#583 Five posts to read before you vote
This is my second last post of the campaign. I went back through the archive and picked the five posts that best explain why I’m asking for your vote. Each one has its sources, so you can check my work rather than take my word for it.
Ward 13 has a two-person race. One of us has held the seat for seven years. I’ve run for it three times without the advantages of incumbency. The five posts below are my case for doing the job differently: read the reports, verify the numbers, publish the data, and measure outcomes instead of announcements.
The five at a glance
| Post | Date | What it argues | Why a voter should read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| #250 This is not a popularity contest | 3 Jul | A councillor’s job is oversight of a $5 billion budget, not attendance at events. | My most-read post of the campaign. It states the whole case in one page. |
| #351 Compare and contrast Karwacki and King | 29 Jul | Two different career records and two different working instincts. | A side-by-side table of who we are and what each of us brings to council. |
| #571 A real choice for Rideau-Rockcliffe | 17 Oct | The documented policy differences between the two candidates. | Where I stand on the bridge, Hemlock Road, Bathgate Park, council size and public Wi-Fi. |
| #578 Thirty deaths isn’t a warning. It’s a result. | 22 Oct | Judge road safety by outcomes, and name an owner for every crossing. | Shows how I’d work: a concrete problem, sourced data, four specific asks of council. |
| #577 I’m voting for you! | 21 Oct | What residents told me at the door about why they already voted for me. | The reasons in their own words, as I heard them, plus an example of keeping to the council’s actual jurisdiction. |
1. This is not a popularity contest
Ottawa runs a $5 billion-a-year operation, and our ward has one vote at the table that steers it. Community events matter, because that’s where you hear what is breaking in people’s lives. But attending is an input. The job is what happens next: reading the report, asking who verified the numbers, and being willing to slow a vote down when the evidence doesn’t support the consensus.
The post lays out what happens when oversight is optional:
| What happened | The oversight question | Source |
|---|---|---|
| An independent police workplace investigations office, created in 2022, was shut down in 2023. | The Police Services Board was not consulted. | [1] |
| In May 2026 the Auditor General found OPS reporting to the board contained inaccuracies, including outdated body-camera figures. | A board can only oversee what it is accurately told. | [2], [3] |
| Council approved a $95 million east-end landfill purchase on a 20–5 vote. | What did the public see before the money was committed? | [4], [5] |
2. Compare and contrast Karwacki and King
Both of us have put in the years, so the useful question is not who has more experience. It is which kind of experience you want across the table when a large infrastructure report or a transit oversight question lands on the agenda. Here is the short version of the comparison in that post:
| Rawlson King | Peter Karwacki | |
|---|---|---|
| Career | 20+ years in communications and high-tech market research; community-association, resource-centre and gallery leadership. | 15 years as a hospital administrator and financial director; 13 years at Cognos and IBM; federal project-management roles; consulting practice built on benchmarking (PeerMetrics). |
| Elected experience | Six years on Ottawa City Council; committee chair; Deputy Mayor. Seeking a third term. | Elected school-board trustee in the early 1980s. Ran for this seat in the 2019 by-election, 2022 and 2026. |
| Credentials | Journalism and law at Carleton; master’s in communication. | B.Sc. (Biology) and a post-graduate business diploma from Lakehead; certified PMP; trained data analyst. |
| Working instinct | Communications and consensus-building: how do we explain this decision? | Measurement and verification: what does the data say, and does the report hold up before the money moves? |
3. A real choice for Rideau-Rockcliffe
A two-person race with documented differences is the minimum condition for a real choice. This post sets out where I stand on the issues that shape the ward:
| Issue | My position |
|---|---|
| Eastern Bridge (East End Crossing) | Support, with conditions to protect neighbourhoods: truck routing, noise and air standards, grade-separated connections, and transit and active-transportation elements on opening day. The incumbent opposes it. I would rather shape the design now than sit out the process. |
| Hemlock Road connection, Wateridge Village | Make opening the link a priority. |
| Traffic calming | A traffic circle or equivalent at St-Laurent/Hemlock, and attention to the Beechwood corridor. |
| Bathgate Park | Challenge the planned loss of the basketball court, and compare the ward’s amenities with those elsewhere, such as Riverain Park. |
| Jetform Park and 815 St-Laurent | Answer the programming and access questions at Jetform; plan 815 St-Laurent for soccer and other community use. |
| Council size | Reduce Ottawa City Council from 24 wards to 12, to improve decisions and cut costs. |
| Public Wi-Fi | Expand hotspots in parks and community spaces. |
The post also asks you to do two things: note where the candidates differ, and watch the ward debate.
See us side by side. The 2026 Rogers TV ward debate is about 30 minutes.
4. Thirty deaths isn’t a warning. It’s a result.
This one shows how I would work on a real problem. Ottawa police count 30 traffic-related deaths so far in 2026, against 23 in all of 2025.
| Traffic-related deaths on Ottawa roads | Count |
|---|---|
| 2025 (full year) | 23 |
| 2026 (so far) | 30 |
Source: Ottawa Police Service figures as reported by CTV News Ottawa [6]. Police appeals for people to slow down and stay focused are sound advice, but they are an output. The outcome we want is fewer people killed while crossing the street. The post ties this to crossings in our own ward (Aviation Parkway near Cité collégiale, the Birch and Sir George-Étienne Cartier Parkway crossing, St-Laurent Boulevard) and asks four things of the next council:
- Publish collision data by ward every year, with locations.
- Set targets for deaths and serious injuries, and report against them.
- Settle City and NCC jurisdiction on crossings, so a beacon doesn’t wait on a handshake between two agencies.
- Build safety in while the street is already open.
5. I’m voting for you!
On the doorsteps one day this week, several people told me they had already voted for me. I asked each of them why. These are the answers I heard, and they were consistent:
- You showed up at my door.
- Seven years in office is too long.
- King does not answer my calls.
- It’s time for a change.
- We only see him at election time.
These are my own notes from canvassing, not a poll, so weigh them accordingly. The rest of the post shows the other thing I try to do: when a resident raised the National Arts Centre’s decision on Shen Yun, I said plainly that it is a federal matter, and the post lays out who actually has jurisdiction. A councillor should know which door a problem belongs at.
Monday, 26 October 2026
In Rideau-Rockcliffe, about 60% of eligible voters don’t vote. Whoever you choose, please vote. Check your voting location and options at ottawa.ca.
If you’re still deciding, my platform is at peterkarwacki.blogspot.com and my campaign video is here. I’m available at any time to answer questions: peterkarwacki.overbrook@gmail.com.
Vote for Peter Karwacki for Rideau-Rockcliffe.
References
Sources are those cited in the original posts.
- CBC News (June 2026), on the creation and quiet shutdown of the independent police workplace investigations office: cbc.ca – Ottawa police have a sexual misconduct problem.
- CBC News (12 May 2026), on the audit findings: cbc.ca – Audit finds Ottawa police projects lack proper budgets, oversight.
- Auditor General of Ottawa, Audit of Project Management for Ottawa Police Service: oagottawa.ca.
- CTV News Ottawa (28 Jan 2026), on the $95 million landfill purchase: ctvnews.ca – Ottawa to spend $95 million to buy east-end landfill.
- CBC News (27 Jan 2026), on the landfill purchase: cbc.ca – Ottawa landfill purchase.
- CTV News Ottawa, on 30 traffic deaths in 2026 versus 23 in 2025: ctvnews.ca – Pedestrian dies after being struck by a vehicle in Sandy Hill; and ctvnews.ca – Slow down: Ottawa police urge road users to prioritize safety.
- My Police Services Board piece on Unpublished.ca: Why does it exist? Why would a councillor resign from the OPS board?
- All five posts, with their own references, are linked in the table at the top of this page.
Authorized by Peter Karwacki, candidate for Councillor, Ward 13 (Rideau-Rockcliffe). AI tools are used for drafting, research assistance, charts, references and music; facts and positions are mine.
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