Wikipedia

Jeff Leiper

Jeffrey[1] Leiper (born 1970)[2][3] is the current Ottawa city councillor for Kitchissippi Ward. He was first elected in the 2014 Ottawa municipal election, defeating the incumbent Katherine Hobbs.

Jeff Leiper
Ottawa City Councillor
Incumbent
Assumed office
December 1, 2014
Preceded byKatherine Hobbs
ConstituencyKitchissippi Ward
Personal details
Born1970 (age 55–56)
Ottawa
SpouseNatalie Hanson
University of Ottawa
Algonquin College

Early life and career

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Leiper was born and raised in Ottawa. He studied history and English at the University of Ottawa, and print journalism at Algonquin College. As a youth, Leiper was a member of the youth wing of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, though he is now a committed progressive.[4] Leiper first ran for office as a 24 year old in the 1994 municipal elections for a seat on Cumberland Township Council. At the time he was still attending the University of Ottawa. He ran on a platform of higher density developments, the completion of a north-south link between then Highway 17 (now Highway 174) and Highway 417 (which was never built), more parks and the completion of a library.[5] Running in Ward 2, covering the southern section of Orleans, he won just 3% of the vote.[6]

He has lived in Kitchissippi Ward since 1995 when he and his spouse Natalie moved into the Julian Apartments in the Wellington West area. Today, he lives in Hintonburg with Natalie and their son.

Leiper has a long background working with the Hintonburg Community Association, where he served as its president.[7] He has also worked with the volunteer-run community newspaper Newswest in the ward. For many years, he created and organized events such as the Cyclelogik Hintonburg 5k Run/Walk and Newswest Kids 1K, Dog Movie Night and the annual Hintonburg Street Hockey Tournament. His community work includes a significant background in planning, traffic, economic development, and other neighbourhood and citywide issues.

Professionally, Leiper began his career in the Information and Communications Technology sector as a journalist. He subsequently worked as an industry analyst for an international consulting firm, then as an executive in a federal regulatory agency. Prior to his election, he worked as an executive at an NGO with a mandate to promote the full participation by all Canadians including women, youth, and internationally educated professionals in the technology workforce.[citation needed]

Political career

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Leiper was first elected to Ottawa City Council in the 2014 Ottawa municipal election, where he defeated incumbent Katherine Hobbs to become city councillor for Kitchissippi Ward.[8]

In 2016, Leiper said "going into the next election, we will have to convince people that sticking to low tax increases is hurting our city."[9]

In 2017, Leiper supported a controversial plan to install new bike lanes that would have eliminated nearly 100 on-street parking spots. Some ward residents claimed that he didn't do any consultation before changing the plan.[10]

Leiper is an advocate for supervised injection sites in Ottawa. In 2018, he campaigned on saying they "save lives, which must be our priority" and he would "force the issue of safe injection sites, and will support the opening of more facilities in appropriate locations throughout Ottawa".[4]

In 2018, Leiper called for the "nuclear option" to ban triplexes in his ward, citing that they represent "overintensification".[11]

Leiper was re-elected in the 2018 Ottawa municipal election with 85% of the vote, the second-largest margin of victory in the elections that year (after Stephen Blais). On February 13, 2019, he suffered a heart attack while shovelling snow.[12] Following his recovery, he announced he had quit smoking and partnered with Ottawa Public Health to encourage others to quit smoking as well.[13]

Leiper has been a frequent critic of the Ottawa Police Service. In the aftermath of the convoy protests in Ottawa, Leiper called for a royal commission to investigate the shortcomings in the police response and the rise of political extremism in Canada.[14][15] Leiper wrote an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen stating that "I believe absolutely in moving resources from policing," and calling on council to "insist on a 10% budget reduction, and refuse to pass a police budget without it".[16] In 2021, Leiper voted against the police budget, saying "that communities are at a crossroads to define what role police should have in society".[17]

In 2022, Leiper voiced support for free transit arguing that while it was "a high bar to clear to convince homeowners to accept higher taxes for fare-free transit," it was "still less than the $1,500 annual cost of a bus pass".[18]

Leiper was re-elected for a third time in the 2022 Ottawa municipal election. During his third term, his top priorities included affordable housing and improvements to public transit.[19] In 2023, he voted against "Landsdowne 2.0" which would provide over $130 million of municipal subsidies for the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park. The project is expected to cost $418.8 million with the City of Ottawa paying a net cost of $130 million. The Ottawa Charge of the Professional Women's Hockey League have criticized the project and stated they will not play at TD Place Arena, if the arena's capacity is reduced from 8,585 to 5,500, as is planned.[20] The project was approved by a vote of 16 to 9.[21][22][23] In June 2024, Leiper proposed delaying the city's plan to remove free parking in Westboro and Wellington Village until O-Train service was available in both neighbourhoods. However, the proposal was defeated at the city's transit committee.[24] Later that year, Leiper led opposition to OC Transpo plans to reduce O-Train frequency as a cost-saving measure.[25] His motion to reverse the O-Train service cuts was defeated narrowly by a vote of 13 to 12.[26] In December 2024, he was one of three councillors to vote against the 2025 city budget proposed by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe (the others were Laine Johnson and Sean Devine), but he voted for the transportation budget. He argued that aggressive cost-cutting measures would cost the city more money in the long-term,[27] but that he "was happy to support a package of fare increases and a higher transit levy".[28] In September 2025, Leiper introduced a motion to rescind the city's return-to-office mandate which called for municipal workers to work in the office all five days a week, stating that it was "a short-sighted decision that serves no one well in either the short or long term," and “ignores the reality that Ottawa's public transit system is already unreliable for too many."[29]

Mayoral campaign

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On June 25, 2025, Leiper announced his intention to run for mayor of Ottawa in the 2026 Ottawa municipal election.[30][31]

Leiper officially registered to run for mayor on May 1, 2026, the first day candidates could sign up to run. On his first day as an official candidate, he released his partial election platform focusing on reliable transit, the building of 1,500 non-profit homes each year, focusing police resources on alternative models, and extending opening hours at city facilities. He also promised that he would refuse all donations from developers and refuse using the "strong mayor" powers enabled in the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act.[32]

Electoral record

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2022 Ottawa Municipal Election: Kitchissippi Ward Vote %
    Jeff Leiper (X)11,05571.97
    Oonagh Fitzgerald3,24721.14
    Daniel Stringer1,0586.89
2018 Ottawa Municipal Election: Kitchissippi Ward Vote %
    Jeff Leiper (X)12,06885.28
    Daniel Stringer2,08314.72
2014 Ottawa Municipal Election: Kitchissippi Ward Vote %
    Jeff Leiper7,55755.36
    Katherine Hobbs (X)4,19730.75
    Michelle Reimer1,53011.21
    Ellen Lougheed2721.99
    Larry Wasslenn950.70
1994 Ottawa-Carleton Regional Municipality Elections: Cumberland Township: Bilberry Ward Vote %
    Dave Lewis1,51473.49
    Vic Powell47623.11
    Jeff Leiper703.40

References

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  1. ↑ "The alumni association of the University of Ottawa - Annual" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-02.
  2. ↑ "Kissing babies in Kitchissippi | CBC News".
  3. ↑ @cmckenney (13 February 2019). "Wishing ⁦@JLeiper⁩ a speedy recovery. His statement about a health-related absence here" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. 1 2 Blair, Crawford (October 4, 2018). "Ottawa Votes: What you need to know about the candidates in Kitchissippi". Ottawa Citizen.
  5. ↑ Ottawa Citizen, November 8, 1994, pg C10
  6. ↑ Ottawa Citizen, November 16, 1994, pg C4
  7. ↑ "A new hat in the ring". 13 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Duffy, Andrew (2014-11-21). "Departing councillor Katherine Hobbs: 'It's a job that becomes a lifestyle'". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2025-05-01.
  9. ↑ "Q&A: Councillors' panel looks at creating diverse communities – Centretown BUZZ". centretownbuzz.ca. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  10. ↑ Ottawa, C. T. V. (2017-04-25). "Councillor pulls about face on controversial bike lane plan". CTVNews. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  11. ↑ Pfeffer, Amanda (October 4, 2018). "Councillor calls for 'nuclear option' to halt Westboro triplexes". CBC News.
  12. ↑ Crawford, Blair (2019-02-13). "Coun. Jeff Leiper recovering from heart attack after shovelling snow". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2025-05-01.
  13. ↑ Helmer, Aedan (2019-02-16). "Coun. Jeff Leiper turns heart attack health scare into anti-smoking message". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2025-05-01.
  14. ↑ McKenney, Catherine; Leiper, Jeff (2022-03-14). "Ottawa occupation needs a Royal Commission". Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  15. ↑ Quenneville, Guy (2022-03-29). "Ottawa police board requests convoy review despite concerns over timeline". CBC News. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  16. ↑ Leiper, Jeff (June 8, 2020). "Leiper: Police funding – There are better ways to ensure community safety". Ottawa Citizen.
  17. ↑ Yogaretnam, Shaamini (December 9, 2020). "Council approves 2021 Ottawa police budget: 'This has not been an easy process'". Ottawa Citizen.
  18. ↑ Crawford, Blair (Jul 13, 2022). "Fare-free public transit in Ottawa 'not a wise decision,' Mayor Watson says". Ottawa Citizen.
  19. ↑ Senack, Charlie (2024-03-07). "Five priorities Jeff Leiper has for this term of council". Kitchissippi Times. Ottawa. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  20. ↑ Weller, Emma (2025-11-18). "Ottawa Charge won't play at smaller Lansdowne arena, PWHL says". CBC News. Retrieved 2026-04-22.
  21. ↑ Skura, Elyse (2023-11-09). "Lansdowne 2.0 gets city council's stamp of approval". CBC News. Ottawa. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
  22. ↑ Raymond, Ted (2024-04-17). "Council approves crucial procedural step for Lansdowne 2.0 plan". CTV News. Ottawa. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
  23. ↑ Glass, Marlo (2023-11-10). "How Ottawa's councillors voted on Lansdowne 2.0". Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
  24. ↑ White-Crummey, Arthur (2024-06-27). "Push to delay paid parking in Westboro, Wellington West fails". CBC News. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  25. ↑ Skura, Elyse (2024-09-13). "OC Transpo defends LRT schedule cuts that councillors say aren't worth it". CBC News. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  26. ↑ White-Crummey, Arthur (2024-09-18). "Bid to reverse LRT frequency cut loses at council". CBC News. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  27. ↑ White-Crummey, Arthur (2024-12-11). "Council passes 2025 budget with 3.9% tax hike". CBC News. Ottawa. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  28. ↑ "Five local priorities Councillor Jeff Leiper has for 2025". 2025-02-12. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  29. ↑ Helmer, Aedan (2025-09-12). "Ottawa councillor calls for debate, vote on rescinding return-to-office mandate". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  30. ↑ White-Crummey, Arthur (2025-06-25). "Coun. Jeff Leiper eyes mayoral run against Mark Sutcliffe". CBC News. Retrieved 2025-06-28.
  31. ↑ Laucius, Joanne (2025-06-25). "Councillor Jeff Leiper says he plans to run for mayor in 2026". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2025-06-28.
  32. ↑ White-Crummey, Arthur (2026-05-01). "Jeff Leiper unveils partial mayoral platform on Day 1 of campaign". CBC News. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
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