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The field of candidates making a run to be Ottawa’s mayor could soon have a fourth name, as another potential challenger seeks support to formally launch his campaign.
Neil Saravanamuttoo was economic advisor to Catherine McKenney’s unsuccessful 2022 campaign for mayor.
Now, he’s thinking about the next election, this October.
The economist, podcaster and organizer behind non-profit CitySHAPES and its Better Ottawa town hall events said he’s prepared to be a candidate, but with an unusual caveat: he’ll only run if a “grassroots movement” signs up to back him.
“If there are 1,000 people that feel the way I do, that we can take back the City of Ottawa, return it to its rightful owners, we can win the next election,” he said in an interview with CBC.
Saravanamuttoo said a relatively small group of people, knocking on doors and spreading the word, can make a big difference in a municipal campaign. He predicts that the audience he has already built up through his podcast and his newsletter on city affairs will be among the first to support him.
“All movements need a figurehead, need a leader, need a spokesperson,” he said.
Leading critic of Lansdowne 2.0
He still has plenty of time. Candidates can’t even submit their paperwork for the election until nominations open in May.
But three other potential candidates have already announced plans to run for mayor: incumbent Mark Sutcliffe, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper and Alex Lawson, who owns a construction company and has also worked as a lobbyist.
Saravanamuttoo and Sutcliffe have already clashed during the Lansdowne 2.0 debate, with Saravanamuttoo leading a petition campaign to put the redevelopment plan to a referendum.
Would he still try to stop it as mayor? Saravanamuttoo said he’d want to take a close look at the contract, but he has his doubts Lansdowne could be halted in its entirety.
Saravanamuttoo, left, poses with Catherine McKenney during the release of McKenney’s financial platform during the 2022 municipal election. (Joanne Chianello/CBC)
“It’s important to recognize that this project is well underway,” he said. “The train has left the station and it would be irresponsible to make proclamations about it without understanding what’s possible.”
Instead, Saravanamuttoo said he’s now pushing another set of priorities.
The “infrastructure deficit” will be the number one issue facing council, he said, as the city doesn’t have enough money in its plan to fix all its roads, sewers and other assets.
He said the next mayor will have to understand public finance, noting his own resume includes stints at the department of finance and as chief economist at the G20’s Global Infrastructure Hub.
Transit will also be top of mind for voters, he said, adding he wants to shed more light on what’s ailing the LRT and find new ways to get the system the funding it needs.
He’s also criticizing the way the city writes up its budgets by starting with an “arbitrary” tax ceiling. In his view, that gets things backwards.
“Of course, everyone wants to pay as low taxes as possible, myself included,” he said. “But if we do it that way, this city is never going to change. It’s never going to progress, because we’re never going to talk about what is the city that we want to build.”
Saravanamuttoo says transit will be top of mind for Ottawa voters, and if he runs he’ll try to find new ways to get the system the funding it needs. (CBC)Predicts two-horse race
Leiper has taken a similar stance on many of those issues, making transit reliability and fixing crumbling infrastructure key planks in his campaign. He opposed Lansdowne 2.0 and has repeatedly railed against tax ceilings at budget time.
But Saravanamuttoo said it’s still far too early to worry about splitting the vote.
“We need good people to come forward and be prepared to stand for public office,” he said. “We should not be playing sort of backroom political games about who’s got the highest probability of defeating an incumbent at this point.”
He suggested that the campaign will whittle down the options, like in 2022. Bob Chiarelli looked like a strong contestant at first, Saravanamuttoo recalled, before the former mayor’s support melted away to single digits, leaving a two-horse race.
“What we have to realize is that, when it comes down to October, this will be the mayor against one major challenger,” he predicted.
Saravanamuttoo said he grew up near Carlingwood and attended Nepean High School. He said he has spent most of his life in Ottawa and currently lives in the Glebe. He has a wife, two daughters and a dog.
He said that while he has made political contributions to “good candidates” in the past, he doesn’t affiliate himself with any party in particular.
Federal contribution records show donations to the Liberal Party of Canada and Mark Carney’s campaign for the Liberal leadership, with the totals amounting to a few hundred dollars.