Catherine McKenney
Catherine McKenney | |
|---|---|
 McKenney in 2022 | |
| Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Ottawa Centre | |
| Assumed office February 27, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Joel Harden |
| Ottawa City Councillor | |
| In office December 1, 2014 – November 15, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Diane Holmes |
| Succeeded by | Ariel Troster |
| Constituency | Somerset Ward |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 3, 1961[1][2] Fort-Coulonge, Quebec, Canada[1] |
| Political party | Ontario New Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Catharine Vandelinde[3] (m. circa 2005)[4] |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Centretown West[5] |
| Alma mater | University of Ottawa (BSocSc, 1993) |
| Website | https://www.mckenney2022.ca/ at the Wayback Machine (archived 2023-01-26) |
Catherine McKenney MPP (born June 3, 1961) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent Ottawa Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) in the 2025 provincial election. McKenney previously served on Ottawa City Council from 2014 to 2022, and ran to be the mayor of Ottawa in the 2022 Ottawa election, placing second.
McKenney was elected to represent Somerset Ward in 2014, they were re-elected in 2018 and ran to be mayor of Ottawa in 2022, placing second to Mark Sutcliffe. McKenney was elected to be the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Ottawa Centre in the 2025 Ontario general election.[6] Before running for office, they worked as an advisor and political staffer.[7]
Early life and education
McKenney was born in Fort-Coulonge, Quebec, the child of a forester and stay-at-home parent. The family would then move to Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, where McKenney went to elementary school. In grade 9, McKenney moved to Pembroke, Ontario when their dad got a job at Algonquin College. McKenney had two children in their early 20s, working in fast food and as a photographer's assistant to support them. McKenney moved to Ottawa at the age of 26, where they completed a Bachelor of Social Science at the University of Ottawa in 1993.[5][8]
Career
After graduating, McKenney lived in Kanata and had a job reading news articles on television for people who are blind.[4]
Prior to holding elected office, McKenney worked as a staffer in the offices of city councillors Diane Holmes and Alex Munter, and federal members of Parliament Ed Broadbent and Paul Dewar.[9] They supported Jim Watson in the 2014 mayoral election.[10]
McKenney was first elected in the 2014 municipal election to represent Somerset Ward, which consists of Centretown, Centretown West, and the downtown core. During the 2022 Canada convoy protests, McKenney criticized inaction by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and the Ottawa Police Service.[11] McKenney virtually joined an Ottawa City Council meeting from the streets of the occupation.[12]
In December 2021, McKenney announced that they would be running for mayor in the 2022 Ottawa municipal election.[13] McKenney lost to Mark Sutcliffe with 119,241 votes to 161,679 votes.[14]
In January 2023, McKenney co-founded CitySHAPES non-profit organization with Ottawa economist Neil Saravanamuttoo to address "climate change, active transportation, transit, affordable housing and ending chronic homelessness."[15][14]
In October 2024, McKenney launched a campaign for the Ontario NDP nomination in Ottawa Centre. McKenney was announced as the NDP candidate in November 2024, replacing former Ontario NDP MPP Joel Harden who was announced as the federal NDP candidate in the 2025 Canadian federal election.[14][6] McKenney won the riding in February 2025.[16]
Personal life
McKenney is queer and is the first non-male openly-LGBT person to serve on Ottawa's city council.[17] McKenney is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.[18] McKenney has three children.[10]
Electoral record
2025 Ontario provincial election
| 2025 Ontario general election: Ottawa Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| New Democratic | Catherine McKenney | 32,483 | 55.70 | +1.36 | ||||
| Liberal | Thomas Simpson | 13,591 | 23.30 | +0.72 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Scott Healey | 9,573 | 16.41 | +0.68 | ||||
| Green | Simon Beckett | 1,550 | 2.66 | –2.21 | ||||
| New Blue | Maria Desouza | 468 | 0.80 | –0.63 | ||||
| Ontario Party | Shannon Boschy | 321 | 0.55 | N/A | ||||
| Communist | Cashton Perry | 232 | 0.40 | +0.13 | ||||
| Independent | Josh Rachlis | 102 | 0.17 | N/A | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 58,320 | 99.53 | +0.01 | |||||
| Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots | 277 | 0.47 | –0.01 | |||||
| Turnout | 58,597 | |||||||
| Eligible voters | ||||||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | +0.32 | ||||||
Source(s)
| ||||||||
2022 Ottawa municipal election
| Candidate | Popular vote | Expenditures | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | ||||||||||
| Mark Sutcliffe | 161,679 | 51.37 | – | $537,834.79 | ||||||||
| Catherine McKenney | 119,241 | 37.88 | – | $542,847.97 | ||||||||
| Bob Chiarelli | 15,998 | 5.08 | – | $96,844.84 | ||||||||
| Nour Kadri | 7,496 | 2.38 | – | $71,062.45 | ||||||||
| Mike Maguire | 2,775 | 0.88 | – | $5,500.00 | ||||||||
| Graham MacDonald | 1,629 | 0.52 | – | $5,334.50 | ||||||||
| Brandon Bay | 1,512 | 0.48 | – | $9,478.02 | ||||||||
| Param Singh | 1,176 | 0.37 | – | $13,650.40 | ||||||||
| Celine Debassige | 867 | 0.28 | – | none listed | ||||||||
| Ade Olumide | 636 | 0.20 | – | $1,966.25 | ||||||||
| Gregory Jreg Guevara | 584 | 0.19 | – | $2,349.61 | ||||||||
| Bernard Couchman | 471 | 0.15 | -0.21 | none listed | ||||||||
| Jacob Solomon | 432 | 0.14 | – | none listed | ||||||||
| Zed Chebib | 264 | 0.08 | – | none listed | ||||||||
| Total valid votes | 314,760 | 99.53 | ||||||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined votes | 1,500 | 0.47 | -0.92 | |||||||||
| Turnout | 316,260 | 43.79 | +1.24 | |||||||||
| Eligible voters | 722,227 | |||||||||||
| Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.) and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates. | ||||||||||||
| Sources: City of Ottawa[19][20] | ||||||||||||
2018 Ottawa municipal election
| Somerset Ward (Ward 14)[21] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Catherine McKenney | 7,754 | 76.66% |
| Jerry Kovacs | 1,461 | 14.44% |
| Arthur David | 701 | 6.93% |
| Merdod Zopyrus | 199 | 1.97% |
2014 Ottawa municipal election
| Somerset Ward (Ward 14)[22] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Catherine McKenney | 3,997 | 40.13% |
| Jeff Morrison | 1,681 | 16.88% |
| Martin Canning | 1,631 | 16.38% |
| Conor Meade | 807 | 8.10% |
| Edward Conway | 576 | 5.78% |
| Thomas McVeigh | 434 | 4.36% |
| Lili V. Weemen | 292 | 3.94% |
| Denis Schryburt | 223 | 2.24% |
| Sandro Provenzano | 99 | 0.99% |
| Curtis Tom | 77 | 0.77% |
| Silviu Riley | 43 | 0.43% |
References
- ^ a b Pearson, Matthew (21 October 2015). "The two Catherines: How to tell McKenney and McKenna apart". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ @CatharineV (3 June 2020). "Happy birthday to my person @cmckenney" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Catherine McKenney, Catherine McKenna and Ottawa's struggle to tell them apart". Macleans.ca. 12 April 2018.
- ^ a b "Catherine McKenney is trying not to think about making history". CBC Ottawa. October 13, 2022.
- ^ a b "Why Catherine McKenney keeps showing up: the making of Ottawa's progressive mayoral candidate". Ottawa Citizen. October 19, 2022.
- ^ a b "Ontario NDP announce former city councillor Catherine McKenney as Ottawa-Centre candidate". CityNews. November 24, 2024.
- ^ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ontario-votes-2025-riding-profile-ottawa-centre-1.7467907.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Annual Report 2015-2016" (PDF). The Alumni Association of the University of Ottawa. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
- ^ "Catherine McKenney to run for Somerset Ward". Xtra Ottawa. April 22, 2014.
- ^ a b "Ottawa votes: Somerset candidates answer our questions". Ottawa Citizen. September 25, 2014.
- ^ "Ottawa police board chair ousted in dramatic city council meeting". Ottawa. 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
- ^ "'What is the plan?': Ottawa councillor joins meeting from downtown street crowded with protesters". CBC News. February 16, 2022.
- ^ Pritchard, Trevor (2021-12-10). "The first 3 candidates aiming to replace Jim Watson as Ottawa's mayor". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2022-10-24.
- ^ a b c "Catherine McKenney seeking Ontario NDP nomination in Ottawa Centre". CBC. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
- ^ "Where are they now? Fourteen public figures a year after the convoy protest". ottawacitizen. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
- ^ "Ontario election results: Look up the results in your riding". CTV. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
- ^ "Ottawa elects first openly queer woman to city council". Xtra Ottawa. October 28, 2014. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014.
- ^ "Councillor posts hateful email to 'give people pause'". CBC News. November 5, 2019.
- ^ "2022 Official election results". City of Ottawa. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
- ^ "Financial statements for the 2022 Municipal Elections". City of Ottawa. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
- ^ "2018 Election Results". City of Ottawa. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
- ^ "2014 Election Results". City of Ottawa. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
External links
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2023-01-26)