Ottawa's race for mayor has reached the letters page, where one Manotick reader argues that OC Transpo's troubles should not all be pinned on Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
The Ottawa Citizen published its letters to the editor for Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, and one of them carries the headline "Don't make Mark Sutcliffe the OC Transpo scapegoat." It is a reader's opinion rather than a news report, and it responds to something mayoral candidate Alex Lawson said about the transit system.
What the letter says
The writer, Doug Miller of Manotick, says he does not think it was fair that Lawson put all the blame for OC Transpo's problems on the shoulders of Sutcliffe.
Miller then points to the people running the system. He notes that OC Transpo hired general manager Rick Leary to handle these problems. His conclusion is that responsibility should sit with those who were hired to do the job. In his words: "Let's channel the blame to people who were hired to do the job and not blame everything on Sutcliffe."
That is the whole of his argument as published: one candidate's criticism, one mayor, and a call to look at the staff the transit agency brought in to fix things. The letter is one resident's view. It is not a finding about who is responsible for any particular OC Transpo problem, and ottown has not independently confirmed what Lawson said, so this article reports only how the letter writer describes it.
The candidates in the frame
The Citizen's page carries a photo caption naming four mayoral candidates: Neil Saravanamuttoo, Alex Lawson, Mark Sutcliffe and Jeff Leiper. The caption says they debated key issues during the recent mayoral debate hosted by the Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association and the Ottawa Real Estate Board.
The caption does not say what was discussed about transit at that debate, and the letter does not say where Lawson made his remarks. Readers who want to know exactly what was said will need to go to the candidates directly or to the debate coverage.
Earlier this month
The mayor and his challengers have been trading ideas on city services in recent days. On Oct. 1, ottown reported that Sutcliffe wants Ottawa residents to get a 48-hour head start over non-residents when registering for swimming lessons. Other mayoral candidates backed the idea but said the city also needs more pools. You can read that story in ottown's earlier report.
What it means for readers
For Ottawa residents who ride the bus and train, the letter is a reminder that transit is part of the conversation as voters weigh the people asking to run City Hall. It does not announce any change to service, fares or management, and nothing in it says Leary's role has changed. Anyone who wants to judge how OC Transpo is doing will need to look at the service itself and at what each candidate says they would do.
Sources: Ottawa Citizen
