Laine Johnson wins re-election in College Ward

Incumbent Ottawa city councillor Laine Johnson was re-elected in College Ward with 92 per cent of the vote in Monday’s municipal election.

The other candidate running in the College Ward race was Abakar Malloum, a part-time teaching professor in political science at the University of Ottawa who earned eight per cent of the vote.

With 16,111 votes registered in the ward, Johnson won with 14,327 votes compared to 1,245 for Malloum.

Johnson has served as the city councillor for College Ward since 2022. In the last election, she won with 52 per cent of the vote.

College Ward is located in the west end of the city, stretching from Clyde Avenue and Merivale Road in the east to Kanata at Eagleson Road in the west. The ward covers many neighbourhoods such as Bells Corners, Centrepointe, Crestview and Iris.

Johnson supporters who reside in the College Ward praised her for taking local matters seriously.

“She’s an excellent communicator. She always keeps people very informed about what’s happening at city council, road closures, anything, you name it,” said Jeremy Ethridge, a College Ward resident.

David Loan, the communications director for Johnson, said the aftermath of the Canada Day thunderstorm was a major issue for College Ward residents during the campaign.

“We now figure that there’s well over half a billion dollars in damages here and a good 7- or 8,000 homes affected. People were made homeless because they had basement apartments that they were renting that they could not be moved into anymore,” said Loan. “It was a terrible, terrible tragedy and Laine was on it from day one.”

Johnson had the storm aftermath on her mind at the beginning of her campaign.

“We were going door to door every day for weeks after those terrible floods and it was very important for me to continue to demonstrate to residents that I would be showing up for them in the best of times and the worst of times,” said Johnson.

Johnson is inspired to see strong female representation at city hall continue after the election.

“I have noticed over the last four years that women tend to have a different approach when it comes politics,” said Johnson. “I have found that we are interested in results and that we are interested in debating ideas, less so people.”

When it comes to student issues, Johnson said that Algonquin College is an essential stakeholder to OC Transpo. She noted that Algonquin has the greatest number of U-Pass taps out of any post-secondary institution in Ottawa.

“Working with the Algonquin Students’ Association over the last couple of years, transit is certainly one of the number one priorities,” said Johnson. “I’m very interested to see whether or not OC Transpo can manage to open the Line 1 extension to Algonquin College.”

Johnson has heard complaints about the Route 88 bus ever since she was first elected and blames congestion on Baseline Road for the route’s slow service.

“They are going to build many bus bays moving forward for the 88 so it does not have to come out and go back in,” said Johnson.

Johnson also wants students to have a meaningful yet affordable place to live.

“Seeing more purpose-built rental housing around the college would be very exciting. We have one building finally going up on Baseline Road,” said Johnson.

Johnson said that she would have been glad to serve with either Jeff Leiper or Mark Sutcliffe, who was re-elected in the Ottawa mayoral race. She has worked with both over the last four years.

Candidates elected to city council will serve a four-year term beginning Nov. 15.