ontario election 2025: what you need to know if you vote in ottawa centre
joel harden of the ndp has represented ottawa centre since 2018, but is not running again, having been nominated to be a candidate in the next federal election.
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ontario election 2025 candidates for the ottawa centre riding (left to right): thomas simpson, scott healey, catherine mckenney, simon beckett. graphic by sofia misenheimer/postmedia
quick facts about ottawa centre riding
- size of the riding: 37 square kilometres
- population: 118,040 (2021)
- density: 3,190 people per square kilometre
- median household income: $42,924 (2015)
- median age: 38 (2021)
- languages most often spoken at home: english, about 68 per cent, french about nine per cent, non-official languages, about 19 per cent.
where is ottawa centre located?
ottawa centre is a compact, urban riding that includes the core of the capital and the parliamentary district. it includes some of city’s oldest and most prominent neighbourhoods, including the glebe, the golden triangle, westboro and old ottawa south along with the byward market, lowertown, little italy and carlington.
the riding’s boundary is marked by sherbourne road and maitland avenue in the west, jogs east along highway 417 to merivale road, then south to baseline road, east again along baseline to fisher avenue before turning south all the way to the rideau river. the eastern boundary follows the rideau north to the ottawa river, which marks its northern limits.
the riding was created before the 1967 election and since 1999 has had the same boundaries as the federal riding of the same name.
what is the recent electoral history of this riding?
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ottawa centre has always leaned left. in its nearly 60-year history, the riding has only ever been held by the liberals or the ndp.
the ndp has won ottawa centre nine times, in the general elections of 1971, 1975, 1977, 1981, 2018 and 2022, and in by-elections in 1984, 1985 and 1990. the liberals have seven wins: 1967, 1987, 1995, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2014.
joel harden, of the ndp, has represented ottawa centre in the provincial legislature since 2018, but is not running again, having been nominated as a candidate in the next federal election. harden took 54 per cent of the vote in the 2022 provincial election, more than double that of second place finisher, liberal katie gibbs.
liberal yasir naqvi is ottawa centre’s mp. naqvi represented residents at queen’s park for three terms before losing to harden in 2018. he was elected to parliament in 2021.
who are the candidates running in ottawa centre?
catherine mckenney is carrying the ndp flag in this election. mckenney’s name is a familiar one. mckenney was city councillor for somerset ward for eight years, from 2014 until losing a bid for the mayor’s chair to mark sutcliffe in 2022. mckenney, who uses the pronoun they, worked in political backrooms as a staffer before running for council and is co-founder of cityshapes, a non-profit “dedicated to building stronger, more livable canadian cities.”
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the liberals have turned to newcomer thomas simpson, a uottawa graduate who they hope can turn ottawa centre red again. simpson is a former public servant and was vice-president of the canadian national institute for the blind, where he led the cnib’s employment program, working with both visually impaired and their employers.
scott healey will make a second run for ontario’s progressive conservatives after a third-place finish in the last provincial election. healey is a kingston native who was raised in mississauga and has lived in ottawa centre since 2008. he served 40 years in the royal canadian navy as a weapons officer, including a deployment in afghanistan. he is vice-president of the friends of the canadian war museum and has been on the board for the ottawa centre pc association for five years.
green party candidate simon beckett owns a small property management company and has a particular interest in affordable housing and the housing crisis. beckett is a former dancer and choreographer who has worked with schools and community centres to deliver arts programming and inspire young people. it is his first bid for office.
shannon boschy is the candidate for the ontario party.
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longtime community legal clinic advocate maria desouza is the candidate for the new blue party.
cashton perry, who works in manufacturing and is a local organizer of the young communist league of canada, is the candidate for the communist party.
copywriter, comedian and voice actor josh rachlis is running as an independent candidate. rachlis previously ran in the 2015 and 2019 federal elections for the green party.
we asked, they answered
for this election, the ottawa citizen asked candidates from ontario’s four main parties four questions each about how they would tackle transit, health care, and housing issues in ottawa (and also what their favourite local restaurant is). here is what we heard back from the candidates:
thomas simpson (liberal)
how do you propose helping ottawa to fix the housing crisis?
in doug ford’s ontario, rent and home prices have skyrocketed. ontario lags in building new homes, and ford has slashed money for municipalities trying to build affordable housing.
unlike doug ford, ontario’s liberals have an ambitious but practical plan that will work. our plan to say yes to housing includes eliminating the provincial land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers and seniors looking to downsize, scrapping development charges on new middle-class housing, and making rent more affordable by introducing fair, phased-in rent control, resolving landlord-tenant board disputes, and establishing the rental emergency support for tenants (rest) fund to help vulnerable renters avoid eviction.
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as your mpp for ottawa centre, i will also champion the creation of a provincial housing acquisition fund that would help non-profits, co-ops, and indigenous-led organizations purchase housing, protect renters, and expand affordable housing.
how will you make sure everyone in ottawa has a family doctor?
fixing our healthcare system is our number one priority in this election, and for an ontario liberal government. seven years ago, doug ford said he would end hallway healthcare. today, the situation is much worse. there are 27,500 people in ottawa centre without a family doctor — 2.5 million across ontario.
bonnie crombie has a plan to guarantee every ontarian has a family doctor by 2029. our plan will educate, attract and retain thousands of new domestic and internationally-trained doctors. we will improve the ontario health team network to expand access to primary care near where you live, through team-based models that include nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, and system navigators. we’ll modernize family medicine – no more fax machines – and make appointments available on evenings and weekends. finally, we will stop penalizing patients and doctors for seeking care at walk-in clinics.
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how can the province be fairer to ottawa with its transit and budget issues?
public transit must be safe, reliable, and accessible. unfortunately, ottawa’s system has faced major challenges. bonnie crombie and the ontario liberals have the most ambitious ottawa transit plan in this election.
we will upload the lrt to the province, easing the city’s financial burden and ensuring long-term sustainability. i’ve been advocating for this long before this campaign. this move will allow the city to reinvest in the bus network and improve affordability. additionally, we’ll explore a new deal with municipalities, including discussions on a 50-50 split for transit operating costs, to ensure a fairer, more sustainable system.
what’s your favourite ottawa restaurant and why?
doug ford’s snap election means we’ve been knocking on doors in freezing temperatures. nothing warms me up like a fresh bowl of pho from saigon boy – the food is incredible, and the local owners make every visit special.
catherine mckenney (ndp)
how do you propose helping ottawa to fix the housing crisis?
as a city councillor, i pushed the city to declare a housing and homelessness emergency, the first of its kind in ontario, and have supported the development of hundreds of non-market units in somerset ward. we have the solutions, but it’s a question of implementing them and scaling them up: getting government back in the business of building non-market affordable housing, legalizing fourplexes and increasing density around transit, limiting short term rentals to maximize our existing rental stock, stopping unethical evictions and bringing back real rent control, and ending encampments and chronic homelessness by creating thousands of new supportive housing units with wraparound mental health and addictions supports. as your representative at queen’s park, i would fight to bring these solutions forward and continue the work to build a city where every resident can have an affordable, high quality place to call home.
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how will you make sure everyone in ottawa has a family doctor?
i have been involved with our local community health centres for two decades. as city councillor, i worked closely with the coalition of community health centres, in particular centretown and somerset west community health centres (chcs). as mpp for ottawa centre i will work hand in hand to ensure that ottawa chcs’ primary care application for additional funding for nurses and doctors to allow them to provide primary care to more patients is approved.
the ontario ndp plan draws from the community health centre model to connect every ontarian to an integrated care team. this model will feature a targeted recruitment and retention initiative to bring more primary care providers and allied health professionals into integrated care teams where they are needed, like in ottawa centre’s existing chcs, and standing up to keep healthcare public, free and low cost, and in our communities.
how can the province be fairer to ottawa with its transit and budget issues?
the province can give ottawa our fair share by restoring 50% provincial operating funding for municipal transit operations, including oc transpo, and delivering improved service that is reliable, frequent, convenient and affordable for riders. it’s easy to promise shiny new investments in capital funding and uploading. restoring provincial contribution to the operating budget is less glamorous but critical to ensure that our buses are running on time and that fares are truly affordable. ottawa centre deserves reliable, affordable transit and i’m ready to fight for that at queen’s park.
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what’s your favourite ottawa restaurant and why?
union 613 — great food, great drinks, great owners.
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