1 day Ago By Marlo Glass
After a whirlwind few months in federal politics, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says he’s looking forward to advancing the city’s priorities with the new Liberal government. While it’s a newly-elected government, there could be some familiar faces around the cabinet table, potentially including those of Ottawa-area Liberal MPs who held on to their seats in Monday’s federal election. Mark Carney won the riding of Nepean handily while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre lost his Carleton riding to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy, meaning Ottawa is now an entirely red city, with Liberals representing all of the city’s eight federal ridings.
“I had a very good working relationship with the MPs who were serving in the previous term of Parliament, and many of them have been re-elected and all of those who stood for re-election as Liberals have been re-elected,” Sutcliffe said. “So I’m looking forward to working with them and with their new colleagues on Ottawa’s priorities.” During the election campaign, Sutcliffe, along with Gatineau Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette, sent a joint letter to the main federal parties asking for more economic support for the Ottawa-Gatineau region, including training programs for federal public servants who are laid off.
In the run up to election day, both Carney and Poilievre signalled they would limit the size of the federal public service. Carney’s platform promised his government would “cap,” but not cut the size of the government workforce. Speaking to reporters on April 29, Sutcliffe said he was “encouraged” by this pledge.
“ Obviously the federal public service is a big part of the employment base in Ottawa, and we want to make sure that it continues to be so,” he said. Sutcliffe said he hopes to get some face time with the prime minister in the near future. “I think that with Mark Carney now as as a federal MP from Nepean from the Ottawa region, we have a unique opportunity to work on the local challenges that Ottawa is facing,” Sutcliffe said.
“N ow, there’s a new prime minister, a new leader with a fresh mandate from the people of Canada. He’s a local MP and there’s some runway now. There’s an opportunity to sit down and say, let’s work on a plan together.
” Sutcliffe released his “ Fairness for Ottawa” campaign last summer, which called on the federal and provincial governments to kick in more funding for Ottawa’s beleaguered public transit system, and for the feds in particular to increase what they pay to the city in lieu of property taxes for federally owned buildings. Sutcliffe said he met with Carney a few weeks ago, and “he’s ready to listen.” When Carney became prime minister in March, he shuffled local MP Jenna Sudds out of cabinet, cutting the number of ministers from Ottawa down to one: Public Safety Minister and Ottawa South MP David McGuinty.
Following the election, one of Sutcliffe’s main concerns is the state of Ottawa’s economy due to the threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as well as the impact of the reciprocal steps taken by the federal government.
“We understand and respect those decisions, but things like hybrid work and and the decision to start moving out of some of the downtown office buildings are going to have a big impact on Ottawa.” Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Related'We can't do it alone': city council faces bleak financial futureSutcliffe optimistic prorogation won't hurt 'Fairness for Ottawa' campaign.
