Lansdowne 2.0’s $419-million redevelopment broke ground near TD Place in January, but the project still divides voters ahead of Oct. 26.
The plan to create a new arena, replace the northside stadium stands, renovate the area and build new housing got the go-ahead from city council in November. By April, however, a poll for iPolitics found 61 per cent of Ottawa voters disapproved of the redevelopment.
Support for Lansdowne 2.0 dropped when Ottawans were given details such as cost, according to an earlier poll released by Shawn Menard, an opponent of the project who is running for re-election in Capital Ward, where Lansdowne Park is located.
But with Mark Sutcliffe, who championed the plan, leading the mayoral race as of late July — roughly a quarter of voters preferred Sutcliffe among mayoral candidates, a plurality — could public opposition to Lansdowne 2.0 undermine his re-election bid?
Sutcliffe has supported redeveloping Lansdowne since his election in 2022. He says the project is a low-cost chance for taxpayers to get new public facilities, and says taxpayers will cover less than a third of its price tag.
At the council vote last November, Sutcliffe said his professional staff advised the project was “a good investment for taxpayers” and did not expose the city to unreasonable risk.
Opposing the motion, then-Kitchissippi coun. Jeff Leiper, now running against Sutcliffe for mayor, argued the stadium renovation did not largely benefit the public and would make a “gated space where the ticket to play costs too much for most to afford.”
Three out of the four leading candidates in Ottawa’s mayoral race have voiced concerns with Lansdowne 2.0. [Photo © Brendon Poste]
Leiper had support from around 17 per cent of voters in July, according to Liaison Strategies, roughly tied with Alex Lawson, who said Lansdowne 2.0 amounts to a “vanity project” while the city should have different priorities.
“We have bigger things to pay attention to, like providing basic services properly and making sure people feel safe in their communities,” Lawson said in a phone interview.
Asked about public opposition to Lansdowne 2.0 recently, Sutcliffe declined to comment, saying he wasn’t giving interviews at the launch party.
Mark Sutcliffe launched his campaign for re-election as mayor of Ottawa at Saint Elias Banquet Centre on Sept. 16. [Photo © Brendon Poste]
Leiper, Lawson and Neil Saravanamuttoo, the latter candidate for mayor polling at around seven per cent, have indicated opposition to the project.
Saravanamuttoo has a history of opposing the plan. In 2024, he started a petition that gained more than 6,000 signatures calling for a referendum on the project.
“Taxpayers are gonna be on the hook for (Lansdowne 2.0), and it’s a shame because we’re talking about over $400 million,” Saravanamuttoo said at a town hall on Sept. 10.
“We could spend that money on anything we want, and yet we choose to spend it on rebuilding a stadium,” he said.
Mayoral candidate Neil Saravanamuttoo held a town hall event at the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex in Orléans on Sept. 10. He critiqued the city’s spending priorities on a new stadium while he said the Ottawa Redblacks “may not even exist” by the time construction is completed. [Photo © Brendon Poste]
But as construction has already started, Saravanamuttoo said the options have shifted from stopping the project in its tracks to holding a public inquiry, as Lansdowne has become a new reality for the candidates to address.