Sean Devine said he’s feeling good about his campaign for re-election in Knoxdale-Merivale, but he isn’t always hearing the same thing from people watching the race from outside.
“‘Hey, Sean, how’s it going?'” he recalls some asking. “And they asked that question as if they heard that I got a diagnosis for a bad disease.”
Past and present politicians, including some of his colleagues on city council, are coming out to support one of his challengers in Ward 9, federal public servant Anna Ielo-Tal. Devine said his gut tells him it’s an organized push from outside to unseat him.
“Absolutely, it does feel like the ward’s being targeted from outside,” he said.
Devine expressed confidence that he’s building on his 18-point margin from 2022, when he took the ward in old Nepean in a wide-open race with no incumbent. Now, with a record to run on, he said his door-knocking is turning up strong support and he feels he has a significant lawn sign advantage.
But also he’s facing a well-financed challenger in Ielo-Tal, who told CBC last week that she’d already raised about $20,000 — in the same league as the roughly $24,000 in donations Devine mentioned for his own effort.
“I don’t like the direction Sean is taking our city,” Ielo-Tal said. “And I feel that we need more of a back-to-basics approach.”
Last month, Ielo-Tal posted photos from Mark Sutcliffe’s re-election launch party, showing her posing with pre-amalgamation mayor Jackie Holzman and former senator and Harper-era cabinet minister Marjory LeBreton, and thanked them on social media for supporting her bid.
Anna Ielo-Tal, left, with former senator Marjory LeBreton in a photo posted to Ielo-Tal’s Facebook on Sept. 26, 2026, and captioned with a message thanking LeBreton for her endorsement. (Anna Ielo-Tal/Facebook)
She also posted photos from the campaign trail with former councillor and planning committee chair Jan Harder, who represented Barrhaven and parts of Nepean for 25 years, along with a message quoting Harder saying she’s proud to endorse Ielo-Tal.
On the other side, Chandra Pasma, an NDP MPP whose riding includes part of the ward, has been out canvassing with Devine.
CBC was unable to reach Harder, though LeBreton and Holzman confirmed their endorsements.
Holzman explained that she met her at an event and felt she would be “a good community representative.” Holzman does not live in Ward 9, she told CBC.
Devine fears ‘tarnished’ relationship with colleague
At the same Sutcliffe launch event, Rideau-Jock Coun. David Brown told CBC he was planning to go out door-knocking with Ielo-Tal.
“I think Anna has a great campaign with a lot of momentum, and she would be a great city councillor to represent Knoxdale-Merivale around the council table,” Brown later said.
Brown isn’t the only incumbent to weigh in on the race in Ward 9. Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney, who is also the current president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, appeared in a campaign video with Ielo-Tal last week.
Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney speaks during a meeting at Ottawa city hall on Feb. 6, 2024. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
In the video, Tierney criticizes Devine for not backing police budgets. He signs off of the video by giving Ielo-Tal a high-five and saying, “Look forward to working with you!”
“I’ve been very lucky,” Ielo-Tal said. “I’ve been door-knocking with some, with many of the councillors actually.”
Tierney said he isn’t putting much time into the race in Knoxdale-Merivale, but he called Ielo-Tal “a friend” who he met a couple years ago. He said other councillors are also supporting her.
“There’s many concerns about the councillor that is there now,” he said.
Devine generally sides with council’s progressive wing. While he supported the last police budget, he voted against three others. He has found himself on opposite sides from Tierney and Brown on many issues, from Lansdowne 2.0 to the bubble bylaw restricting protests around places of worship and some other facilities.
Ielo-Tal said some of Devine’s voting patterns are “coming out to haunt him.”
“Actions have consequences,” she said. “I guess Sean went head-to-head with certain councillors, and they want to have a more productive four years.”
Devine said it’s hard to see how Tierney’s support for his rival won’t tarnish their relationship should he be re-elected.
“That’s a pretty bold move for a colleague to do,” he said.
Devine calls tone of campaign ‘unfortunate’
Devine and Ielo-Tal are neighbours. She said they live two streets away in Arlington Woods.
But that hasn’t stopped the race from becoming one of the most acrimonious in the city this election cycle.
After a Rogers TV debate last month, Devine accused Ielo-Tal of spreading misinformation, while she accused him of “bullying” after he swore in her presence after the event.
“It’s unfortunate that the campaign devolved into such a personal conflict,” Devine said, calling her attacks a “complete misrepresentation of the positions I’ve taken.”
A third candidate in Knoxdale-Merivale, public servant and military veteran Cole Fraser Jones, has mostly stayed out of the fray. He’s running a shoestring campaign compared to his two better-funded rivals.
As of last week, he said he’s spending about $4,000 on his campaign, though he believes he’s getting traction from his social media outreach.
Jones’s pitch to voters is focused on public safety, infrastructure and finding savings at city hall to get value for taxpayers. He didn’t have any major endorsements to share.
Devine is still upset over how Ielo-Tal has framed his record. He and his team keep coming back to a flyer from her campaign that accuses him of supporting “one garbage bag per household,” when he supported two items per collection day, plus bag tags to allow extra items.
She has also accused him of supporting a congestion tax to disincentivize driving, something that has never come to council for a vote. While Devine did say it would be “interesting” to see how the policy worked out in New York City, he said it is “not likely” for Ottawa. He told CBC that it’s on “nobody’s radar.”
But Ielo-Tal insists there was nothing dishonest about her campaign. She said Devine implied that congestion pricing is a good idea and said his garbage position would have meant fewer items than the plan council ultimately passed.
She hasn’t let up on the attack. Her website is full of graphics contrasting their positions on hot-button issues, like the “bubble bylaw” restricting protests near places of worship, or the Sprung shelter that was proposed near the Nepean Sportsplex but later dropped.
Some of those themes have shown up on signs that are popping up in the ward, saying “No Sprung Shelters,” “Faith Deserves Respect” and “End the War on Drivers.”
Devine said the Sprung structure issue is “long dead,” while he called the faith sign an “aggressive trigger.”
“It kind of feels like it’s designed to get people angry,” Devine said. “I’m bothered by the signs. They definitely feel like they’re appealing to the worst of us.”
Many of the political figures supporting Ielo-Tal are also backing Mark Sutcliffe’s re-election bid for mayor. CBC asked Sutcliffe how he views the dispute in Knoxdale-Merivale, and he said he has no horse in the race.
“I’m not involved in any of the ward races. I don’t have time,” he said. “I’ve got my own campaign to run. I’m not even paying attention to the ward races on any level.”