Ottawa: Half Approve of Sutcliffe; Housing Top Issue
October 27, 2025 (Toronto, ON) – A new Liaison Strategies poll for the National Ethnic Press and Media Council (NEPMCC) finds Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe with a 50% approval rating while Housing is the top issue for Ottawa voters.
Conducted from October 22-23, 2025, using interactive voice response technology, the poll surveyed 800 Ottawa voters. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 3.46%, 19 times out of 20.
Liaison Strategies is one of the most accurate polling firms in Canada. It ranked #1 in accuracy in the 2025 Ontario election and #2 nationally in the 2025 federal election. Liaison is a member of the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC).
David Valentin, Principal at Liaison Strategies, said the following:
If an election were held today Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe would win re-election if he faced his 2022 opponent, Catherine McKenney. That being said, in the 2022 Ottawa mayoral race Sutcliffe received 51% and here he receives 43% (-8). McKenney, at 34%, is also down (-3) with most of the support having been scooped up by Bob Chiarelli who is at 14% in this survey having previously received 5% of the vote.
Some of these numbers are likely influenced by the mayor's relatively soft approval rating of 50%. To be sure, Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parish and Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath have lower net approvals, but Sutcliffe's net approval is lower than Toronto mayor Olivia Chow who has sustained organized opposition to her agenda.
Ottawa voters are mostly split about what the top issue in Ottawa is, though affordable housing comes out on top with 20%. It's followed closely by crime (19%), and transit (18%).
Meanwhile, the Liberals are continuing to post strong numbers in the nation's capital with 50% of the decided and leaning vote. The Conservatives are 15 points behind at 35%, followed by the NDP at 9%. It's important to note this survey tested generic party support and not local candidates names, but either way these are solid numbers for the federal Liberal incumbents in Ottawa.
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Detailed Poll Report:
About Liaison Strategies
Liaison Strategies is a national public opinion research firm. With 12 years of experience in Canadian polling, David Valentin, principal, has fielded hundreds of projects at the municipal, provincial and federal levels and appeared across Canadian media to discuss insights. Liaison is a member of the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC), Canada’s voice of the research, analytics, and insights profession both domestically and globally.
About the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada
The National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and integrate economic, social and cultural interests of Ethnic communities into the mainstream of Canadian society. NEPMCC represents Canada’s Ethnic Press to the provincial and federal governments and is the major industry association for Canada’s non-official language newspapers, TV, radio and online outlets.