Ottawa municipal election 2018: Who’s in and who’s out?

It’s past 2 p.m. on Friday, July 27 — which means the window of opportunity to submit (or withdraw) nominations for Ottawa’s 2018 municipal election has come and gone.

So, with that — who’s in and who’s out?

A fun fact off the top: none of the races for city council are unopposed, giving Ottawa residents in every ward a choice to make at the ballot box on October 22. A few races are crowded and several will certainly be contests to watch closely.

All in all, there are 12 mayoral candidates while another 102 have signed up for a chance to represent their ward and secure a seat at city council.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson is gunning for a third term and 19 of the 23 sitting councillors are running for re-election.

This breakdown means it’s possible that the next council could retain 83 per cent of this past term’s composition.

On October 22, residents will also cast their ballots for school board trustees. In a release Friday evening, the City of Ottawa said 15 school board trustees have been acclaimed.

(Scroll to the bottom of this article for a full list of certified mayoral and city councillor candidates in Ottawa. A full list of school board trustee zones and certified candidates is available here.)

The mayoral race

This year’s all-male roster of mayoral candidates is four names longer than in 2014 — with Watson being one of the first to sign up at the election office. His challengers, for the most part, are lesser known names in town — except one.

Shaking up the mayoral race somewhat on the nomination period’s last day, former Ottawa city councillor Clive Doucet showed up to register just hours before the deadline.

Doucet was the councillor for Capital ward from 1997 to 2010 (pre- and post-amalgamation) and is the only other contender for mayor who has served previously in public office. This actually marks Doucet’s second mayoral campaign and his second run against Watson. Both were candidates in the 2010 election, vying to beat former mayor Larry O’Brien.

The other 10 contenders for mayor this election are (in alphabetical order): Hamid Alakosai, Ahmed Bouragba, Bernard Couchman, Joey Drouin, Ryan Lythall, Craig MacAulay, Bruce McConville, Michael Pastien, Moises Schachtler and James T. Sheahan.

Watson easily won a second term in 2014 with 76.2 per cent of the total vote. The second-place mayoral candidate, Mike Maguire, obtained 18.7 per cent of the vote. None of the other contenders secured more than two per cent of the vote each.

The four councillors who bowed out

Councillors Bob Monette, Jody Mitic, Marianne Wilkinson and Mark Taylor all confirmed well in advance of the nomination deadline that they wouldn’t be running again in the upcoming election – making the races in those four wards all ones to watch.

When he ran in Bay ward in 2010, Taylor campaigned on a promise to only serve for two terms. One of the city’s two deputy mayors, Taylor has kept his word. Now, five candidates are vying to take his spot at city hall.

Wilkinson — Kanata North’s councillor since 2006, and formerly Kanata’s first-ever mayor — announced in early March she would not be seeking re-election. Another five candidates have jumped at the opportunity to replace her.

Mitic — a military veteran elected to represent Innes ward in 2014 — made his announcement just weeks after Wilkinson, saying he needs to focus on his health. Mitic is currently on an extended, paid leave of absence from council. Four candidates now hope to be the next councillor for Innes.

Monette — a four-term councillor in Orléans and Ottawa’s other deputy mayor — was the fourth and last councillor to announce he wouldn’t be seeking re-election, after initially saying he would. He backtracked on his decision to run mid-June because of “family considerations.”

A whopping 17 candidates have registered for a chance to claim Monette’s seat — a record for Orléans ward.

Who wants to be a councillor (again)?

College Ward councillor Rick Chiarelli was the last council member to announce his or her election intentions. The long-time municipal politician registered to run on Thursday.

Out of the 19 councillors running for re-election in 2018, seven are finishing up their first-term on council: Tobi Nussbaum (Rideau-Rockcliffe), Catherine McKenney (Somerset), Jeff Leiper (Kitchissippi), Riley Brockington (River), Jean Cloutier (Alta-Vista), George Darouze (Osgoode) and Michael Qaqish (Gloucester-South Nepean).

Like their Bay ward colleague, Allan Hubley (Kanata South), Stephen Blais (Cumberland) and Tim Tierney (Beacon Hill-Cyrville) had pledged two-term limits when they ran in 2010. All three are registered to try and win their seats for a third time.

For a long time, it looked like Tierney would be the acclaimed candidate in his ward but a second candidate threw his hat in the ring at the eleventh hour.

The majority of the ward races have two to five candidates registered.

Of note: rookie councillor Qaqish is facing four challengers, including former news anchor, reporter and radio host Carol Anne Meehan.

A complete list of registered and certified mayoral and council candidates is below. This story will be updated if more names are posted online by the City of Ottawa’s election office.

Ward 1: Orléans

• Rick Bédard
• Toby Bossert
• Mireille Brownhill
• Guy Desroches
• Diego Elizondo
• Dina Epale
• Doug Feltmate
• Jarrod Goldsmith
• Miranda Gray
• Geoffrey Nicholas Griplas
• Catherine Kitts
• Shannon Kramer
• Matthew Luloff
• Qamar Masood
• Louise Soyez
• Kevin Tetreault
• Don Yetman

Ward 2: Innes

• Laura Dudas
• Donna Leith-Gudbranson
• Tammy Lynch
• François Trépanier

Ward 3: Barrhaven

• Jan Harder (incumbent)
• Franklin Epape
• Ahmad Malgarai
• Atiq Qureshi
• Hadi Wess

Ward 4: Kanata North

• Philip Bloedow
• David Gourlay
• Matt Muirhead
• Lorne Neufeldt
• Jenna Sudds

Ward 5: West Carleton-March

• Eli El-Chantiry (incumbent)
• James Parsons
• Judi Varga-Toth

Ward 6: Stittsville

• Shad Qadri (incumbent)
• Glen Gower

Ward 7: Bay

• Erica Dath
• Don Dransfield
• Theresa Kavanagh
• Marc Lugert
• Trevor Robinson

Ward 8: College

• Rick Chiarelli (incumbent)
• Emilie Coyle
• Ryan Kennery

Ward 9: Knoxdale-Merivale

• Keith Egli (incumbent)
• Warren Arshinoff
• James Dean
• Luigi Mangone
• Peter Anthony Weber

Ward 10: Gloucester-Southgate

• Diane Deans (incumbent)
• Alek Golijanin
• Perry Sabourin
• Sam Soucy
• Robert Swaita

Ward 11: Beacon Hill-Cyrville

• Tim Tierney (incumbent)
• Michael Schurter

Ward 12: Rideau-Vanier

• Mathieu Fleury (incumbent)
• Salar Changiz
• Thierry Harris
• Matt Lowe

Ward 13: Rideau-Rockcliffe

• Tobi Nussbaum (incumbent)
• Peter Heyck

Ward 14: Somerset

• Catherine McKenney (incumbent)
• Arthur David
• Jerry Kovacs
• Merdod Zopyrus

Ward 15: Kitchissippi

• Jeff Leiper (incumbent)
• Daniel Stringer

Ward 16: River

• Riley Brockington (incumbent)
• Fabien Kalala Cimankinda
• Kerri Keith
• Hassib Reda

Ward 17: Capital

• David Chernushenko (incumbent)
• Jide Afolabi
• Anthony Carricato
• Christine McAllister
• Shawn Menard

Ward 18: Alta Vista

• Jean Cloutier (incumbent)
• Clinton Cowan
• Kevin Kit
• Raylene Lang-Dion
• Mike McHarg
• John Redins

Ward 19: Cumberland

• Stephen Blais (incumbent)
• Jensen Boire
• Cameron Rose Jette

Ward 20: Osgoode

• George Darouze (incumbent)
• Auguste Banfalvi
• Mark Scharfe
• Kim Sheldrick
• Jay Tysick

Ward 21: Rideau-Goulbourn

• Scott Moffatt (incumbent)
• David Brown

Ward 22: Gloucester-South Nepean

• Michael Qaqish (incumbent)
• Zaff Ansari
• Carol Anne Meehan
• Irene Mei
• Harpeet Singh

Ward 23: Kanata South

• Allan Hubley (incumbent)
• Steve Anderson
• Mike Brown
• Doug Large