Kitts wins Cumberland byelection with more than half the vote

Catherine Kitts will take a virtual seat on Ottawa's city council next week as the new representative for the Cumberland ward.

After finishing a close second in 2018 in a packed race for Orlans during the last election, she jumped straight into first place Monday as votes were tabulated in the byelection for neighbouring Cumberland ward, where she now lives.

According to unofficial results, Kitts received54 per cent of the vote, more than double that of her nearest competitor, Yvette Ashiri.

"I feel great," Kitts told CBC News after watching the results come in online. "It was really the hard work of an amazing volunteer team that stood behind me the whole way, so we're all pretty happy tonight for sure."

Kitts faced nine other contenders in the race for Cumberland ward.

Upcoming budget and ward boundarytop priorities

A communications specialist and former editor of the Orlans Star, Kitts campaigned with the support of her predecessor Stephen Blais, other local Liberals,as well as Orlans Coun. Matthew Luloff, to whom she losttwo years ago.

Kitts has said she sees big issues she wants to tackle, including developing the draft budget for 2021 at a time whenCOVID-19 has put city finances in limboandthe selection of newward boundaries, which could change the contours of Cumberland ward.

Soon after the win, she posed for a celebratory photo with other members of the so-called "east block" ofcouncillors:Luloff, Innes ward's Laura Dudas and Beacon Hill-Cyrville's Tim Tierney.

Luloffsaid he was "super stoked" to work with Kitts, his competitor-turned-colleague. They ran on similarplatforms in 2018,both want to see greater economic development in Orlans, and they even attended the same Orlans high school, he said.

"For me it's about being able to work with someone out here in the east end," said Luloff."We need to stick together."

Residents had no councillor for six months

The Cumberland seat has been vacant since March, when Blais, whooccupied it for a decade, became MPP for Orlans.

Council decided to delay calling a byelectionduring the height of the COVID-19 shutdowns this past spring, then the city clerk only recommended it was safe to hold the voteafterthe province and city eased restrictions early summer.

The pandemic made the byelection an unusual one.

The city held an extra day of advancevoting and a special mail-in ballot. At voting locations, the city took precautions such as installing acrylic barriers and not reusing stationery or pens.

The extra measures were expected to costnearly $150,000 more than the usual $375,000 to run a byelection.

Candidates, meanwhile, wore face masks to knock on doorsand had to rely on social media more than in a typical campaign. There were no in-person debates.

Voter turnout is usually lower in byelections, and the City of Ottawa reported just 8,708 people castballots, or23.9 per cent of those eligible.

By comparison, voter turnout in Cumberland during the 2018 municipal election was 38 per cent.

The city clerk is expected to make the voting results official Wednesday, and Kitts is expected to take the declaration of office that same day.

She acknowledges that learning the ropes of political life during a pandemic, and with physical distancing,will be a challenge.

"But this campaign was a challenge in a pandemic, and we saw it through, so I'm going to apply the same work ethic [and]lean on my council colleagues to hopefully take me under their wing," said Kitts.

Kitts also remarkedthat she might need to findbetter internet connection for council's virtual meetings than she currently gets from her home in rural Navan.