Ottawa city manager announces retirement just days before LRT report released
Ottawa city manager Steve Kanellakos has announced he is leaving his role, effective immediately.
In a letter released Monday, Kanellakos said he informed Mayor Mark Sutcliffe of his decision.
“I’m sure there will be speculation about the reasons for my departure at this time. This decision is mine and mine alone. No one asked me to leave. I’ve always deeply believed in leadership accountability. As City Manager, I am ultimately accountable for the performance of the organization. I have always deeply believed that my role is to have your backs and that it is my duty to accept ultimate responsibility for our performance,” he wrote.
The announcement comes just after an in-camera meeting of the new city council discussing legal updates regarding the light rail transit system. It also comes two days before the final report from the public inquiry into Stage 1 of LRT is released. The inquiry looked at the issues that plagued the line and the municipal decisions that led to its launch.
Kanellakos referenced the LRT report in his departure message, saying he suspects it will be critical of the city.
“On Wednesday, November 30th, the LRT Public Inquiry Commission report will be released publicly. I don’t know what the report findings or recommendations will be as we will not receive an advance copy. I do believe, based on the line of questioning and approach taken by the Commission, that the report will be critical of the City of Ottawa and City staff. Despite this, I know that City staff did their best under very difficult circumstances to ensure that the Light Rail System would meet all of our expectations,” he said.
“It is my belief, that this is the time to do the right thing and allow the organization to find a new leader who can deal with implementing the recommendations from the Inquiry unfettered from the long complex history of the project or the findings of the Commission report.”
Kanellakos has been the city manager of the City of Ottawa since 2016. He also served as deputy city manager of operations, and general manager of community and protective services for the city. He also briefly served as city manager for the City of Vaughan in 2015 before becoming Ottawa’s city manager. Prior to his roles within the City of Ottawa, Kanellakos was director of the Gloucester Police Service in the early 1990s and later became Director General of the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Service in the years before amalgamation.
During his tenure as city manager, he oversaw the city's response to major environmental disasters, including flooding in 2017 and 2019, the 2018 tornadoes and the 2022 derecho. He was the city manager during the "Freedom Convoy" demonstration, Canada 150 celebrations in Ottawa, and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He also oversaw the launch of the LRT.
In early 2020, Kanellakos challenged councillors to fire him if they believed the city had not handled the situation properly.
"I am ultimately accountable," Kanellakos said. “Look at the org chart and you’ll see my face on it. I’m accountable to Council; I’m your only employee. If you do believe that we have not done everything possible to improve this system and make this better, move a motion at the next Council to dismiss your city manager.”
No motion to remove him ever came.
The city manager is the city’s chief administrator, and oversees the city’s multi-billion dollar operating budget. In 2021, Kanellakos earned a salary of more than $370,000.
In an email to councillors Monday thanking Kanellakos for his contributions to the city, Sutcliffe said he would move a motion at city council on Wednesday to appoint the city's chief financial officer Wendy Stephanson as acting city manager.
"I would like to thank Wendy for agreeing to take on the role of Acting City Manager and I look forward to working with her and our senior leadership team in the days and months ahead," Sutcliffe wrote.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.