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Former city councillor and candidate for mayor Catherine McKenney has announced they are seeking the NDP nomination for Ottawa Centre in the next provincial election.
“Some exciting news!” McKenney said in a social media release Thursday. “I’m excited to stand alongside (NDP Leader) Marit Stiles and the Ontario NDP as we work to deliver the change Ontario deserves.”
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McKenney was first elected in the 2014 municipal election to represent Somerset Ward, which consists of several downtown core neighbourhoods.
They stepped down after two terms but then announced they would oppose Mark Sutcliffe in the 2022 municipal elections.
McKenney received about 38 per cent of the vote, predominantly in the downtown area. Sutcliffe received more than 51 per cent of the vote, while former city councillor Bob Chiarelli received about five per cent.
“My time as a city councillor, closely followed by my role as a councillor’s assistant, was the most rewarding chapter of my career,” McKenney noted in their announcement. “The work we did together at the city was meaningful. Every initiative was driven by a vision for a stronger, more inclusive community.”
They wrote that, as MPP, “we can continue this important work. We will fight to get the schools our families need, health care we deserve, housing that is affordable, transit that serves us well, and a strong and sustainable province that is focused on you.
“I am looking forward to the journey ahead and continuing our work to defeat Doug Ford and build a better Ontario, starting in Ottawa Centre!”
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Before running for office, McKenney, 63, worked as an advisor and political staffer in the offices of city councillors Diane Holmes and Alex Munter, and federal MPs Ed Broadbent and Paul Dewar.
McKenney was born in Fort-Coulonge, Que., the child of a forester and stay-at-home parent. The family moved to Sturgeon Falls, Ont., where McKenney went to elementary school. In Grade 9, they moved to Pembroke, when their father got a job at Algonquin College.
At 26, McKenney moved to Ottawa where they obtained a bachelor of social science at the University of Ottawa in 1993.
After graduating, McKenney lived in Kanata and had a job reading news articles on television for people who are blind.
In January 2023, McKenney co-founded CitySHAPES non-profit organization to address “climate change, active transportation, transit, affordable housing and ending chronic homelessness.”
McKenney is the first non-male openly-LGBT person to serve on Ottawa’s city council. They identify as non-binary and use they/them pronouns.
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