---
title: "Jeff Leiper, 56, spent three terms on Ottawa council changing his mind about housing"
description: "CBC News profiled the Kitchissippi councillor on October 14. He chairs the city committee that approves development, and says the committee has approved tens of thousands of units during his tenure."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/on/ottawa-2026/news/leiper-profile-cbc-2026-10-14"
last_updated: "2026-10-17T18:36:40.678Z"
---

[Jeff Leiper](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/jeff-leiper), 56, has served three terms as Kitchissippi ward councillor and chairs Ottawa's planning and housing committee. CBC News profiled him on October 14, one of a series of profiles of candidates running for mayor.

Leiper says his committee has approved tens of thousands of housing units during his tenure. That record is central to his case for the mayor's office. When he first ran for council in 2014, he challenged incumbent councillor Katherine Hobbs on concerns about the pace of development in the neighbourhood, and won by a wide margin. He says his position evolved as he chaired the committee, citing the city's official plan and Ontario's housing legislation as factors.

Leiper told CBC his goal is community building. "What I'm interested in is community building. Being able to focus on that is a real joy," he said. He calls his childhood neighbourhood, the Ideal Village Co-op in Orléans, a "15-minute community" where people looked out for each other, and says that image stays with him as a politician.

Cheryl Parrott, who served with Leiper on the Hintonburg Community Association board before his council career, told CBC he was able to lead the association through difficult discussions. The association dealt with street prostitution and intravenous drug use in the neighbourhood during those years.

**Before council**

Leiper worked in journalism in the 1990s, covering Ottawa's technology sector for a newspaper called Silicon Valley North and later writing about telecommunications policy for trade publications. That reporting led to a position at the federal Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission around 2007, he told CBC.

He served multiple terms as president of the Hintonburg Community Association and helped launch the Hintonburg 5K run. He bought a house in Hintonburg with his wife Natalie; they raised their son Nick there.

His first run for elected office was for Cumberland Township council at age 24, where he placed last with 70 votes. He did not try again for another two decades.

**A heart attack and what followed**

On February 13, 2019, Leiper suffered a heart attack while shovelling snow. He told CBC it forced him to reconsider what mattered. He quit smoking afterward. He has a tattoo marking the date.

"Taking care of First Things First," he described to CBC as the lesson he took from it. He says he reads 70 to 75 books a year and is a regular at the Spaniel's Tale bookstore in Hintonburg. His favourite author is John Steinbeck.

Leiper is one of four candidates taking part in a CBC Ottawa mayoral debate on October 21, alongside Alex Lawson, Neil Saravanamuttoo and Mark Sutcliffe. You can see all four on the [Ottawa 2026 candidates page](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates#mayor). Advance voting day is Friday, October 16, from 10 am to 8 pm. Voting day is Monday, October 26.

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