs (lost 9 to 16), and for the motion that adopted the 2026 budgets (carried 21 to 4). He moved a motion that fares for riders aged 18 and under be free in July and August of 2026, at an estimated $340,000 a year, which carried. On April 22, 2026 he voted against the Safe Access to Social Infrastructure By-law (carried 20 to 4, with Councillors Devine, Bradley and Troster also against), for an amendment that would have removed the by-law’s ban on demonstrations inside safe access zones (lost 6 to 18), and for an amendment that would have limited the by-law to times when a facility is used for its main purpose (lost 10 to 14). He moved a motion to ask Council to waive legal privilege and discuss the City’s legal advice on the by-law in open session, and then withdrew it. On July 15, 2026 he voted against the Development Charge Reduction Program report (carried 23 to 1, and he was the one member against), moved a motion to refer that report to a special meeting of Council (lost 11 to 14), voted for the Rental Renovation Licence By-law review (carried 20 to 5), and moved the motion that lets City staff sign a non-binding agreement with Carleton University on a Joint Aquatic Sports Centre, which carried. On September 9, 2026 he voted for a motion by Councillor King that asks the federal government to extend its consultation on the Eastern Bridge Project (carried 23 to 2).
A complaint about his 2022 campaign finances was filed by Ted Phillips, whom CBC News calls a prominent local developer. It said Menard did not report the full value of reused campaign signs. CBC News reported that the City’s election compliance audit committee first judged there was not enough evidence for an audit, that Phillips then won an appeal in the Superior Court in Ottawa, and that the City hired Oxaro Inc. for a third-party audit. CBC News reported on September 9, 2025 that Oxaro found the value he reported for signs from earlier campaigns was inaccurate by $310.98, and that this did not comply with the Municipal Elections Act. The same day the committee decided not to refer the matter to a prosecutor. Its chair said the low amount, and the fact that Menard did not go over his spending limit, were factors, and the committee did not agree with the argument of Phillips’s lawyer that the unreported signs gave Menard a hidden advantage. Menard calls it a clerical filing error, and said the audit found no other irregularities.
His campaign website says that over his years as councillor the work has focused on new not-for-profit housing and lower rents, more affordable and reliable transit, more public bathroom access, new and renewed parks, safer streets and bike lanes, community safety and climate action. Its priorities page lists, for the whole ward, expanding Ottawa Community Housing to build public housing on public lands, a new bylaw against demolitions that evict tenants, continued free transit for riders aged 18 and under and lower fares for all, less spending on large projects financed with debt in favour of repairs, more public bathrooms, expanded ANCHOR service, longer hours at the Sunnyside library, a new governance and financial oversight model for Lansdowne Park, and improved access to the Rideau River. In the CBC News questionnaire he chooses a transit levy to deal with OC Transpo deficits beyond money from other levels of government, and says he has voted both for and against the police budget in his eight years on Council. In the CTV News Ottawa questionnaire he lists his work as a strategic analyst at the Department of Justice and as manager of government relations at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and his service as a school board trustee from 2014 to 2018. These are his own statements, and voche.me checked only the votes and the audit described above.
