Coun. Stéphanie Plante says she will file her nomination papers on Friday and will run for re-election in Rideau-Vanier — one of seven wards across the city where only one candidate had registered.
Plante, who was first elected to office in November 2022, is the last of Ottawa’s incumbent councillors to declare their intentions for the upcoming municipal election with about one month remaining until the nomination period closes at 2 p.m. on Aug. 21.
Plante said in an email to the Ottawa Citizen she plans to file her nomination papers on July 24.
“We did a community event with sponsors on Sunday and I didn’t want them to be tagged as supporting a ‘candidate’ vs. councillor,” Plante said.
Plante served as vice-chair of the built heritage committee and as a member of the community services and emergency preparedness committees during her first term, and has been an outspoken advocate for the Rideau-Vanier ward , which includes the ByWard Market, Lowertown and Vanier.
She will run against Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustee Lyra Evans, who has served as a trustee since 2018, first as trustee for Zone 9 (Capital and Alta Vista wards) and as trustee for Zone 6 (Rideau-Vanier and Rideau-Rockcliffe) since 2022.
Six incumbent city councillors are — so far — running unopposed.
Those include Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas, Kanata North Coun. Cathy Curry, College Coun. Laine Johnson, River Coun. Riley Brockington, Rideau-Jock Coun. David Brown and Osgoode Coun. Isabelle Skalski.
Skalski was elected to council in a June 2025 byelection following the departure of former councillor George Darouze, who moved to provincial politics and now represents the provincial riding of Carleton at Queen’s Park.
Skalski faced 10 challengers for the council seat last year and won just over 34 per cent of the 6,223 ballots cast in the rural ward, where only 24 per cent of the 25,742 eligible electors turned out to vote, according to official results from the City of Ottawa’s elections office.
As of July 23, she was the lone candidate to file nomination papers in the ward.
Other wards, by contrast, are already shaping up to be hotly-contested races, including Stittsville, where eight candidates have registered to run after Coun. Glen Gower announced he will not seek a third term .
Coun. Jeff Leiper is running for mayor after serving as Kitchissippi councillor for the past 12 years, leaving a field of four candidates vying for the seat.
Orléans East-Cumberland Coun. Matt Luloff is facing the largest group of challengers, with six candidates challenging for Luloff’s seat.
Nine sitting councillors, meanwhile, are facing only one challenger who has registered so far.
Those include Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill, who will be running against OCDSB trustee Donna Blackburn and Beacon-Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney, who will likewise be running against OCDSB trustee Cathryne Milburn.
Other wards with one registered challenger taking on the incumbent councillor include West Carleton-March, Bay, Rideau-Rockcliffe, Capital, Orléans South-Navan, Riverside South-Findlay Creek and Kanata South.
The nomination and registration period began on May 1 and runs until Aug. 21, when candidates have until 2 p.m. to file nomination papers, to change their nomination to a different office or to officially withdraw their candidacy.
Candidate nomination forms are certified by the city clerk by August 24. Voting day is Oct. 26.
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