Meet the candidates running in Ottawa Centre

An orange wave: Change is coming to the riding of Ottawa Centre when voters head to the polls on Feb. 27, though the local party in power will probably stay the same. Two-term NDP MPP Joel Harden is leaving Queen’s Park as he runs for the same spot federally later this year. 

So many to choose: Early polls show NDP candidate Catherine McKenney with a large lead over Liberal candidate Thomas Simpson. The riding has never been won by the Progressive Conservatives, and that’s highly unlikely to change this year, but Scott Healey is representing that party on the ballot. The Greens are running Simon Beckett. 

It will be a crowded race with seven names on the ballot. Shannon Boschy is running for the Ontario Party; Maria deSouza for the New Blues; and Cashton Perry with the Communists. 

The Ottawa Lookout sat down with the three main party candidates. Answers have been edited for length and clarity. 

Catherine McKenney - NDP 

Background: McKenney is no stranger to politics. They were formerly the city councillor in Somerset Ward for eight years and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2022. The following year, McKenney co-founded CitySHAPES non-profit organization to address “climate change, active transportation, transit, affordable housing and ending chronic homelessness.”

Transit: ”I am very skeptical of the plan that Doug Ford came to Ottawa and announced by taking our LRT and uploading it to Metrolinx. We have Toronto city councillors warning us not to do so. The Liberals have got some similar plan, but that is taking the responsibility and the accountability away from council. It's putting it in the hands of another private consortium. 

The NDP is promising a 50 per cent transit operating fund. For Ottawa that would mean about $350 million a year. We can then reverse cuts, we can hire more drivers, and put more buses on the road. Ottawa, currently this year is optimizing cutting some 37,000 service hours out of their transit. It is getting less and less reliable and fewer people are taking it. We have to reverse that. Ongoing operations funding will do that.“

Housing and affordability: “We need to put in place immediate and real rent control and vacancy control, so that, if you move out of your unit, the next person coming in is the same as you did. You also have certainty that your landlord's not gonna be able to continually raise your rent.

We would build 300,000 permanently affordable housing units so that we can house people in a way that they have dignity and be able to afford their rent. It would be publicly owned. We will also build 60,000 supportive housing units. We need supportive housing units so that we can pull people out of homelessness, we can pull people out of shelters, and we can house them.“

Education: “There's a lot of talk of building a new French school at LeBreton Flats. Louise Arbour, the one that exists today, is falling apart. It's becoming almost unsafe, and it's certainly not a place where kids can learn well. We would invest in a new French public school and a new French Catholic school. But also, we would address the backlog that's been left by the last two governments. The Liberals left a $17 billion repair backlog. It's gone up to $22 billion under this government. 

The NDP would invest $830 million each year over the next 10 years. We would also invest in more teachers, more EAs, more early childhood educators, more adults in the school so that you have smaller class sizes.”

Safe consumption sites: “I was actually on the Ottawa Public Board of Health when we made the decision to approve the sites. The locations were based on evidence and since then the crisis has only gotten worse. 

When it's removed, not only are you taking a health lifeline away from people who need it, desperately, but we also have a paramedic shortage, and when people are overdosing, not in a place where they have experts who are able to reverse that, they're doing it out on the street. Paramedics will be responding to that. They would be taking people to emergency rooms, again, extending your wait in an emergency room.“

Favourite restaurant and hangout spot: ”I hate picking favourites! I go to a lot of places. But the one I probably go to the most is Union 613. They have amazing staff, an amazing owner who pays his employees well, and has amazing food. My favourite place to relax is at home with my wife and my 17-year-old.“

Thomas Simpson - Liberal 

Background: Simpson previously worked as a policy officer at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and, more recently, held various roles at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). He currently serves as the organization's vice president. 

Transit: ”I think the fact is our city is in a very difficult spot financially when it comes to our public transit. We are committed to uploading the LRT to the province. When we look comparatively across the province, the GTA gets five times more funding than we do here in Ottawa. 

By uploading the LRT, not only are we taking hundreds of millions of dollars off the deficit the city currently is trying to figure out, but we ensure that we get our fair share of provincial funding. We've also committed to expanding Phase 3 of LRT so that our LRT system actually connects the city.”

Safety: “We need a balanced approach. We need to ensure that our most vulnerable, those people who are fortunately living on the streets with mental health and addiction problems, get the support they need. When we're talking about humans, it's not black and white. It is very nuanced. I think what we need to do is ensure that we have the appropriate supports for those folks who are living on our streets so that they can get the care that they need, whether that is counselling, recovery, or helping find them homes.”

Affordability and housing: ”I think we're in a very interesting time where life is just more expensive and people need help. I think that means ensuring that we're making choices to help people rather than just giving a one-time $200 gimmick. That means we're cutting taxes, whether that is for middle-income earners with their income tax, or removing HST from home heating and hydro, that's roughly $1,500 a year. 

At the same time, we need to make sure that we're helping our most vulnerable. That means doubling ODSP rates. On average $1,000 a month for rent, groceries, bills and everything else, is not enough. 

In terms of affordable housing, one of the things that I've been pushing locally is a housing acquisition fund, a pot of money for co-ops, non-profits and Indigenous-led organizations who can use that money to go and buy housing that's already on the street.”

Healthcare: “The amount of people who don't have a family doctor or who are worried that their doctor is going to retire imminently is astounding. We need to make sure that we can not only bring a physician back into family medicine, but retain a whole bunch of new family doctors, whether that's opening medical schools, expanding residency and ensuring that foreign-trained professionals as well can get into our system responsibly. 

We are investing $3.2 billion. It's an ambitious plan over four years, but it's a practical one. I think part of this is ensuring that we are paying nurses and social workers the money that they deserve, and investing in community health teams will see a reduction of burden on our hospitals in our ER rooms. It's not okay that people are waiting 12-plus hours at the Civic. It's not okay that families are waiting 17-plus hours to see a physician at CHEO.“

Favourite place to eat and hangout spot: ”It changes because there are so many great places to eat. My team and I have been doing a sandwich tour of Ottawa Centre right now. Parma Ravioli has fantastic sandwiches. Its chicken parmi is fabulous. To unwind after a long day, honestly I'm just very happy to go home to my husband to curl up and just try and watch something.“

Scott Healey - Progressive Conservative 

Background: Born in Kingston and raised in Mississauga, Healey attended York University in the early 1980s where he received a BA in history. After graduating he first worked in the insurance brokerage business, becoming a partner in his own firm. In parallel, Healey joined the naval reserve in 1981 and has been on part-time and full-service ever since.

Safety: “Let's just enforce the laws. As an elected MPP for Ottawa Centre, I would ensure that the City of Ottawa was given additional funds for both policing and for social services to help those who are truly in need on the street, but at the same time, there is that silent majority. The majority of people who don't feel safe want a better community and they are being neglected by the current politicians being represented in the area.“

Safe consumption sites: ”I think safe injection sites have continuously proven they don’t work based on the data. Look at British Columbia where several politicians have come out firmly against it. We do not believe that giving out drugs is the best way to deal with situations. 

I think that we need to take new approaches, but the approaches that are continually being tried downtown year after year are not getting results. You can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results. We all know what Einstein said; That's insanity. I don't think anyone has all the answers, but we need to take a different look at things and I believe that I would be that person to do that.“

Healthcare: ”I think there are a couple of thrusts that the government has embarked on. We are spending money but it's never gonna be enough money, but we have invested in infrastructure, we've invested in new schools to get doctors certified, we're helping pay to get doctors educated. We're helping to pay to get nurses educated. We've opened up the pharmacies to provide more services. We are giving money to local community organizations so that they can do more and take the workload off of hospital waiting rooms.“

Transit: ”I think uploading the city’s LRT system to the province is a fair deal for Ottawa. It's uploading billions of dollars and operation and maintenance for the LRT and the transit system.“ 

Housing: “There are two aspects that the government has initiated over the last year. One is the infrastructure fund which they introduced in the budget at $1.6 billion. It was used to build water, and sewer, and provide all the infrastructure to help communities and help developers. The other is the fund to speed up development in communities where if you get to meet certain targets, the community will get more money. 

But we need more affordable housing, that is going to be a bigger issue. But I will say affordable housing will be much more of a challenge if tariffs go into effect, there is no question about that. So we need a government that's going to work to stop those tariffs as best we can, so their impact on Canadian families, Ontario communities, is very limited.”