Orléans at the voting booth

When voters head to the polls in this fall's municipal election, Orléans East Cumberland will be a key race to watch for many reasons. 

Matthew Luloff has held the ward since 2018, when he won a 17-candidate race with 23.7 per cent of the vote — under 300 votes ahead of the second-place candidate Catherine Kitts. She later won a by-election in the neighbouring Orléans South-Navan Ward (then known as Cumberland). 

In 2022, Luloff won with a much greater vote share of 74.1 per cent in a three-candidate race. 

Luloff has confirmed to the Lookout he intends to run for a third time in this fall's election, but he will have some competition: Barbara Daniela Gandolfo, who is well known in east-end Liberal circles, has announced she plans to have her name on the ballot as well. 

Gandolfo, a designer and educator by trade, said she was called to municipal politics after feeling like the east end has been left behind. She’s fairly new to the area, having moved to Orléans from Toronto about four and a half years ago, but has since been actively involved, including coordinating the Neighbourhood Watch Program in Fallingbrook. 

Through that work, she says, patterns began to emerge.

“Moving here and becoming so connected, having an outside perspective and then through my community engagement, I’ve been able to just see more firsthand the areas that we are currently being underserved in Ward One and how I could come forward and do better,” she said.

At the core of Gandolfo’s campaign is what she describes as a long-standing funding imbalance between Ottawa’s east and west ends — one she says is felt most acutely in Orléans East–Cumberland.

“Orléans East Cumberland has really been left behind in funding for basic services — roads, sidewalks, parks, community centres, and specifically transit as well.”

Coming from Toronto, where public transit was a daily part of her routine, Gandolfo says the gaps in local service stood out immediately after moving east.

She argues the consequences go beyond inconvenience. Gandolfo pointed to the rollout of the New Ways to Bus plan as a missed opportunity for stronger advocacy.

“Supporting local transit has a real social and economic value,” she said, adding that strong transit service is directly tied to quality of life, access to employment, and the strength of the local economy.

“In Ward One, there was a real opportunity for our city councillor to show up and participate in the process to protect and even improve our local bus routes,” she said. “Instead, that lack of representation in Ward One sort of translated into the present situation.”

The result, she says, has been longer trips, additional transfers, and increased walking distances to reach transit — including the removal of some stops in established neighbourhoods.

Gandolfo also referenced earlier changes that redirected former express routes to Blair Station following the opening of Line 1, a move she argues doubled commute times for many east-end riders.

“Getting downtown is a 90-minute, two-hour journey,” she said. “That’s a failure.”

Beyond transit, Gandolfo says traffic congestion and road conditions have become growing concerns, particularly during Stage 2 construction.

She argues there has been inadequate municipal oversight along Highway 174, leading to prolonged congestion and safety issues.

“The traffic and the congestion and the state of the roads are also issues that I think matter,” she said, adding that these problems, too, come back to funding and accountability.

While new to municipal politics, Gandolfo brings extensive campaign and organizational experience. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University and previously worked as an educator at the Royal Ontario Museum before moving to Ottawa.

She currently serves as secretary of the Orléans Federal Liberal Association and is a director with the Orléans Provincial Liberal Association. She has also held leadership roles with local Liberal women’s organizations and worked on the 2025 campaigns of Stephen Blais and Marie-France Lalonde, both of whom were successful in their respective races.

In recognition of her volunteer work, Gandolfo was named Orléans Volunteer of the Year in 2024 and received the Orléans Leading Women and Girls Recognition Award the same year.

Still, she says her motivation for running is rooted more in local outcomes than in party politics.

“We do have a unique opportunity with this upcoming municipal election in 2026,” she said. “We have the opportunity to shape a new city council.”

The incumbent, Luloff, is currently on trial for impaired driving charges, which he has pleaded not guilty to. 

The charges stem from July 2024, when Marie Fedorchuk reported witnessing a Jeep cut across lanes and almost strike her vehicle. She called police, who showed up at Luloff's home after finding out the jeep was registered to him. 

The local councillor was on his way home from watching Nickelback perform at Bluesfest. 

In court, Luloff pleaded not guilty, and the accusations against him have not been proven. A decision on the matter is expected Feb. 27. 

Last week, a video of Luloff blowing twice the legal limit on a breathalyzer after being arrested was released to the media after journalists fought for access. While the Crown attorney obliged, Luloff's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon was opposed, saying his client took the breathalyzer after being compelled by the state and was filmed without knowing it could be broadcast one day. 

“In reality, this is an attempt to embarrass Mr. Luloff," Greenspon said. "Freedom of the press is nothing less than a fundamental freedom ... balancing needs to take place."

The judge later sided with the media, saying the release of the video posed no risk to the fairness of Luloff's trial. 

In the 37-minute video, Luloff can be heard saying to the technician, “you understand what this is going to mean for me,” noting, “I’m a local politician who is running for federal office, so you can think whatever you want to say, but this is not, not going to be good for me.”

Luloff was running at the time to be the federal Conservative candidate in Orléans, but resigned his candidacy days later over a “personal matter.”

Greenspon has argued Luloff's charter rights were violated seven times, including by police entering his property without a warrant and failing to read Luloff the routine demand for a breath sample until he had already been transported to the cellblock.