Ottawa has chosen its Mayor for the next 4 years, and it’s the same man who has led the previous 4 years. That, of course, would be Mark Sutcliffe. We have 3 new faces at Laurier Avenue West – and all of them are female. And with no other changes being made to the previous term, 13 of the 24 council seats will be occupied by women, marking the highest number of female councillors to sit on City Council. Of course, one of the biggest talking points today is voter turnout. In Toronto, 45.8 percent of eligible voters casted their ballots, which is a record-high. But here in Ottawa, that number was just over 36 percent, which is a record-low for our city. We delve into all angles of the 2026 Municipal Election cycle with our Reality Check Panel – featuring former Ottawa city councillors Maria McRae, Keith Egli, and Christine Leadman.

<p>Ottawa has chosen its Mayor for the next 4 years, and it&rsquo;s the same man who has led the previous 4 years. That, of course, would be Mark Sutcliffe. We have 3 new faces at Laurier Avenue West &ndash; and all of them are female. And with no other changes being made to the previous term, 13 of the 24 council seats will be occupied by women, marking the highest number of female councillors to sit on City Council. Of course, one of the biggest talking points today is voter turnout. In Toronto, 45.8 percent of eligible voters casted their ballots, which is a record-high. But here in Ottawa, that number was just over 36 percent, which is a record-low for our city. We delve into all angles of the 2026 Municipal Election cycle with our Reality Check Panel &ndash; featuring former Ottawa city councillors Maria McRae, Keith Egli, and Christine Leadman.</p>