Sutcliffe urges McKenney to provide clarity on connection with third party advertiser
Posted Sep 20, 2022 02:02:00 PM.
Mark Sutcliffe wants to know if fellow mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney has accepted any contributions from a third party advertiser.
In a release issued on Tuesday, Sept 20, Sutcliffe said McKenney must come clean and clarify whether or not Horizon Ottawa has contributed to their campaign.
Sutcliffe goes on to say Horizon Ottawa has endorsed Catherine McKenney, and the organization says the following on its website:
“The 2022 municipal election is set to be a change election, with progressives running in wards across the city for council seats, and with at least one progressive vying for the Mayoral seat. We need to start planning now. That means identifying those progressives as well as the teams that will lead them to victory. It also means ensuring that both candidates and teams have the training and resources needed to pull it off.”
According to the Sutcliffe campaign, Horizon Ottawa has trained 700 canvassers to go door-to-door to solicit support for their preferred candidate, and that Horizon Ottawa's spokesperson and director worked for McKenney in 2020.
Sutcliffe said McKenney must clarify whether any of these 700 trained volunteers or staff have, or currently work on their campaign.
“Are Ottawa residents to believe that not one of these trained individuals have worked, or are currently working for the Catherine McKenney Campaign?,” the Sutcliffe campaign questions. “Did Catherine McKenney know that Horizon Ottawa was training volunteers to support their campaign? Have they had recent contact with Horizon Ottawa, of any kind?”
In response, McKenney provided a statement to CityNews stating that their campaign has not received any direct nor ‘in kind’ donations from Horizon Ottawa or Campaign Life.
“We have nearly 1,000 dedicated volunteers that we’ve trained ourselves,” they said. “I have no requirement for training myself since I have extensive experience and history of deep municipal experience and leadership.”
McKenney said as Mayor, they would increase transparency at City Hall.
“As part of this effort, I am releasing my donor list on October 10 and encourage all other candidates to do so,” McKenney said.
If elected mayor, Sutcliffe said he would propose a number of measures that ensure complaints about misconduct during municipal elections are dealt with in a timely manner, and he vowed to reject support from third parties who are trying to bring partisan politics to Ottawa City Hall.
Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher told The Rob Snow Show on Sept. 20 what the role of a third party advertiser should be.
He added there can't be cooperating between a third party and a candidate in order to bypass spending limits or to coordinate campaign strategies.
“The key thing is to ensure they are actually representing voters' interests and are not just a front for one person or a big business,” he said.
Sutcliffe, a former CityNews Ottawa talk show host, entrepreneur and author, is one of 14 people vying to be Ottawa's next mayor.
Listen to the full interview with Duff Conacher below:
