Ontario election 2025: What you need to know if you vote in Kanata-Carleton riding

Once rock-solid Tory, a Liberal won by a sliver in a 2023 by-election in this riding with one foot in the suburbs and one in the country.

Get the latest from Joanne Laucius straight to your inbox

Published Jan 31, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 10 minute read

Ontario election 2025 candidates for the Kanata — Carleton riding (left to right clockwise): Karen McCrimmon, Dave Belcher, Scott Phelan, Jennifer Purdy. GRAPHIC BY SOFIA MISENHEIMER/POSTMEDIAQuick FactsSize of the riding: 806 square kilometresPopulation: 116,651 (2021)Density: 153.3 people per square kilometreMedian household income: $125,000 (2020)Median age: 42.0Knowledge of official languages: English (70.3 per cent), French (0.4 per cent), English and French (27.7 per cent), neither English nor French (1.6 per cent)Where is Kanata-Carleton located?

THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Exclusive articles from Elizabeth Payne, David Pugliese, Andrew Duffy, Bruce Deachman and others. Plus, food reviews and event listings in the weekly newsletter, Ottawa, Out of Office.Unlimited online access to Ottawa Citizen and 15 news sites with one account.Ottawa Citizen ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an Accountor

Article content

Kanata-Carleton sprawls over more than 800 square kilometres, bounded to the north and east by the Ottawa River and as far west as Ottawa’s border with Renfrew County, and by Highway 7 to the south.

The current riding boundaries were created in 2013 during the redistribution of federal electoral districts. The provincial riding mirrored the federal riding of the same name and includes portions of the former provincial riding of Carleton-Mississippi Mills as well as suburban neighbourhoods in Kanata on both sides of Highway 417. (Federal ridings were redistributed in 2023, but the province decided not to adopt these new boundaries.)

Neighbourhoods include Hazeldean, Bridlewood, Beaverbrook, Kanata Lakes and South March. The riding also encompasses the farming communities and towns and villages of West Carleton including Dunrobin, Kinburn, Carp, Constance Bay and Fitzroy Harbour.

The majority (68 per cent) of Kanata-Carleton residents speak English at home, two per cent speak French at home and 4.6 per cent speak both. About 6.2 per cent report speaking another language at home and 16 per cent report speaking another language as well as English, with the remainder speaking multiple languages or combinations of official languages and other languages.

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

Article content

What’s the recent electoral history of the riding?The predecessor riding Carleton-Mississippi Mills was once a rock-solid Progressive Conservative stronghold. Norm Sterling represented the riding and predecessor provincial ridings from 1977 to 2011 when rural populist Jack MacLaren wrested the Tory nomination from him.

MacLaren beat Liberal challengers in the next two elections by more than 9,000 votes in 2011 and over 10,000 votes in 2014. He was kicked out of the Tory caucus in 2017 after a number of controversies, including a report that he told a vulgar joke about his Liberal counterpart Karen McCrimmon at a fundraiser in Carp.

MacLaren announced that he was joining the Trillium Party, but attracted only four per cent of the vote in 2018, the first provincial election contested in the reconfigured riding. Conservative candidate Merrilee Fullerton won Kanata-Carleton easily with 43 per cent of the vote.

Fullerton, a physician, was appointed Minister of Colleges and Universities and became Minister of Long-Term Care in 2019 only months before the COVID-19 pandemic claimed the lives of thousands of long-term care residents. Fullerton was re-assigned as Minister of Children, Community and Social Services in June 2021 in the midst of a controversy over therapy services for children with autism. She won over 43 per cent of the vote in the June 2022 election, but resigned less than 10 months later, triggering a by-election held in July 2023.

Article content

Karen McCrimmon, previously a Liberal MP, won the by-election in a three-way race, winning 34.5 per cent of the vote compared to 32.97 for PC candidate Sean Webster and 29.43 per cent for Melissa Coenraad of the NDP.

Who’s running?McCrimmon is a 31-year military veteran and the first woman to command a Canadian Air Force flying squadron. She won the federal riding of Kanata-Carleton in the 2015 federal election by a 7,618-vote margin over PC candidate Walter Pamic. She was re-elected in 2019 and served as chair of the federal defence committee following her second win. She did not run in the 2021 federal election. McCrimmon won the by-election for the provincial riding in July 2023 and has been the Liberal critic for education, colleges and universities. She lives in Constance Bay.

The Progressive Conservative Party’s Scott Phelan is a first-term Ottawa Catholic School Board trustee who has worked in IT for 26 years. Phelan is married and has four children and is a hockey coach and volunteer. He lives in Stittsville, just outside the riding.

NDP candidate Dave Belcher was a teacher and volunteer at West Carleton Secondary School starting in 2008. He has worked full-time for the Ontario Secondary Teachers’ Association since 2020. Belcher was raised in Stittsville. In 2009 he moved to Kanata, where he lives with his wife and children.

Jennifer Purdy of the Green Party is a physician with a focus on preventative medicine and a 23-year Canadian Armed Forces veteran who had had postings as a family physician in Trenton, Petawawa and Ottawa. She is the mother of three.

Frank Jakubowski is the candidate for the Ontario Party.

Village of Galetta resident Elizabeth Watson is the candidate for the New Blue Party. Watson is a recently graduated law clerk with experience in fish, wildlife and ecosystem management. She highlighted education reform and fiscal responsibility in her platform.

We asked, they answeredFor this election, the Ottawa Citizen asked candidates from Ontario’s four main parties four questions each about how they would tackle transit, health care and housing issues in Ottawa (and also what their favourite local restaurant is). Here is what we heard back from the candidates:

Karen McCrimmon (Liberal)How do you propose helping Ottawa to fix the housing crisis?

There is a critical need for affordable housing in Ottawa and especially in Kanata where rent is higher than anywhere else outside of Toronto. Our plan will include eliminating the provincial land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers, seniors downsizing, and non-profit home builders; scrapping development charges on new middle-class housing, and replacing them with a Better Communities Fund to invest in sustainable municipal growth; and, making renting more affordable by introducing fair, phased-in rent control, resolving Landlord-Tenant Board disputes within two months, and establishing the Rental Emergency Support for Tenants (REST) Fund to help vulnerable renters avoid eviction during financial emergencies. We will also make housing costs more affordable by eliminating the HST on heat and hydro. This year, with the support of homebuilders and professional engineers, I personally introduced the Commercial to Residential Conversion Act to make it easier to convert unused office space into housing.

How will you make sure everyone in Ottawa has a family doctor?

There is no doubt that we have a health care crisis in Ontario. In Kanata-Carleton alone there are 11,000 residents that can’t find a family doctor and that number is only going up. Because of this, our emergency rooms are over capacity with Queensway Carleton Hospital Emergency having one of the highest wait times in Ontario. Liberals have a comprehensive plan to guarantee every person in Ontario has a family doctor close to home within the next four years. This includes educating, attracting and retaining thousands of new domestic and internationally trained family doctors; improving the Ontario Health Team network, using it to massively expand access to family doctors practicing in teams; modernizing family medicine and stopping the penalization of patients and doctors if they seek care at walk-in clinics. Unlike Doug Ford, we will commit to this plan of action immediately, not just because an election has been called.

How can the province be fairer to Ottawa with its transit and budget issues?

In their September 2024 report, Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office, revealed that Ottawa has been treated like a second-class city by the Ford government…with less than one fifth the funding they offer to the GTA. No wonder Ottawa is struggling to provide quality and affordable transit to residents. Our party has committed to uploading responsibility for Ottawa’s rail transit system to the province as well as extending light rail to Kanata and Barrhaven. Not only will this support the municipal government with its planning and budget challenges but it will also pay direct dividends in reducing traffic congestion and automobile pollution.

What’s your favourite Ottawa restaurant and why?

I love a great cup of coffee. Kanata-Carleton has a wealth of local businesses that I love to visit: Alice’s Café in Carp, Heart and Soul in Dunrobin, the Bay Café in Constance Bay, Luna Café in Kanata North and Equator Coffee in Kanata South, just to name a few.

Dave Belcher (NDP)How do you propose helping Ottawa to fix the housing crisis?

The housing situation is a critical issue here in Ottawa- it should be a critical goal for the government at all levels because housing is a human right. The NDP will do better for Ontarians by helping to create affordable and accessible market and non-market housing for people in our communities, and working with municipalities and homebuilders to increase the supply of housing immediately. We will also support the construction of non-market homes to serve the housing needs of our low to moderate income households, and use grants, low-cost financing and other resources to help support this development. Adequate housing is a magnet to attract and retain workers and families that support our local businesses- we will make sure that people in Ottawa have the ability to access the housing that they need in the area that they want to live and work.

How will you make sure everyone in Ottawa has a family doctor?

According to the OMA, 162,000 Ottawans don’t have a family doctor. This is a crisis that affects the health and wellness of our entire city and needs to be addressed immediately. We need to increase the availability of community-based primary care by recruiting more healthcare professionals, including doctors and nurse practitioners. The NDP is committed to retaining and attracting health care workers; we need to provide fair wages and support better working conditions and strive to maintain our health care workforce. We also need to work to expand the flow of health care workers by increasing the opportunities for internationally educated medical professionals to be licenced and trained here in Ontario. Investment in the recruitment, training, and retention of health care workers is the only solution to this crisis- we need to start by ending the perpetual under-resourcing and under-valuing of our health care system.

How can the province be fairer to Ottawa with its transit and budget issues?

Ottawa is a world class city and the second largest urban centre in Ontario. The investment and prioritization of Ottawa’s transit system by the province needs to reflect that. The NDP has committed to fund 50% of our public transit operations costs here in Ottawa. This is a better deal for Ottawa because it provides much needed financial relief to support our transit system, while allowing Ottawa residents to have input on the transit priorities, like LRT expansion to Kanata, through our own municipal government, accountable to us. This is critical in building a sustainable and livable city.

What’s your favourite Ottawa restaurant and why?

I’ll always bring people to the Cheshire Cat Pub in Carp. It’s a comfortable traditional English pub inside, and the patio outside is amazing when the weather warms up. I don’t think you’ll find better fish and chips, and don’t miss trying the take home pies!

Jennifer Purdy (Green)How do you propose helping Ottawa to fix the housing crisis?

Did you know that Ottawa has a larger geographic footprint than Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, combined? To fix the housing crisis, in part we need to end the sprawl, because that increases housing costs. We need intergovernmental cooperation, with increased funding from both the federal and provincial governments to build more truly affordable housing units, and ensure housing is not sitting vacant. I want to see a reversal of the provincial law allowing new developments to avoid rent increase ceilings: this is making housing unaffordable, instead let’s use other incentives to encourage developers to build truly affordable housing. Rezoning to allow triplex and fourplex construction in residential zoned areas, because we need to increase housing density, as that results in more affordable housing. Finally, new builds should have 20% mandatory affordable units in any housing project above a certain size.

How will you make sure everyone in Ottawa has a family doctor?

It is important to update the process for licensing internationally trained doctors in Ontario. It is also important to increase the number of seats in medical schools and in residency programs. However, both of these solutions will take several years for us to see results. The best short-term solution is to pay family doctors appropriately. Currently, in a fee for service setting, billing for most visits is $37.95 per patient no matter how many issues are managed. After overhead and income tax, the doctor earns about $16-17 (!!) per patient. We also need to be remunerated for completing forms, reviewing investigation results, writing referrals and resending elsewhere when they bounce back… all this and more is currently unpaid work. Many family doctors have left practice or are limiting their time in office because of burnout and disrespect including poor remuneration. Let’s change that.

How can the province be fairer to Ottawa with its transit and budget issues?

Metrolinx is not the answer! Like the Consortium, Metrolinx is a Private Public Partnership (P3). Its history includes failures and delays, and its board consists of well-connected business persons. Instead, the province should treat Ottawa fairly: Ontario’s own Financial Accountability Office showed Ottawa received $31.91 per resident in provincial funding this past year, while Toronto received $196.49 per resident. Matching Ottawa’s funding to Toronto’s is essential, because we all benefit from excellent public transit, whether we use it or not.

What’s your favourite Ottawa restaurant and why?

I have triplet toddlers, so I don’t get out much anymore! I fully appreciate any restaurant with vegan options that offers take-out. I like Sabai Thai because their food is delicious, and their staff is super friendly. Pure Kitchen is a fully vegan/vegetarian restaurant with tasty options including mouth-watering bowls.

Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.

Recommended from Editorial

Ontario election 2025: What you need to know to vote in the provincial election

Denley: Ontario’s hasty election will make it hard on voters

Article content