Sutcliffe’s Vulnerable In Civic Vote: POTTER

By Evan Potter

It’s not yet the end of June, yet campaign war rooms and strategic minds around Ottawa City Hall are already gaming out what happens if Ottawa’s four-way mayoral race is still competitive in its final week.

I keep getting asked whether candidate Neil Saravanamuttoo will eventually drop out. It’s a straightforward theory: he splits the centre-left vote, sees that he’s about to hand Mayor Mark Sutcliffe another four years, and decides he doesn’t want to be remembered as the “guy who re-elected the mayor.” He bows out and endorses Kitchissippi Councillor and candidate Jeff Leiper, hoping that enough of his voters get the message.

I think that’s the wrong way to think about this race.