Coronation of a “King”
By Peter Karwacki, candidate for councillor in Ward 13 (Rideau-Rockcliffe)
If not for me, there would be no election. Now space has been created for the discussion of democracy and Rideau-Rockcliffe civic affairs.
This is the document Ward 13 would be holding today if I hadn’t filed my papers.
Certificate of Acclamation
Ottawa municipal election, 2026
- Office
- Councillor, Ward 13 Rideau-Rockcliffe
- Nomination day
- Friday, August 21, 2026, 2 p.m.
- Nominations certified
- Monday, August 24, 2026
- Names filed
- 1
- Result
- Elected by acclamation
- Ballot, debate, questions
- None
What happens when nobody files
Under Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act, when the number of people nominated equals the number of seats, the clerk declares them elected. There is no vote. Nobody is asked a question. The seat is settled on paper, with no measure of what the ward thinks of the last four years and nobody on a stage to say what didn’t get done.
That is what I mean by coronation. The pun is on a surname; the point is about a process. A seat that draws no challenger never has to say its record out loud, and a ward that never hears the record has nothing to weigh.
None of this is a comment on anyone’s character. It is about defaults, and what happens when nothing interrupts them.
Seventeen names, then four, then two
When the seat was open in the 2019 by-election, 17 people filed. In 2022, with an incumbent in the race, four names were on the ballot and the incumbent won with about 80 per cent of the vote. This year there are two.
I was on the ballot all three times, so I know the arithmetic from the challenger’s side. By my tally in earlier posts, Ottawa incumbents win re-election 100 per cent of the time, and only about 40 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot at all. Given those odds, the surprise isn’t that the field shrank. It’s that anyone files.
The ward didn’t lose 15 people’s worth of interest. What changed is the price of challenging an occupied seat.
What a second name bought
I will take the credit for ALL of these. Here is the ledger.
| What | If no one had filed | With a second name |
|---|---|---|
| A vote | None. The clerk would have declared a winner on August 24. | Voters choose. Advance voting is Friday, October 16; election day is Monday, October 26. |
| A public debate | None. | A Rogers TV debate on September 11. It ran about 15 minutes and was light on content, and it still put both of us on the record. |
| The Eastern Bridge on the record | No one to raise it. | It went unmentioned until my closing remarks, where I called it the biggest infrastructure project in the ward. |
| The size of council | Not on the table. | I proposed cutting council from 25 wards to 12. The incumbent replied that fewer wards would be bad for democracy. I replied that only about 40 per cent of eligible voters vote now. That exchange only happens when there are two chairs. |
| An audience | Nothing to watch. | The debate recording stood at 452 views on September 14. When it reached 428, that was already close to half of everything the 2022 Ward 13 debate video has ever received. My campaign page has passed 4,700 views. |
What I am claiming
- With one name filed, there is no election. Mine was the second name.
- A contested race changes what gets said in public, even in a fifteen-minute debate.
- There is space now that did not exist on August 20.
What I am not claiming
- That the ward needed me in particular. It just needed someone qualified and able, and the paperwork says it was me.
- That the audience came for me. There was something to watch.
- That the incumbent did anything wrong by filing. Sure, running again is what the system asks of him.
- That you owe me a vote. Vote for whomever resonates with you! Validate them! The space I created is what I’m asking you to use.
What the space is for
A space for democracy is only worth what gets put into it. A ballot lets you ask questions a certificate of acclamation never would. Here are three I’d put to anyone asking for your vote:
- Does your record on transit oversight show up in committee seats, or only in public statements?
- On the Eastern Bridge, will Ward 13 negotiate mitigation while the federal comment period is open, or wait for it to be decided elsewhere? I’ve argued for the first in The Deadline Doesn’t Matter. The Bridge Still Does.
- Why is a basketball court at Bathgate Park dug up for trees when a park across the river got a new one? I’ve laid out the comparison in One River, Two Parks, No Equity.
I’m not the only one who can ask them. I’m the reason there is somewhere to ask.
One more difference between a throne and a seat: I’ve committed to serving one term and that's it. A seat is a loan from the ward, not a title.
Use it
Advance voting day is Friday, October 16. Election day is Monday, October 26, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Vote for whoever you think has earned it. But vote, and read, and ask. A coronation is what a ward gets when nobody steps up. This year, I did.
Sources and notes
- 2019 by-election field (17 candidates): CBC Ottawa, “17 candidates crowd ballot for Rideau-Rockcliffe byelection”
- 2022 field (four candidates): CBC Ottawa, “Rideau-Rockcliffe incumbent faces 2nd vote in 3 years”
- 2026 field (two candidates) and the incumbent’s 2022 share of about 80 per cent: CTV News Ottawa, “Meet the candidates for councillor in Ward 13 Rideau-Rockcliffe”
- Nomination day, certification day, and voting dates: CTV News Ottawa, Ottawa Election 2026 key dates
- Acclamation rules: Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (Ontario)
- Debate and campaign-page view counts were read from the public video and site pages on September 14. The incumbent win rate, turnout figure, and council-vote patterns come from my earlier posts.
Peter Karwacki, candidate for councillor, Ward 13 Rideau-Rockcliffe. peterkarwacki.blogspot.com
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