What Kitchissippi ward is looking for in a new councillor

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In the eyes of the locals, Kitchissippi ward sometimes falls victim to its own popularity.

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The ward’s extensive trail network offers easy access from its trendy neighbourhoods right downtown, while its stretch along the Ottawa River attracts swimmers, paddlers and other water enjoyers from across the city.

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These attractions have helped make Kitchissippi into one of Ottawa’s increasingly desirable places to live, but on busy summer days the steady stream of visitors can leave residents feeling as though the ward’s population somehow doubled overnight.

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And, with longtime councillor Jeff Leiper throwing his hat into the ring to run for mayor, Kitchissippi voters are getting ready to elect a new voice at City Hall who will manage these competing pressures of growth, livability and preserving neighbourhood character.

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Four candidates are stepping up to the plate to become the next councillor, as voters will choose between former Ottawa Citizen and CBC journalist Joanne Chianello, tech entrepreneur and ethics instructor Subhir Uppal, former community association president Brian Innes and tech startup manager Xavier Commerford.

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Michelle Groulx also put her name in the hat, but withdrew due to “unforeseen circumstances,” according to an Aug. 10 social media post. On Sept. 15, Groulx was named the ByWard Market District Authority’s interim CEO.

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So, what are the biggest issues in this west-Ottawa ward, and what are residents looking for in their next councillor?

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What do community leaders say?

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Having lived in the Westboro area for the past 25 years, Heather Mitchell said she’s watched the area transform from a modest community to a bustling urban centre.

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“This area has always been evolving,” said Mitchell, vice-chair of the Westboro Community Association.

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But with evolution comes densification, especially as Kitchissippi ward has been tapped on the shoulder to provide important infill and densification as the City of Ottawa looks to build around its transit hubs and urban communities.

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The ward has grown by more than 2,000 households over the past four years and had an estimated population of 48,700 as of the end of 2025, according to City of Ottawa data.

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And, while local residents are welcoming the new neighbours, some worry that the rapid urban growth isn’t being complemented by necessary upgrades to roads, community centres, parks and other local amenities.

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“That’s the concern of most of the community, to make sure this move towards more density is done in a way that benefits the community and doesn’t destroy it,” Mitchell said.

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All the while, many prospective residents are being outpriced from the housing market as neighbourhoods like Westboro and Wellington West are consistently listed among the most expensive areas in Ottawa to buy property.

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“They’re building lots of housing that’s either unaffordable, or that nobody wants,” Mitchell said. “Folks don’t want to move into a 500 square-foot apartment if they have three kids.”

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For Patricia Le Seaux, co-president of the Westboro Beach Community Association, road congestion and pedestrian safety are two of the most alarming ways intensification manifests itself in the ward.

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She described main arteries like Island Park Drive becoming parking lots at rush hour, while major intersections like the one at Churchill Avenue North and Scott Street struggle to keep up with the increased car and pedestrian flow.

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“Pedestrians have been hit, there’s been car accidents, and this is causing us concern because there’s more and more backups,” Le Seaux said.

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More visitors also mean higher demand for street parking, even on residential side streets just off the main roads. Last November, the city introduced paid parking on main streets in Westboro and Wellington West to try to manage the high demand.

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While transit upgrades are promising to provide some relief from the increased congestion and parking demand, there’s still no concrete timeline as to when the Line 1 western expansion will run all the way through the ward.

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“The whole thing has been very slow,” Le Seaux said.

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She added the community was seeking better social supports for the occupants of the low-income housing in the ward, citing increasing drug and community safety concerns.

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Asked what they believed to be the biggest issues in Kitchissippi ward ahead of the election, all four candidates had something to say on the topics of transit and mobility, responsible growth and affordability and public safety.

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Transit and mobility

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After hearing from thousands of Kitchissippi voters, Chianello said residents wanted “convenient and affordable transit, safer streets and better ways to get around.”

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If elected, she said she’d press for clear information on the LRT while the city worked toward long-term bus solutions. She added she’d also advocate for more affordable fares for everyone, including free youth fares year-round.

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One of Uppal’s major concerns is that residents often wait for buses that never arrive. He said he’d advocate for accurate real-time bus information, while using technology to identify LRT problems before they disrupted service.

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Uppal added he’d advocate for safer streets by closing gaps in the cycling network, improving dangerous intersections and providing better year-round maintenance.

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Innes said one of the ways growth put pressure on the ward was through mobility problems for its residents. He said he’d push for more accountability on the LRT and more reliability on the ward’s main bus routes.

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He added he’d “tackle chronic parking traffic problems” on Parkdale Avenue, Scott Street and Churchill Avenue while also demanding faster snow-clearing in dense areas.

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After noticing traffic bottlenecks caused by enhanced federal government return-to-office mandates, Commerford said he’d phase in zero-fare transit on the LRT and Route 11 while reversing route cuts made under the New Ways to Bus.

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Commerford said he’d also implement a PRESTO-integrated bike share and construct bus lanes on Carling Avenue.

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Responsible and affordable growth

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Chianello said she believed residents wanted “intensification done right,” by finding ways to build homes while ensuring infrastructure could keep pace. Noting the ward doesn’t have enough recreation facilities, she said she’d look to Bayview Yards as another future recreation site.

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She said she’d work with federal and provincial partners to create more affordable housing and would push to make it easier for private developers to partner with non-profit housing providers.

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Uppal said he’d also push for a new recreation and wellness centre in the ward, adding he’d be looking at land in the Tunney’s Pasture and Bayview areas.

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He said he supported missing-middle housing such as duplexes and low-rise apartments, while concentrating greater height along transit corridors, stressing the importance of following predictable planning rules and pushing for greater financial accountability.

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Innes said he’d also “champion a new recreation centre” while maintaining and protecting the ward’s current community spaces, such as Tom Brown Arena.

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He added he’d fight to protect the character of Kitchissippi neighbourhoods by keeping towers off residential and main streets, pushing back against developments “that overwhelm neighbourhoods.”

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Commerford said he was aware of how highrises priced out families and said he’d prioritize mid-rise developments and enforce municipal anti-renoviction bylaws, including a right to air conditioning.

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After noticing how vulnerable the ward is to extreme weather, he added he’d push to build more sponge infrastructure for flood management.

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Community safety

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Chianello said she’d been struck by the shared compassion for people who needed help and for the strong support for better social services in the ward.

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She said she would push to expand the Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) program, ensure more social service and housing supports were in place and advocate for more neighbourhood resource teams.

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While Uppal did not directly address community safety in citing his main issues for the ward, he stressed the importance of affordability and how taxpayers expect elected officials to demonstrate they are managing major costs and controlling costs before asking them to pay more.

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Innes said Kitchissippi ward needed to be an inclusive community that met everyone’s needs, including community-based social and mental-health supports.

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Commerford said he’d noticed police resources diverted “away from serious crimes toward petty issues,” and said he’d aim to refocus police on serious crime while expanding the ANCHOR program. He added he’d push to fully fund paramedic hiring and build community urgent-care clinics.

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What are community associations looking for in their next councillor?

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While community associations were not asked to endorse any specific candidate, leaders were asked about the ideal qualities they’d look for in a new councillor.

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For Le Seaux, the ideal candidate is someone who is familiar with Kitchissippi and is an effective communicator, especially given the different levels of government involved with swaths of National Capital Commission land within the ward.

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“Everybody has to understand each other’s point of view and work together to solve some of these things,” she said.

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Emphasizing she’d enjoyed working with Leiper, Mitchell added she’d like to see continued transparency from his successor. When there’s a new development happening, she said, it’s important for community associations to have a say.

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“We really want meaningful consultation, and not just simply being notified that the decision has been made,” she said. “A councillor should be someone who’s transparent. Their door is always open, so we can talk to them about what needs to be done.”

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