Ottawa city councillors bid farewell to three long-serving members with a combined 36 years of experience around the council table as Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper and Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley each reflected on their time in office and the many changes the city has seen.
Gower pledged to serve only two terms when he was elected in 2018; Leiper placed second in this year’s mayoral race after serving for three council terms; and Hubley was defeated in the recent election after sitting as ward councillor for the last 16 years.
Each of the three outgoing councillors will be replaced in their respective wards by women who were elected on Oct. 26, with Chelsea Walton in Stittsville, Joanne Chianello in Kitchissippi and Erin Coffin winning the seat in Kanata South. They are set to be sworn in, along with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and the other 21 returning councillors, for the next four-year council term on Nov. 16.
“My thoughts this morning are about the times that crystallized for me how just messy and awful and sublime and beautiful this city can be,” Leiper said in his farewell speech. “When (Abdirahman) Abdi was killed (in 2016), our community rallied and demanded justice. When COVID locked us down, the community cooked the meals and did the laundry and delivered the groceries for those who couldn’t. I watched the convoy arrive in Hintonburg as many of the truckers with their hateful flags went to the wrong damn Wellington Street.”
Leiper said he will treasure memories of the “smaller things” a councillor is often tasked with — and dropped an f-bomb as he rattled off the highlights and lowlights of the last 12 years.
“I’ve judged a lot of pies. I’ve written and performed with Lucky Ron a song about a hydro pole, I’ve been dunked in a lot of tanks,” he joked. “I’ve also waded through floodwater … I’ve broken into construction sites … I’ve had a physical altercation with a protester. I’ve cleared foot-thick ice and lake-causing debris from drains and, f— yeah, I shovelled out some bike lanes.”
He also recalled the incident in 2018 when “Murphy the Snake” got loose in Westboro.
“There’s no one assigned to finding loose boa constrictors, so guess whose job it is? And that day reminds me of the very privileged place that city councillors have in our city’s life. Throughout all of the crises that we’ve experienced, residents have turned to me as someone they trust.”
Sutcliffe presented framed photographs of a ward-specific project that was championed by each departing councillor: Laroche Park for Leiper, the bandshell in Tony Graham Park for Hubley and Stittsville Main Street for Gower.
Gower reflected on the changing face of that street and the community he calls home over his past eight years in office.
“You’ve all seen the population growth, but it’s also become way more diverse and way more dynamic than it was in 2018,” he told his fellow councillors. “There are new groups like the Stittsville Muslim Association, which is now the largest association in Stittsville. We have a Stittsville Cricket Club who are excited about a new pitch opening next spring. We just opened our third francophone school and there’s a fourth one being built. And on my street, there are probably more Diwali lights than Christmas lights — and I love it.”
He recalled his first day on the job in 2018 when he experienced “impostor syndrome” as one of seven newly-elected councillors. He sat next to Eli El-Chantiry during that first term and would often lean over to ask the veteran councillor, “What are we voting on? What’s the procedure here?”
Cleaning out his office over the past week, Gower said he discovered a thick, dusty report on cannabis sales in Ottawa.
“We all thought that was going to be one of the biggest files of the term,” he said. “Well, soon after, there was the Westboro bus tragedy. There was the approval of Stage 2 LRT, the Château Laurier addition, the disastrous opening of LRT Line 1, and then COVID-19, the convoy, the derecho, tornadoes, and floods. It was biblical.
“We passed a new official plan, a transportation master plan, the new zoning bylaw, Lansdowne 2.0 and eight city budgets along the way,” he said. “So how far we’ve come.”
Hubley recalled the time early in his tenure he was walking down Elgin Street with his friend, former mayor Jim Watson, searching for a cheeseburger joint, when they were stopped by a resident asking for a photo with the pair. He had mistaken Hubley for the revered former CJOH broadcaster Max Keeping.
“I had more hair then,” he joked. “That taught me to be humble in the job and I think I kept that lesson all these years.”
Hubley said he ran for council 16 years ago to help fellow residents who felt “abandoned” with 1,200 homes that had been flooded, some as many as three times, after “100-year storms that all happened three times in a decade.”
He pointed to $400 million in road and sewer upgrades since that time and thanked city staff for investing in repairs to the community’s old infrastructure.
“I never saw myself as a politician. I was a community advocate that came here to help my residents, and I delivered,” Hubley said.
He thanked residents who embraced his family after the loss of his son Jamie, who died by suicide in 2011, and thanked the community that supported his family’s efforts help young people struggling with mental health and bullying.
“We will forever hold you in our hearts,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion as he thanked his wife, his children, grandchildren and his “north stars.”
Leiper and Gower also gave special thanks to their families who supported them throughout the good and bad times during their council tenure.
“Public service is not something you do alone, and even if families might prefer to stay on the sidelines, they do end up absorbing those late nights, the public scrutiny, and the interruptions and the stress,” Gower said. “Elected officials, we get the spotlight. Sometimes our families get the shade.”
Gower said he had no regrets about his promise to serve only two terms and welcomed the opportunity for “new voices, fresh ideas and different experiences around the council table.”
He singled out and applauded the three women who will replace the outgoing councillors.
“Finally, I’ve held a lot of big roles in my time at City Hall, but a resident reminded me the other day that there’s one title I get to keep, even when I leave, and that’s neighbour,” he said. “Neighbour. That’s how it started, and that’s how it’s going to continue.”
