Why Does Sutcliffe Want LRT Control? MULVIHILL

Published 10/14/2025 · Updated 10/14/2025

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Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe doesn’t want to move on from the almighty control he has of the city’s problem-plagued LRT. Why?

You’d think he would like to see the caboose off in the distance of that problem-riddled train. Upload it to the provincial agency Metrolinx as Queen’s Park has promised and be gone.

There are a multitude of untold LRT secrets hidden in conversations that took place behind the closed doors of Ottawa City Hall. Residents learned some of them, no doubt not all, in the provincial LRT inquiry led by Justice William Hourigan.

The public had been fed a steady diet of deceit related to light rail, the inquiry said. The probe levied a bevy of eye-popping information that, at times, was mind-boggling from deliberate malfeasance to egregious violations of public trust. Hourigan’s final report was the ultimate in the who, what, when, where, why and how of municipal deception and dishonesty.

And yet, once the LRT service is uploaded to the provincial level, Sutcliffe wants to retain control of it. Again, the question would be … why? Perhaps there is more than meets the eye in secrets? One might think that ridding oneself of the madness that is LRT would be a relief especially in an election year.

So what might the top echelon at Ottawa City Hall not want Ontario Premier Doug Ford to discover? Wouldn’t it be valuable to know exactly how deep down the rabbit hole Ottawans were led?

Donna Mulvihill is a community activist and former hospital coordinator.