Jeff Leiper

Jeffrey Leiper (born 1970) is the current Ottawa city councillor for Kitchissippi Ward. He was first elected in the 2014 Ottawa municipal election, defeating the incumbent Katherine Hobbs.

Early life and career

Leiper was born and raised in Ottawa. He studied history and English at the University of Ottawa, and print journalism at Algonquin College. As a youth, Leiper was a member of the youth wing of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, though he is now a committed progressive. Leiper first ran for office as a 24 year old in the 1994 municipal elections for a seat on Cumberland Township Council. At the time he was still attending the University of Ottawa. He ran on a platform of higher density developments, the completion of a north-south link between then Highway 17 (now Highway 174) and Highway 417 (which was never built), more parks and the completion of a library. Running in Ward 2, covering the southern section of Orleans, he won just 3% of the vote.

He has lived in Kitchissippi Ward since 1995 when he and his spouse Natalie moved into the Julian Apartments in the Wellington West area. Today, he lives in Hintonburg with Natalie and their son.

Leiper has a long background working with the Hintonburg Community Association, where he served as its president. He has also worked with the volunteer-run community newspaper Newswest in the ward. For many years, he created and organized events such as the Cyclelogik Hintonburg 5k Run/Walk and Newswest Kids 1K, Dog Movie Night and the annual Hintonburg Street Hockey Tournament. His community work includes a significant background in planning, traffic, economic development, and other neighbourhood and citywide issues.

Professionally, Leiper began his career in the Information and Communications Technology sector as a journalist. He subsequently worked as an industry analyst for an international consulting firm, then as an executive in a federal regulatory agency. Prior to his election, he worked as an executive at an NGO with a mandate to promote the full participation by all Canadians including women, youth, and internationally educated professionals in the technology workforce.

Political career

Leiper was first elected to Ottawa City Council in the 2014 Ottawa municipal election, where he defeated incumbent Katherine Hobbs to become city councillor for Kitchissippi Ward.

Leiper was re-elected in the 2018 Ottawa municipal election with 85% of the vote, the second-largest margin of victory in the elections that year (after Stephen Blais). On February 13, 2019, he suffered a heart attack while shoveling snow. Following his recovery, he announced he had quit smoking and partnered with Ottawa Public Health to encourage others to quit smoking as well. In the aftermath of the convoy protests in Ottawa, Leiper called for a royal commission to investigate the shortcomings in the police response and the rise of political extremism in Canada.

Leiper was re-elected for a third time in the 2022 Ottawa municipal election. During his third term, his top priorities included affordable housing and improvements to public transit. In 2023, he voted against "Landsdowne 2.0" which would provide over $400 million dollars of municipal subsidies for the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park. The project was approved by a vote of 16 to 9. In June 2024, Leiper proposed delaying the city's plan to remove free parking in Westboro and Wellington Village until O-Train service was available in both neighborhoods. However, the proposal was defeated at the city's transit committee. Later that year, Leiper led opposition to OC Transpo plans to reduce O-Train frequency as a cost-saving measure. His motion to reverse the O-Train service cuts was defeated narrowly by a vote of 13 to 12. In December 2024, he was one of three councillors to vote against the 2025 city budget proposed by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe (the others were Laine Johnson and Sean Devine). He argued that aggressive cost-cutting measures would cost the city more money in the long-term.

Electoral record

References

External links

Ward WebsiteOfficial City of Ottawa BiographyPersonal siteTwitter account

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiper, Jeff
Living people
Ottawa city councillors
1970 births
University of Ottawa alumni
21st-century Canadian municipal councillors