The Ottawa provincial election guide

See your local candidate, when to vote and all the other information you need to make an informed decision

Because an election wasn’t supposed to be called for over a year, many ridings across the province had to scramble last-minute to find a candidate. If one wasn’t already elected yet, they were acclaimed by party officials. 

The Ottawa Lookout has compiled a list of candidates known to be running in each riding to date.

Ridings with no incumbent running

Nepean 

Outgoing: Lisa MacLeod served as the PC MPP for the riding of Nepean-Carleton from 2006 until 2018 when the riding boundaries changed. She then ran in the riding of Nepean for two terms until announcing last year that she would retire from provincial politics. 

On Tuesday MacLeod announced on X that she will be joining the team at the Royal Ottawa Hospital  “to share my lived expertise as part of a research team on sleep and bipolar.” MacLeod has previously been very open about her mental health struggles. In a podcast last year, she announced the situation became too much, and she tried to take her own life in May 2022. 

  • Green: Sheilagh McLean

  • Liberal: Tyler Watt (Ran in 2022 and came in second place with 34 per cent of the vote)

  • NDP: Max Blair

  • NOTA: Anthony Sevigny

  • PC: Alex Lewis (current Ottawa Police officer and backed by MacLeod) 

Ottawa Centre

Outgoing: Joel Harden has been representing Ottawa Centre for two terms since he beat Liberal incumbent Yasir Naqvi in 2018. Last year Harden decided to leave Queen’s Park and run federally for the riding instead. He will again go up against Naqvi in the future federal election, who is the Liberal federal representative for the riding. In his last newsletter to constituents, Harden shared his “heartfelt thanks.”

“I’m not the same person I was when I started this job in the summer of 2018. The people of Ottawa Centre have encouraged me, informed me, inspired me, and made me a better neighbour. I now value and appreciate others I had not known before,” Harden wrote. “I’ve met countless people here who are making a difference, and deserve our support. We must find a way to champion their solutions, and that is my focus in whatever I do going forward.”

  • Green: Simon Beckett

  • Liberal: Thomas Simpson

  • NDP: Catherine McKenney (former Somerset ward councillor who ran for Mayor unsuccessfully in 2022)

  • PC: Scott Healey

Carleton

Outgoing: Goldie Ghamari took over this riding from MacLeod in 2018 when its boundaries changed. It has almost always been Conservative, but Ghamari was ousted from Ford’s PC caucus last year after meeting with an Islamophobic demonstrator. She will not be seeking re-election as an independent.

  • Liberal: Brandon Bay

  • PC: George Darouze (current city councillor for Osgoode Ward)

Ridings with an incumbent

(Incumbents are marked with the * symbol) 

Orleans

  • Green: Michelle Petersen

  • Liberal: Stephen Blais*

  • PC: Steve Plourde

Ottawa South

  • Liberal: John Fraser*

  • NDP: Morgan Gay

  • PC: Jan Gao

Ottawa-Vanier

  • Green: Christian Proulx

  • Liberal: Lucille Collard*

  • Libertarian: Coreen Corcoran

  • PC: Marilissa Gosselin

Ottawa West-Nepean

  • Green: Sophia Andrew-Joiner

  • NDP: Chandra Pasma*

  • PC: Husein Abu-Rayash

Kanata-Carleton

  • Liberal: Karen McCrimmon*

  • PC: Scott Phelan