{"id":869399,"date":"2026-08-24T06:46:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T06:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/869399\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T06:46:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T06:46:36","slug":"this-rural-ottawa-ward-kept-its-councillor-without-a-vote-heres-what-residents-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/869399\/","title":{"rendered":"This rural Ottawa ward kept its councillor without a vote, here’s what residents think"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ottawa’s municipal elections are just starting to ramp up but by Friday evening Rideau-Jock Coun. David Brown was already celebrating.<\/p>\n

He is one of two council members to keep his seat after no one else submitted a candidacy in his ward before the Friday afternoon deadline, meaning he is now elected by acclamation.<\/p>\n

It is the first time that has happened in Ottawa since 2003. River ward Coun. Riley Brockington was also acclaimed.<\/p>\n

Brown said he was shocked no one else put their name forward.<\/p>\n

“There was a lot of adrenaline today, and I had a knot in my stomach through most of the day, not knowing what would ultimately happen.” he said.<\/p>\n

Richmond residents pleased<\/p>\n

For constituents of Rideau-Jock, Brown’s acclamation means one fewer decision at the ballot box this fall, leaving them to focus on the mayoralty and school board trustees.<\/p>\n

“I am happy with our councillor, so I don’t see that as a problem,” said Heather Mortimer, a long-time resident of Richmond, which is in Rideau-Jock ward.<\/p>\n

“It’ll give me more time to invest in researching the other people who are campaigning.”<\/p>\n

\"Heather<\/p>\n

As to why no one else put their name forward, she wonders if it could be due to how politicians are treated.<\/p>\n

“People are a lot more apprehensive about stepping into politics right now,” she said, citing threats to politicians at all levels of government.<\/p>\n

Another resident, Jeff Cobill, had a simpler explanation for the lack of candidates.<\/p>\n

“If there was like a whole bunch of issues and then people would run against him, but if people are happy, maybe everyone’s just happy,” he said.<\/p>\n

Brown is a popular councillor, Cobill said: “He responds right away to resident’s concerns.”<\/p>\n

\"Resident,<\/p>\n

The rural ward is an agricultural and farming community, which resident Joanna Van Gaal said Brown understands well.<\/p>\n

“He knows the area. He understands the farmers,” she said.<\/p>\n

Work just getting started<\/p>\n

Brown’s win marks the starting line, not the finish, for him and his team, he said.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s a great opportunity to keep moving our priorities forward, not only in our ward, but for rural Ottawa as well.”<\/p>\n

While he will not need to win over voters to keep his seat, Brown said he will still canvass the community to hear their needs.<\/p>\n

“I’m going to be hosting town halls in the fall. I’m still going to be door knocking, which is something I do every year anyway.”<\/p>\n

He hopes it will give the ward a leg up when council starts work.<\/p>\n

\"Constituents<\/p>\n

Still knocking doors<\/p>\n

River Ward’s Riley Brockington said right up to Friday’s deadline he expected to face at least one challenger.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, he’s still planning to mail his constituents a four-page platform and meet as many as possible.<\/p>\n

“I still plan to knock on 20,000 doors in the next two months,” he said. “I want to connect and get a new set of marching orders from my residents.”<\/p>\n

Election day is Oct. 26, following a mail-in ballot period between Sept. 1 and 15.<\/p>\n

Advance voting is from Oct. 1 to 4, and again on Oct. 16.<\/p>\n

Special ballots must be received before 8 p.m. on Oct. 16 to be counted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ottawa’s municipal elections are just starting to ramp up but by Friday evening Rideau-Jock Coun. David Brown was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,59127,20739,301902,301901,301900],"class_list":["post-869399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-david-brown","tag-ottawa","tag-richmond-residents","tag-riley-brockington","tag-river-ward"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}