For incoming mayor Mark Sutcliffe, the hard part starts now

Now, the hard part.

Mark Sutcliffe is coming into this city's top office after a decisive victory over his closest opponent, Catherine McKenney. It was an exactingcampaign with five debates in the last 11 days alone that offered different visions for the future.

One promised $100 million on roads over four years, the other $178million to expand transit.

And yet, their plans were not so wildly divergent. Theirtax promises were a half-percentage-point apart, their climate plans not so dissimilar. Sure, McKenneyvowed to end chronic homelessness in four years, which isn't your usual mainstream platform plank, but Sutcliffe promisedto providean extra $4 million on social agencies.

The biggest difference between them was the packaging. Sutcliffeframed himself as the middle-of-the-road candidatewhile castingMcKenney as a "hard left turn." Exhibit No. 1: the downtown councillor's$250-million pledge to front-end load 25 years of bike-lanebuilding amarketing mistake forMcKenney and a successful wedge issue for Sutcliffe.

In the end, our mayor-elect came out on top asthe centrist candidate ina centrist town.

And as gruelling as the campaign may have been, it pales in comparisonto what's coming next.

Projected new mayor of Ottawa Mark Sutcliffe speaks to supporters.

2 years ago

Duration 1:45

During his acceptance speech, Mark Sutcliffe, who CBC has projected to be the next mayor of Ottawa, thanked his supporters and credited his opponent, Catherine McKenney, for their campaign, calling them a trailblazer with an "unequaled ambition for what our city can be."

Big learning curve, big budget challenge

Nearlyhalf of the 25-member council that will be sworn in three weeks from now will be new to political office, including the next mayor.

To be fair, Steve Desroches who was elected in the new ward of Riverside South-Findlay Creek previously served two terms, but returns eight years later to a very different council that includes only two of his former colleagues: Allan Hubley and Tim Tierney, each now elected to their fourth term.

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There's a huge learning curve for a large swath of council. It's a transition that's not easy at the best of times, and is now two weeks shorter thanks to new provincial rules. Institutional memory is marching out the door, and Sutcliffe has madepromises ona host of priorities in his first 100 days.

Among the most challenging will surely be the line-by-line review of spending ahead of his first budget.

Sutcliffe may already be at a disadvantage even before he starts. Just last Friday,the city issued its latest quarterly financial numbersforecasting a $13-million deficit for 2022 due toderecho and convoy costs. If additional funds don't come throughfrom upper levels of government, the shortfall will have to be made upsomehow by the new council byyear end.

The mayor-elect hasboldly asserted he could find $35 to $60 million in savings, cut 200 positions without layoffs, keep the tax hike to well below the rate of inflation, and fund his election promises, all without reducing any services.

He has about three months to table his first draft budget.

LISTEN | Mayor elect MarkSutcliffe's interview with Ottawa Morning on Tuesday

Catherine McKenney concedes Ottawa mayoral election to Mark Sutcliffe

2 years ago

Duration 1:32

Speaking to supporters Monday night, mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney congratulated their opponent and Ottawa's mayor-elect, Mark Sutcliffe, and said they have "enjoyed and cherished every minute" of the campaign.

Fixing a fractious council

And while his various leadership teams and task forces are crunching numbers and drafting recommendations, Sutcliffewill haveto establish a more harmonious tone at council.

During the campaign, thekey candidates received kudos for debating the issues and keeping the personal attacks to a minimum.

Indeed, the one-on-one congeniality between Sutcliffe and McKenneyseems to be the real deal. Behind the scenes at one debate, Sutcliffe chatted with McKenney about where they bought a particularly cool backpack. The two made aBeavertail dateafter a round of the game "Never Have I Ever" at another debate revealed that McKenney had in fact never indulged in the fried-dough confection.

After being re-elected in Capital ward, Shawn Menard hopes for collaboration on new council

2 years ago

Duration 1:08

Shawn Menard, who was re-elected in Capital ward, says hell prioritize the future of Lansdowne Park, taking climate action and improving transit while vowing not to be a wallflower on tough issues.

But the campaign was also punctuated by negativity. And the Sutcliffe team hit first, and hit hardest, on that front.

About a quarter of Sutcliffe'sstatements were solely concerned with criticizing McKenney, a few of them released even before the councillor had made asingle platform announcement. The most egregious was Sutcliffe's news release entitled, "Catherine McKenney's record demonstrates clear opposition to building new housing" their record shows no such thing claimingMcKenney said the city didn't need to build new housing.

In fact, they were talking about a small group of people who have housing but might need a rental subsidy to keep them from falling into homelessness.

Now, the negativitywas by no meansone-sided.After the Thanksgiving weekend, McKenney called a news conferenceto charge that Sutcliffe's fiscal plan was going to lead to cuts. That was followed by a series of back-and-forth arguments that few could follow over whose financial plan had the biggest hole.

But last night, with the competition of the campaign over, Sutcliffeextended an olive branch to McKenney's voters, saying he had heard their concerns and expectations, and that he'll continue to listen.

For someone who is new to office, he already soundslike apractised politician and not just because he is a skilled communicator in both official languages. In his speech, he promised to"respect every part of the city, the rural areas, the suburbs, and the urban areas."

The councilvoters are sendingto city hall is a similarmix of progressive, centrist and small-c conservative representatives whooften clashed.

But Sutcliffe persisted.

"I believe there is common ground for us," he said. "And I promise to continue to listen. I will be a mayor for all of Ottawa."

And that may be his hardest promise to keep.