Experience important for nearly half of Ottawa voters: Nanos poll

Ottawa City Hall. (File photo)

Nearly half of Ottawa residents say experience is important in municipal politics, as a two-term councillor and a political rookie emerge as the frontrunners in the race for mayor of Ottawa.

A Nanos Research poll for CTV News Ottawa asked respondents on a scale of 0 to 10, how important is experience in municipal politics.

Forty-eight per cent of respondents' ranked experience as "important" (7 to 10 out of 10), while 32 per cent of respondents rated experience as "average" and 15 per cent said experience is "not important".

Respondents living in the downtown (6.4 out of 10) and east end (6.6 per cent of 10) rated political experience as important higher than residents living in the west end (5.6 out of 10) and rural (6.0 out of 10) areas of the city.

With less than three weeks left in the municipal election campaign, the same poll shows Catherine McKenney has a small lead over Mark Sutcliffe in the battle for the mayor's office.

Twenty-nine per cent of respondents said they would vote for McKenney, compared 24 per cent for Sutcliffe. Former Ottawa mayor and provincial cabinet minister Bob Chiarelli is third, at nine per cent support.

The Nanos Research poll asked respondents to rank the importance of experience in municipal politics on a scale of 0 to 10.

McKenney has served two terms as councillor for Somerset Ward, and previously worked as a strategic advisor to the deputy city manager and in the offices of former councillors Alex Munter and Diane Holmes.

"As Mayor, I’ll deliver the transparency you deserve, starting with my campaign. Before you head to the polls, I will release my campaign’s donor list and our full financial plan," McKenney said on Twitter this week. "I’ve worked on the City budget for years and I have the leadership and experience to be Mayor."

Sutcliffe, an entrepreneur and broadcaster, is running for office for the first time.  In his questionnaire submission to CTV News Ottawa, Sutcliffe said he has "no partisan political experience", but has years of "community leadership."

"I've been managing budgets my whole career, as a business owner, executive or non-profit leader. I know the value of a dollar earned, but I've practiced fiscal discipline my entire professional life," Sutcliffe said on Twitter this week.

"I will bring that experience to City Hall to make life more affordable to you."

Chiarelli has the most political experience of any of the 14 candidates running for mayor in Ottawa's municipal election. Chiarelli served as Regional Chair of Ottawa from 1997 to 2000, and two terms as mayor of Ottawa from 2000 to 2006. Chiarelli also served as a Member of Provincial Parliament, and was a cabinet minister.

Nanos conducted an online survey of 503 Ottawa residents, 18 years of age and older, between Sept. 23 and Oct. 3.  Nanos conducted a non-probability survey representative of the city, and there is no margin of error.