Ottawa votes on Monday, October 26, 2026, and we wanted to hear from the people on the ballot in their own words. So we sent the same six questions to every certified candidate in the city, with one promise: we publish what you send back, unedited.
Peter J. Karwacki is running for councillor in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward. Here are the answers, exactly as they arrived.
Why are you running?
Because residents deserve the truth, not comforting words.
Ottawa is a $5 billion-a-year operation, and our ward gets one vote at that table. Too often that vote is used to show up instead of check up. I'm a PMP and a trained data analyst, with 13 years at IBM and Cognos and 15 in health services. My whole career has been asking who verified the numbers before the money is spent and the problems become permanent. That's the job at City Hall.
I'm also running because acclamation is never a good thing. A ward without a real contest gets announcements instead of delivery. Win or lose, Rideau-Rockcliffe is going to have the debate.
What is the single biggest issue facing the people you want to represent, and what would you do about it?
Nobody is checking the numbers.
Flooded basements with no coordinated protocol, a transit system that "improves" on paper while riders wait longer, and a police board that keeps finding out after the fact what it should have known in advance all come from the same gap. Reports get approved without being verified, and activity gets reported as results.
I would push for three things:
Mandatory independent verification of major reports before council votes on them.
Public performance dashboards for transit and police metrics.
Real transparency on land and infrastructure deals negotiated under NDA.
I'd also push for true open data, so residents and journalists can check the City's work without filing a request and waiting months.
Name one specific thing you would work on in your first year in office.
The East End Crossing.
I support it. Council would override ward-level opposition 16–9 anyway, so Ward 13 can resist and lose its leverage, or engage now and write the mitigation terms. In year one I'd get the ward to the table with specific demands: heavy trucks off King Edward and Rideau, and a pedestrian-activated crossing on the Aviation Parkway near Cité collégiale, a gap the City and the NCC keep pointing at each other over.
A councillor who only says no gets no seat when the conditions are set. I want the seat.
What is something the City gets wrong today that you would change?
The City mistakes activity for results.
Newsletters list votes, motions, and commitments. OC Transpo has missed performance targets for years. In May 2026 the Auditor General found that reporting to the Police Services Board contained inaccuracies, and called it "vague." Council approved a $95 million landfill purchase, negotiated behind closed doors under an NDA, on a 20–5 vote.
Outputs are not outcomes. I'd change what gets measured and who verifies it before council votes, not after.
What should residents know about you that would not appear on a campaign flyer?
I'm from Kenora, in northwestern Ontario, and that's where the frank, no-nonsense part comes from. I'm a whitewater paddler, I've advocated for the Kipawa River, and I'm a dog person.
My livelihood and popularity don't depend on this election, unlike the incumbent's. That frees me to say what's true. I also run on what I'd call a controlled and righteous anger about things that should have been fixed years ago. It wakes me early.
I've run before, and I'm still here. I will not quit.
Anything else you would like voters to know?
If elected, I will not run again. I'm not building a career here. I'll get in, close out the priorities, and get out, with no re-election calculus bending my decisions.
Incumbents in Ottawa win 100% of the time, only about 40% of eligible voters turn out, and urban wards get outvoted 16–9 by the suburbs. Those numbers should bother everyone, whoever you vote for.
This is not a popularity contest. Vote for the person who will read the budget line by line, not the one who remembers your name at the potluck. Inform yourselves, vote differently, vote wisely.
Something needs to be done. Let's make sure it actually gets done.
Who else is running in Rideau-Rockcliffe
Rideau-Rockcliffe is Ward 13: East of downtown, Manor Park, New Edinburgh, Rockcliffe Park, Overbrook, Lindenlea, Viscount Alexander Park and Carson Meadows. 2 people are on the ballot here. Alongside Peter J. Karwacki: Rawlson King (incumbent).
They have all had the same six questions. We publish each set of answers as it comes in.
When you can vote
Ottawa votes on Monday, October 26, 2026, with advance voting before then. The City's certified candidate list is the authority on who is on your ballot.
About this piece
These are Peter J. Karwacki's own words, published as sent. We have not fact-checked the claims in them, and running them is not an endorsement. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we will fix it.
Peter J. Karwacki's ottown page: https://www.ottown.ca/elections/rideau-rockcliffe/peter-j-karwacki
