Could a home builder be Ottawa’s next mayor?

Alex Lawson says his decision to run for mayor isn’t based on a lifelong ambition to be in politics. Instead, he is entering the race because, in his view, Ottawa has stopped delivering basic services effectively.

“Taxes keep increasing and the services we are getting keep going down,” he told the Ottawa Lookout. “People can’t get around. People are not safe in certain areas. Everything is more expensive.”

Lawson is not your average candidate, which is something he hopes could be a political advantage come October. 

Growing up in Herongate, he relied on food banks and the snowsuit fund in his youth.

Later, he attended Ridgemont High School’s construction technology pilot program that gave high school students that “weren’t taking academics seriously a chance to apply themselves.” That path led Lawson into the skilled trades and, about a decade ago, to launching his own company, Capital Framers. Today, the firm builds more than 140 homes annually and employs more than 17 people.

While managing a construction business and running for mayor may appear worlds apart, Lawson says the underlying skills are much the same.

“They look completely different, but most of what business is about is being successful and having the right series of conversations,” said Lawson. “It is listening and it is solving problems. It is about finding the people who know most about solving that particular problem.”

Although his campaign is still in its early stages, Lawson has assembled a team with considerable political experience.

Overall campaign oversight is being led by his half-brother, Emrys Graefe, who previously held a senior role in Stephen Harper’s 2015 national campaign and later worked on provincial Conservative efforts under Ontario Premier Doug Ford and former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. 

Digital strategy is being managed by Jeff Ballingall, a veteran Conservative strategist best known as the founder of Ontario Proud. Senior strategic advice is coming from Fred DeLorey, who served as national campaign manager for the federal Conservatives during the 2021 election.

There is also a cross-partisan element to the team.

Quito Maggi, CEO of Mainstreet Research and a frequent participant in Liberal campaigns, is serving as campaign chair. Maggi brings a strong municipal track record, with ten campaign victories and just one loss.

Lawson himself previously sat on the board of the Kanata-Carleton Conservative Association. But despite the many Conservative voices involved, Lawson stresses he is running a non-partisan campaign. 

“We haven’t announced all of the members of the team yet, but there are a lot on the left, too, because good ideas come from different places,” said Lawson.

“If we’re talking about small businesses and smaller government and letting people have more of a say in their lives, that’s going to come from the conservative [side],” he added. 

“But when we are talking about helping people and providing the social services that people need, people are going to put that in the Liberal bucket. Once my platforms and policy start coming out, people are going to understand this is just people squashing political beef for actual progress.”

Lawson, who voted for Mark Sutcliffe in the last election, says his full platform will come later. For now, he says he is listening to residents across the city to help shape it.

In the meantime, he has offered some details about what it may include.

“Let’s make things affordable. Let’s get people moving. Transit and traffic are going to be big key issues. It’s going to be safety, mental health and the homeless,” said Lawson.

On transit, Lawson said the old Transitway used to work well for many people. Route 95, for example, could take commuters from Barrhaven to Orléans in a little over an hour. Now, he says, commute times have almost doubled.

“There are a lot of transfers. We need to make sure that people reliably know where their buses are going,” he said.

Over the past few weeks, Lawson has hit the streets with the SOS Street Outreach Society, a volunteer-run group that provides food and supplies to homeless individuals.

What he saw struck a chord. In one case, he said, a man was scavenging through road salt looking for a fallen piece of crack cocaine.

“We bundled him up as much as we could while he was there, and stuffed his pockets with granola bars. Sometimes that’s all you’re going to be able to do,” said Lawson.

“A lot of what SOS does is putting Band-aids on problems, but they’re making today a little better for the people that are down there and have to be living like that. They’re there for people when they decide that they want to actually get cleaned up and change their life,” he said.

Lawson wants to see solutions to the issues that got people on the streets in the first place, which he says begins with addressing mental health.

One issue he has become aware of is that some people seeking detox need to travel to Kingston because there are not enough beds in Ottawa.

“A lot of this is going to come from working with provincial and the federal governments,” he said.

With upwards of four names coming forward so far for the mayoral ballot, the dynamics are starting to play out similarly to the 2006 mayoral election, which Larry O’Brien won.

In that race, incumbent Bob Chiarelli was looking for another term but faced mixed opinions about his popularity, especially given his light rail transit platform. He was up against businessman O’Brien, who ran as a “centrist” candidate — though was much more Conservative — and called for a review of the LRT expansion plans, which included the possibility of cancelling the contract. Also in the race was well-liked Kanata Coun. Alex Munter, who was running on a more left-leaning agenda.

O’Brien, who was seen very much as an outsider, began polling in third place but climbed in support after Terry Kilrea dropped out to pursue a council spot. 

In the end, he won with 47 per cent of the vote— about 30,000 more votes than second-place Munter. His win came thanks to voters in rural and suburban areas. Voter turnout had also been high at over 50 per cent. 

Fast forward to 2026 and the parallels are hard to miss. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is eyeing a second term. Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper is entering the playing field as the left-leaning candidate, running on a platform that centres on transit. Lawson, who has also worked as a lobbyist, is expected to bring forward a more centre-right agenda.

To make this race a little more different, Neil Saravanamuutto is also considering running for mayor, which some worry could split the left vote.

Historically, Lawson could prove to be an alternative for residents in rural and suburban parts of the city who are looking for another centre- or right-leaning candidate besides Sutcliffe.

Sutcliffe will need to do his part to win over residents in places like Barrhaven and Kanata who remain upset about his support for Sprung structures being built in or near their communities last year.

The mayor did hold his yearly barbecue at the Minto Recreation Centre in Barrhaven’s Half Moon Bay community last fall and has been a strong supporter of building the Greenbank Road realignment, which is two decades overdue.

But Sutcliffe still has the incumbent advantage. He won the last election with 51 per cent of the vote and has not faced any major personal scandals over the past three years. With four candidates in the race, the vote could split in a way that benefits any of them — none may need the same share of support that would be required in a two-person contest.

The election will be held on Oct. 26.