A 'transformative year', Sutcliffe looks back at 2025

When Mayor Mark Sutcliffe looks back at 2025, he calls it a “transformative year” for the city of Ottawa.

The updated Transportation Master Plan, that will outline transit-oriented projects for the next 25 years, was passed in July. The Housing Active Plan was approved by council in October. Lansdowne 2.0 got the green light the following month. The last city budget for this term of council was passed just weeks ago. Now, work is underway to finalize zoning bylaws.

But running a city of over one million people costs a lot of money.

“We've had a very good year in terms of managing the city finances. There's a lot of demand on our resources, and we don't get as much help as we need from other levels of government,” Sutcliffe told the Lookout. “But at the city, we've identified $253 million in savings and efficiencies, and we've been able to keep our tax increases low because of that, at a time when people—especially those on fixed incomes and renters—can't afford for us to add to their burden with higher property tax rates.”

On Dec. 10, the city passed its budget with a 3.75 per cent tax hike that will cost the average homeowner $166 more a year.

The budget passed in a 21–4 vote, with Councillors Matthew Luloff, Sean Devine, Ariel Troster and Jeff Leiper voting no.

Sutcliffe said he took it as a huge vote of confidence that the city is heading in the right direction.

“I'm very proud of the fact that we've passed four budgets now, and out of a possible 100 votes—if you think each time there's 25 votes and there's four budgets—we got 88 votes over the four years,” he said. “That shows that we have taken a balanced approach to how we do the budgets, balancing the needs of every part of the community, balancing the needs of rural Ottawa, suburban Ottawa, and downtown, balancing the needs of all the different councillors, balancing the needs of the police service and the fire service and the paramedics, and also community services.”

Perhaps most debate over the budget happened in the east end, where councillors continued to state their part of town is not adequately funded. Orléans South-Navan Coun. Catherine Kitts was initially considering voting against it, but cast her vote in support.

Luloff, who often votes the same way as the Mayor, surprised many—including his council colleagues—when he said he would not support the budget. During the council meeting, he said it was because of long-delayed infrastructure projects, but said the Mayor still had his support.

Sutcliffe disagrees with the assumption that the east end is not getting its fair share.

“Let's not forget that the single biggest investment the city is making over the next year is going to be the expansion of light rail into Orléans,” he said. “I don't think the people of Orléans are getting shortchanged on public transit. There are lots of people in Kanata, Barhaven and Stittsville who would love to see light rail come to their neighbourhoods, and they are going to have to wait a little bit longer to get it.”

Sutcliffe also said there is money to fund recreation and greenspace, but he also admits there is still more work to do.

“We need to do more on roads and traffic and other things, particularly for South Orléans,” he said.

In late April, ‘New Ways to Bus’ was launched, which saw OC Transpo’s biggest overhaul of route changes in its history. The move drew mixed opinions.

There would be roughly 74,000 fewer service hours per year, translating to about a 3.5 per cent cut in service. Over 100 routes changed, with some being cancelled and others added.

The move was branded as a way to keep up with ridership trends that were heading towards the need for more localized routes to help people travel around their communities and also line up with expanded light rail transit service, including the reopened Trillium Line.

What contributed to the downfall of public transit in Ottawa was the COVID-19 pandemic, but numbers are showing it’s starting to rebound. In September, 7.4 million riders were reported, with another 7.8 million in October. That is roughly 80 per cent of where patterns were during those same months in 2019—and also the highest pre-pandemic travel numbers.

Sutcliffe said he understands the frustrations people have with OC Transpo and thanked them for their patience. He said it will take time to build a better transit system and restore confidence in the system.

A game changer, said Sutcliffe, is when the Confederation Line extension out to the east end opens in the first quarter of next year.

“That rapid transit is a real game changer because people will be getting on the train at Trim, at Place d’Orléans, or at Montreal Road, and they will be getting downtown significantly faster than they could in a car at rush hour. They will be zooming past cars on Highway 174,” said Sutcliffe. “It also frees up resources that can be redeployed within the bus network because we'll need fewer buses on the routes that are currently serving that area.”

Sutcliffe is also looking forward to the province uploading control of the light rail transit system. In October, the Mayor said negotiations will “take a long time,” but that OC Transpo must maintain “local control over service delivery and hiring of personnel.”

“It will save us roughly $85 million a year that we can reinvest in public transit, in better public transit for the residents of Ottawa,” Sutcliffe told the Lookout on Thursday. “Right now, we spend a lot of money within the transit budget on light rail, on the original cost of having built light rail. There were other transit projects that were entirely paid for, or significantly paid for, by the federal and provincial governments in other cities, including in the GTA, whereas in Ottawa, local taxpayers have paid more than 50 per cent of the cost of building light rail.”

How those additional funds will be spent remains unclear, but Sutcliffe said it should be spent on bus rapid transit. A few projects are in the books, including the $360 million Baseline Transitway connecting Algonquin College to Billings Bridge, the $257 million Cumberland Transitway across the Greenbelt from Blair Road to the Chapel Hill Park and Ride, another $140 million to extend the Cumberland Transitway from the Chapel Hill Park and Ride to Esprit Drive, and a $210 million Kanata North Transitway from Corkstown Road to Terry Fox Drive.

Some of these projects councillors thought would have been built by now but have been delayed due to the high costs of operating transit. OC Transpo was forecasting a $47 million deficit for this year. To help ease the burden, transit riders will need to pay a 2.5 per cent increase in 2026. The cost of an adult monthly pass will climb to $138.50.

To help encourage more people to take public transit, riders under the age of 18 can ride the bus or trains for free on weekends and holidays, starting on July 1. At that same time, the transfer window will be extended on weekdays between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. from 90 minutes to 105 minutes.

In April, trains will also run more frequently on the Confederation Line. They will run every six minutes on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and every 7.5 minutes between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on weekday evenings. The change is a reversal from when council reduced off-peak service to every 10 minutes last July.

When Prime Minister Mark Carney was first elected as Liberal Party leader, his first meeting was with Sutcliffe in his own neighbourhood of Wellington West. The two Marks bonded over eggs at the now-closed John’s Diner.

Since then, the pair have been together on multiple occasions, with Carney even being the keynote speaker at the Mayor’s Breakfast earlier this month. The closeness between the two political leaders has caught the attention of many, with some calling it a “bromance” on social media.

Sutcliffe chuckled at that statement and said he sees it as his duty to have a strong relationship with both the Prime Minister and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

“I think the Prime Minister genuinely cares about our city, and not just because he's an MP from Ottawa, but because he's genuinely interested in the city. He's lived here for a number of years, and he's committed to finding solutions and helping the city succeed,” said Sutcliffe.

Sutcliffe said his strong relationship with the PM was showcased last week when a $400 million agreement was signed with Build Canada Homes, the new federal agency that will support the construction of 3,000 affordable homes in the capital. Ottawa was the first municipal government to sign a deal with the new agency.

“It is amazing. Some of them will be built on federal land,” said Sutcliffe. “The Prime Minister also announced that Ottawa and Canada will be bidding to host the 2028 La Francophonie summit, which is a huge international event that will be an amazing opportunity to showcase the Franco-Ontarian community in Ottawa and showcase our bilingual city to the world.”

But there are still more tasks on Sutcliffe’s laundry list of wants. He has been in regular contact with Carney over the future of downtown and the ByWard Market.

“There's some opportunities that the city has, I think, to do more in the ByWard Market and potentially look at some development opportunities in the market to create more attractions to bring people downtown,” said Sutcliffe. “I think there will be more to come in 2026.”

In August, the Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission reached a deal to build a new Sens arena at LeBreton Flats. The cost of the roughly four and a half acres of land has never been made public, but the Ottawa Citizen and The Athletic have reported it was for around $37 million.

It is unclear when shovels could be in the ground or when fans might one day watch a game at the new arena, but that would be at least half a decade or more away.

Last week, the Ottawa Citizen reported that the Sens have hired StrategyCorp Inc. to lobby both federal and provincial governments for dollars to fund the project. A new arena in Calgary is being built in partnership with the Alberta provincial government and the city, which is spending $537 million on the sporting facility.

The Senators have said in the past they don't expect the City of Ottawa to contribute, but sources have told other publications that team owner Michael Andlauer would like to broker a similar deal.

Sutcliffe, who said in the past he is not in support of giving the team any money, is sticking by that statement.

“I've said many times that I don't think the people of Ottawa want taxpayers' money going towards a privately owned professional sports arena. I don't think the Senators are asking for that,” he said. “They've made it clear that that's not the kind of request they intend to make. So I'm very interested to see how their discussions continue with the National Capital Commission.”