It’s no surprise that a mayor who spent a career in broadcasting would be comfortable at a podium, or hosting an important guest — like a prime minister — while seated in armchairs for a “fireside chat.”And Ottawa’s mayor, Mark Sutcliffe, has been doing a lot of both this fall.The mayor has pledged to end youth homelessness by 2030 and unveiled what his office termed “Canada’s most ambitious housing action plan.” He’s also announced a $1-million fund for festivals, and a public safety action plan.At one especially notable news conference on Oct. 20, Sutcliffe shared “the big news” on the long-awaited report on Lansdowne 2.0 — six hours before reporters, councillors or the public had access to the detailed report and financial projections. That time, the placard on the mayor’s podium stated the mayor’s key message: “Lansdowne 2.0: More for Less.”Sutcliffe’s remarks that day, and the high-quality videos posted to his social media feeds, left no doubt where he stood on the contentious file. A glossy handout from the mayor’s office urged residents to “say no” to higher risk for taxpayers and NIMBYism, but to “say yes” to economic growth and “huge savings on construction costs.”Lansdowne 2.0 was ultimately approved in a 15-10 vote at council a few weeks later. Three years into this council term, and just 10 and a half months from the next municipal election, Mark Sutcliffe’s communications style as mayor has become more pronounced.The mayor consistently says he’s holding such events to help communicate city business to the public and to help reporters meet their deadlines.But some council colleagues say they’re being left in the dark and the mayor is doing public relations stunts as he gears up for the next election, to be held Oct. 26, 2026.One longtime communications and government relations strategist says the mayor has been in the media business a long time and knows what he’s doing.”You try to do what’s called pre-spin,” explained Greg MacEachern of KAN Strategies. “You know that there’s an announcement coming and you’re trying to seed the landscape with your point of view. It’s fair ball if you can get away with it.”Mayors are CEOsSutcliffe has shown his ample communication skills throughout the council term. He launched a “Fairness for Ottawa” campaign in 2024, saying it was his job to fight for fair funding from the federal and provincial governments, given the city’s financial crisis.He has routinely posted videos to YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and other platforms that show him walking somewhere in the city, explaining a policy on camera with professional ease. Former mayor Jim Watson also used to share photo ops of his own, although those were usually still photos snapped at businesses and events around the city. Just this week, Sutcliffe sat under the lights on a stage opposite Prime Minister Mark Carney for a friendly talk in front of a crowd of more than 1,000 — the largest ever for one of the Board of Trade’s regular mayor’s breakfast events. They drew laughs from the crowd discussing the FIFA World Cup draw before shifting to discussing national defence.The prime minister “saluted” Sutcliffe for their working relationship before the two sat down to sign a $400-million federal-municipal partnership to create thousands of housing units.That’s no small amount of money. Legislation actually sets out that mayors are to be this face of a municipality, the representative who promotes the community to itself and to other levels of government. It’s part of the job. Ontario’s Municipal Act says heads of council are to act as CEOs of their municipalities. Ever since Premier Doug Ford’s government started rolling out strong mayor powers to 216 municipalities, Ontario mayors like Sutcliffe have also had a clear responsibility to prepare a proposed budget each year.Sutcliffe has declined to use strong mayor powers generally, but in the leadup to Wednesday’s final budget debate, Sutcliffe has made sure to draw the public’s attention to his budget. For instance, on Nov. 12, the city’s media relations staff advised journalists of a 9 a.m. news conference where the mayor would make remarks about the budget before it was presented at 10 a.m. in council chambers. Reporters had to choose between covering the mayor’s comments or covering the meeting where Ottawa’s police chief and other executives were tabling their $414.9-million budget, which is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. every draft budget day.Those who did attend the mayor’s event saw another catchy phrase on the podium: “Safe. Reliable. Affordable.”They were the same three words Sutcliffe used in his run for mayor in 2022. On draft budget day, Sutcliffe said he was renewing that campaign commitment to make Ottawa safer, more reliable and more affordable.Asked by CBC News why he has been holding such events ahead of the official presentations — technical briefings for councillors and the media used to be common for heavy files such as Lansdowne — the mayor said making himself available to the media and the public is part of his job. “I don’t expect people to read through the entire budget document on their own. I don’t expect people to … make it their full-time job to know what’s happening at city council and at city hall every day,” Sutcliffe said in early December. “I’m sharing information that I think will be of interest to the residents of Ottawa. I’m sharing our plans.”Campaign modeJeff Leiper, who has already stated he intends to run for mayor in 2026, sees it differently. Sutcliffe is creating public relations opportunities for himself around the last budget of the four-year council term, the Kitchissippi ward councillor says. At yet another news conference on Dec. 4, the mayor highlighted public safety measures in the budget and announced $1 million for a two-year pilot project to support private security measures in the ByWard Market.”The mayor knows that he’s going to be facing at least me, and perhaps others, in what will likely be a very contentious election,” says Leiper. “He is clearly feeling the pressure from that and he is making the most of the budget process to get a head start on creating some of those photo ops.”Certain election-related policies and legislation exist. The City of Ottawa prohibits members of council from using city property or staff time to promote or oppose the candidacy of a person for elected office — at any time. There’s also a blackout period for 60 days before voting day that covers community mailouts and events an incumbent can attend.Sean Devine, the first-term councillor for Knoxdale-Merivale ward, can feel things shifting into campaign mode, but would prefer council stick to policy until nominations begin next May. “I’d rather we focus purely on … the merits of the budget, not so much on the campaign opportunities of the budget,” said Devine.Lansdowne lens Communications and political strategist MacEachern says it’s obvious a municipal election is coming.”A lot of the messaging that I see from the mayor is very packaged in a way that [I ask], ‘Is this news or is this a campaign act?'”Sharing budget information might be entirely fair, MacEachern says, but he takes issue with some of the communications from the mayor’s office ahead of the release of the Lansdowne 2.0 report that seemed to be “a bit of a thumb on the scale.”Governments of all levels typically hold technical briefings where the media can ask policy questions and get correct information to the public about files, he says, before asking questions of decision makers. With Lansdowne 2.0, it seemed the reverse happened, he says, suggesting there was an outcome for how that story was to be played. Greg MacEachern has worked in communications and public affairs for more than 20 years, including for Liberal cabinet ministers and at Halifax city hall. He now runs KAN Strategies. (Kate Porter/CBC)Throughout the Lansdowne 2.0 debate, the mayor consistently called the new arena and stadium stands a “great deal” and promised taxpayers would invest less than one-third of the construction cost and avoid risk.The auditor general, however, advised the City of Ottawa had left a “minimum buffer” for cost overruns and included aggressive financial assumptions spanning 50 years.The mayor’s communications strategy on Lansdowne might work a few times but not long-term, MacEachern says. “You’ve made things tougher for yourself because now you’ve kind of upped the ante and people are going to go in with a bit of a suspicion that you might not be giving them the whole story,” MacEachern suggests. “At the end of the day, it’s not about winning, losing, spinning. It’s about did we get the accurate information out?”
The mayor’s messaging: public information or campaign prep?
