Catherine McKenney to run for Ontario NDP in Ottawa Centre

Former Ottawa city councillor and mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney has been nominated as the Ontario NDP's candidate for Ottawa Centre in the next provincial election.

The news comes a little more than a month after McKenney announced they were turning their attention to provincial politics.

"I care deeply about housing and homelessness. I care deeply about active transportation and transit. I care deeply about affordability and health care and better schools," McKenney said Saturday after securing the party's nomination.

"And as I consider that, I realized that those are all in the purview of provincial government."

McKenney served as city councillor for Somerset Ward from 2014 to 2022.

In 2022, they ran for mayor in what was one of Ottawa's tightest races in years. McKenney finished second with roughly 38 per cent of the vote, behind Mark Sutcliffe who ended up with just over 51 per cent.

• Catherine McKenney is trying not to think about making history

In January 2023, McKenney co-founded CitySHAPES, a non-profit organization focused on the broad issue of improving cities.

NDP has held riding since 2018

McKenney's experience will be crucial if the party ends up forming government, said provincial NDP Leader Marit Stiles.

"What Catherine brings to Queen's Park is experience, is energy, and is that kind of fighting spirit that has won so much already and built so much in Ottawa — and particularly in Ottawa Centre," said Stiles, who was in Ottawa for the nomination.

"I think that experience is what we need at Queen's Park, because when we build an NDP government, we're going to need leaders like Cat."

Ottawa Centre has been held provincially by the NDP since 2018, but current MPP Joel Harden has submitted papers to run for the federal NDP in the next election.

The Ontario PC government's four-year mandate does not expire until June 2026, although Premier Doug Ford has already mused about calling an early election.