Ali Shayvard and Humanist Values

Thank you to Humanist Ottawa for these thoughtful questions and for giving candidates the opportunity to respond directly.

I am running for Mayor because I believe government has to work for people. That means being honest with residents, following evidence, protecting human rights, spending public money responsibly, and being willing to listen even when people disagree with us.

My campaign is built around a simple principle:

From the People. For the People.

1. Misinformation and Democratic Transparency

Combating Disinformation

I believe candidates have a responsibility to tell people the truth, even when the truth is less politically convenient.

My campaign will not knowingly publish false information, manipulate facts, or try to build support by demonizing individuals or communities. When I make a claim about City services, finances, transit, housing, infrastructure, or public safety, I want that claim to be supported by information that can be verified.

Politics will always involve disagreement, but disagreement does not require personal attacks.

If my campaign makes a factual mistake, I believe the proper response is simple: acknowledge it, correct it publicly, and move forward. Leaders should not be afraid to say, “We got that wrong.”

Evidence-Based Public Administration

Science and evidence should never become partisan issues.

On public health, infrastructure, climate resilience, transportation, and other technical matters, I would expect municipal decisions to be informed by qualified City staff, independent experts, credible research, and measurable data.

Lobbyists and interest groups have a right to make their case, but they should never have more influence simply because they have more money or greater political access.

Major decisions should clearly explain the evidence considered, the costs, the benefits, the risks, and the expected results. When a policy is not working, government should be prepared to admit that and change direction.

Transparency and Accountability

I support publishing the Mayor’s official meeting calendar, subject only to legitimate privacy, legal, and security considerations.

I also support proactive disclosure of substantive meetings with lobbyists and major private interests. Residents deserve to know who is speaking to their government and what they are asking for.

I will not accept corporate developer donations, and no donor, developer, lobbyist, corporation, or special interest should ever receive favourable treatment from my office.

I also do not believe strong-mayor powers should be used simply because the Mayor disagrees with a democratic decision of City Council. My approach would be to work with Councillors, build consensus, and respect democratic debate. Any extraordinary mayoral authority should be treated as exactly that: extraordinary, transparent, and accountable.

2. Human Rights, Anti-Discrimination, and Civic Pluralism

Human Rights and Civil Liberties

I support developing a municipal Human Rights and Civil Liberties framework for Ottawa, provided it is developed carefully with legal experts, civil-liberties organizations, Indigenous partners, affected communities, and residents.

City policies, policing, bylaws, and responses to peaceful protest must respect fundamental rights, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Security and public order matter, but protecting public safety and protecting civil liberties are not opposing goals. A democratic city has to do both.

Discrimination Protections

As Mayor, I would represent everyone.

That includes Ottawa’s 2SLGBTQ+ community, Jewish community, Muslim community, Arab community, Black community, Indigenous communities, people of every faith, and people of no faith.

No resident should ever wonder whether their Mayor believes they belong in this city.

I will attend community and cultural events, listen directly to people, and speak against hatred and discrimination consistently. Human rights cannot depend on whether a community is politically popular at a particular moment.

Ottawa’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths, and the Mayor’s Office should be a welcoming place for every resident.

Anti-Racism Accountability

Strategies mean very little without measurable results.

I would require regular public reporting on the City’s Anti-Racism Strategy, including measurable indicators such as representation in hiring and leadership, promotion and retention, discrimination complaints and resolution times, equitable access to housing programs, experiences within transit and public services, and progress within institutional culture.

Where targets are not being met, departments should be required to explain why and present corrective actions.

Accountability means measuring outcomes, not simply announcing programs.

3. Housing as a Human Right

Housing is one of the most important issues facing Ottawa.

My approach is to build significantly more housing while making sure affordability is not forgotten in the race to increase supply.

For major developments, I support requiring meaningful affordable-housing contributions where municipal and provincial law permits it. I also want faster approvals and fewer unnecessary barriers for non-profit, co-operative, supportive, and genuinely affordable housing.

Suitable surplus municipal land should be prioritized for affordable and supportive housing instead of automatically being treated as an asset to sell to the highest bidder.

I would not invent a percentage of municipal land or capital reserves simply to make a political promise. I would first identify what land is actually available, what is suitable for housing, what partnerships are possible, and what the City can responsibly fund. From there, I would establish clear and measurable housing targets through the budget process.

Protecting Existing Affordable Housing

Building new units while losing affordable homes somewhere else does not solve the problem.

Ottawa must enforce protections against bad-faith renovictions within municipal authority, preserve existing affordable rental housing, and advocate to the Province for stronger protections where provincial legislation controls rents and evictions.

When large developments move forward, preventing unnecessary displacement and creating lasting affordability should be part of the conversation.

Homelessness

I support a housing-first and human-rights-based approach.

Encampments are a symptom of a much larger problem. Moving someone from one sidewalk or park to another without providing somewhere safe and permanent to live does not solve homelessness.

Where there is an immediate danger to residents or to the person experiencing homelessness, the City has a responsibility to act. But our long-term response must focus on permanent housing, supportive housing, mental-health services, addiction treatment, outreach, and prevention.

Compassion and public safety can exist together.

4. Community Safety and Evidence-Based Crisis Care

Expanding Crisis Care

The results from civilian-led crisis response programs such as ANCHOR deserve serious attention.

I support expanding civilian-led crisis response so that people experiencing appropriate mental-health or substance-use crises can be connected with trained professionals instead of automatically receiving a police response.

I would support a dedicated budget approach, require staff to develop a costed pathway toward broader 24/7 service, prioritize areas with the highest demonstrated need, and work with the provincial and federal governments to secure additional funding.

This is not about saying police are unnecessary.

Police should respond when there is violence, a serious threat, or a criminal matter requiring police intervention.

But a mental-health crisis should not automatically become a police call simply because government failed to create another option.

Harm Reduction and Public Health

I support evidence-based harm reduction alongside treatment, recovery, mental-health care, prevention, and housing.

There should not be a false choice between helping someone survive today and helping that person recover tomorrow. We need both.

Ottawa’s downtown strategy should bring together public health, outreach workers, housing teams, mental-health and addiction services, paramedics, community organizations, businesses, transit staff, and police where police intervention is actually necessary.

Decisions regarding supervised consumption and other health interventions should be guided by public-health evidence, measurable outcomes, and community impacts while recognizing the roles of municipal, provincial, and federal governments.

Police Governance and Oversight

Trust requires accountability.

I support stronger public reporting on police outcomes, complaints, use of force, community engagement, response times, and progress on recommendations made through independent oversight.

I also support de-escalation training and stronger cooperation between police, paramedics, mental-health professionals, social services, and community organizations.

People deserve to feel safe, and they also deserve to have confidence that those exercising public authority are accountable.

5. Mobility Fairness

This is an issue I understand personally and professionally after many years working inside Ottawa’s transit system.

Transit cannot be considered affordable if people are paying for a service they cannot depend on.

Transit Affordability

One of my major campaign commitments is an adult monthly OC Transpo pass of $90 per month for four years.

I also want to protect affordability for students, low-income residents, people receiving social assistance, seniors, and other residents who depend heavily on public transportation.

Affordable transit is not simply a transportation policy. It connects people with jobs, education, health care, family, and their community.

Restoring Service Frequency and Reliability

Reducing fares alone will not fix transit. The service itself has to work.

My focus will be realistic scheduling, adequate staffing, fleet availability and maintenance, sufficient recovery time, better connections, fewer cancellations, and improved frequency on routes where demand justifies it.

I also want residents to see transparent performance information, including cancellations, reliability, and on-time performance.

For too long Ottawa residents have been asked to adapt their lives around unreliable transit.

The transit system should be designed around the people who depend on it.

Closing
I am running as a democratic socialist because I believe government

should work for the people, not the other way around.
For me, this election is not simply about choosing a new Mayor.
It is about choosing the right Mayor for the challenges Ottawa is facing.

Many of the problems we are talking about did not begin this year. Ottawa has struggled with serious transit problems for roughly two decades. We have changed leadership, spent more money, commissioned studies, and made promises, but residents are still dealing with unreliable service.

I often compare it to heart surgery.

Transit is the heart of our city. If that heart has a serious problem, you do not simply keep throwing money at it or ask the wrong specialist to operate. You need someone who understands the system, understands what is going wrong, and knows what needs to be fixed.

That is one of the reasons I am running.

I have spent more than a decade working inside Ottawa’s transit system and understanding it firsthand, from operating vehicles to training and working with the people who keep the system moving.

But my campaign is bigger than transit.

Our roads and infrastructure need attention. Housing has to become more affordable. Homelessness must be addressed with compassion and real solutions. Public safety has to include prevention, mental-health support, accountability, and appropriate policing. And residents need to know that their government is working for them rather than for special interests.

I am not running for Mayor for myself.
I am running for the city I love and for the people who live here.

Whether someone is religious or non-religious, 2SLGBTQ+ or straight, wealthy or struggling, living downtown, in the suburbs, or in rural Ottawa, their municipal government should treat them with dignity and respect.

We will not agree on everything. That is democracy.

But people should always be heard. Evidence should matter. Decisions should be explained. Human rights should be protected. And government should be accountable for the results it delivers.

Ottawa does not simply need a different Mayor.

Ottawa needs a Mayor who can actually fix what has not been working and bring people together around a better future for our city.

That is what From the People. For the People. means to me.

Ali Shayvard

Candidate for Mayor of Ottawa

From the People. For the People.

www.AliForOttawa.ca