Ottawa Mayoral Race Enters Final Stretch: Four Front-Runners Lay Out Promises

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Sutcliffe, seeking re-election, committed to capping property tax increases between 2 and 2.5 per cent for both 2027 and 2028, and to finding another C$250 million in budget savings over a second term.

Leiper proposes a one per cent infrastructure levy aimed at addressing the city's "crumbling" infrastructure, and promises to build 1,500 affordable homes a year. He has also vowed to repeal the city's five-day in-office mandate for municipal employees and to formally demand that the federal government reverse its four-day return-to-office rule.

Saravanamuttoo unveiled an "open the books" fiscal strategy, promising a full review of city spending within his first 100 days. Lawson, opposing blanket return-to-office policies, proposes using municipal land and zoning leverage to help build federal suburban satellite offices closer to where workers live in Kanata, Orléans and Barrhaven.

Transit remains the dominant issue in the race — fixing it is voters' top priority — and the repeated delays to the eastern O-Train extension's testing have only sharpened scrutiny of OC Transpo's reliability.