Matthew Luloff wins packed race in Orléans
CBC News | Posted: October 23, 2018 1:44 AM | Last Updated: October 23, 2018
17 candidates ran to represent east Ottawa ward
Afghanistan veteran Matthew Luloff has emerged from a packed field of candidates to win the east Ottawa ward of Orléans.
With all 97 polls counted, Luloff has 23.8 per cent of the vote, 264 votes more than the next closest rival, Catherine Kitts.
The results remain unofficial until the city clerk verifies the final poll counts, which is expected to happen by Thursday.
Luloff is a Canadian Forces veteran of Afghanistan and served as an adviser for Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan prior to running for council.
There were 17 candidates running in the ward, making for a wide-open race, which Luloff acknowledged.
"Look, I know that I didn't get everybody's vote and I know that this isn't a gigantic mandate," he said. "I'm going to work very hard to gain everybody else's trust."
On Tuesday, he told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning that residents told him they were confused by the long list of candidates.
"We were out there every single day, 10 hours a day knocking on doors and talking to people, and I think it was the conversations that we had that made the big difference."
Getting Stage 2 LRT up and running
Luloff said he plans to make sure Stage 2 of Ottawa's light rail project starts on time, after the project's first phase faced delays.
"I will work with chair of the transit commission to make sure we are holding the contractor's feet to the fire," he said. "We need it in Orléans."
The project will also attract development to the community, Luloff said.
"We need to make sure that [development is] appropriate, that it respects the character of the neighbourhood," he said.
"We are going to have to work with the developers. I would like to establish a relationship with them early so that we can be respectful and work together."
Bob Monette, who had been the councillor for the riding since 2006, originally planned to run for another term but later decided to withdraw his nomination for family reasons.
The other 15 candidates were:
- Rick Bédard
- Toby Bossert
- Mireille Brownhill
- Guy Desroches
- Diego Elizondo
- Dina Epale
- Doug Feltmate
- Jarrod Goldsmith
- Miranda Gray
- Geoffrey Nicholas Griplas
- Shannon Kramer
- Qamar Masood
- Louise Soyez
- Kevin Tetreault
- Don Yetman