With more than a month to go before election day, candidates for Ottawa mayor are racking up political endorsements — including from a former prime minister.
Mark Sutcliffe held a ticketed event at La Nouvelle Scène on Tuesday night where he laid out his platform on francophone issues, but it was the appearance of Jean Chrétien that drew most of the attention.
"I think he’s done a great job," the former Liberal prime minister told Radio-Canada after his speech on Tuesday. "We’re very lucky when you have candidates of this quality, who want to serve."
It was just the latest in a string of political endorsements for the incumbent, who has repeatedly used missives from his friends on Parliament Hill or at Queen’s Park to boost his campaign.
While it’s unclear how effectively that kind of backing generates votes, at least two mayoral candidates have been using high-profile supporters in their campaign emails to supporters.
Early and often
Early on, Sutcliffe relied on former Conservative MP and MPP John Baird, and a former Liberal MPP, Madeleine Meilleur, to help paint his opponents as more ideologically extreme.
One week before Chrétien’s appearance, several of Sutcliffe's current council colleagues appeared alongside MPs Mona Fortier and Yasir Naqvi, MPP John Fraser, Sutcliffe's predecessor Jim Watson and longtime friend Bob Plamondon, currently the provincially appointed supervisor of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
Video messages of support even included comedian Tom Green.
Jeff Leiper, the three-term councillor aiming to unseat Sutcliffe, later issued a message from NDP MPP and former council colleague Catherine McKenney calling on progressives to unite.
"The conservative vote is splitting. We can't afford to," McKenney wrote in reference to another mayoral candidate, Alex Lawson. "The opportunity to defeat the status quo is real. But it will only happen if we unite behind one campaign with a genuine path to victory."
Leiper has also posted photos on the campaign trail with NDP MPP Chandra Pasma, though his team told CBC it's not releasing official endorsements at this time.
Cross-party endorsements
As in his last run for mayor, Sutcliffe’s endorsements cross party lines.
In a single evening last week, his campaign sent two emails entitled: “We are proud to support Mark Sutcliffe.”
The first, signed by local Liberal MPs Mona Fortier, Marie-France Lalonde, David McGuinty, Giovanna Mingarelli, Yasir Naqvi and Jenna Sudds, noted a federal funding deal for affordable housing, public transit and revitalizing the ByWard Market.
The second, signed by former Conservative politicians Baird, Brian Coburn, Marjory LeBreton, Lisa Raitt and Bill Tupper, lauded Sutcliffe's low tax increases and hiring of police officers.
Many of those named are throwing their weight behind Sutcliffe for the second consecutive bid.
Notably absent is any endorsement from former PC cabinet minister Lisa MacLeod, who toyed with the idea of competing against Sutcliffe this time around.
McKenney, Sutcliffe's 2022 challenger, had likewise netted endorsements from across the political spectrum.
That included Catherine McKenna, who served as environment minister under Justin Trudeau, and Mark Carney before he became Prime Minister.
(Carney left no room for offence to Sutcliffe with their "summit of the Marks," a breakfast meeting held within hours of Carney becoming Liberal leader.)
Other candidates go 'grassroots'
Two other candidates in the race for mayor have not won any formal endorsements from politicians, and tell CBC they’re not gunning for them.
"We’re running a grassroots campaign and are not asking establishment politicians for endorsements — because those political endorsements are mostly meaningless and have little impact," Neil Saravanamuttoo wrote in a statement to CBC.
The relative newcomer, who cut his teeth as an adviser on McKenney’s 2022 mayoral campaign, says what matters is the support of community leaders.
Lawson’s team held a similar view, scoffing at the idea of "insiders supporting insiders."
"The only endorsement Alex cares about is the one that happens at the ballot box when the people of Ottawa get to vote for someone like them," Emrys Graefe, Lawson's campaign manager, told CBC.
With 33 days to go until voting day, there’s still plenty of time for candidates to rack up support — wherever it may come from.
