#580 Having Fun With the Debate and Statistics

 My all time election page views are 6069. This could and does include bots and viewers from around the world, including CSIS and the NSA. Still it is a sizeable number. It means...something

Lifetime

3months

Of course, over the whole campaign, one post did best,#250, This is Not a Popularity Contest with 826 views.

In general compared to the  2022 election my blog is more popular. Back then a post might get 10 or 20 views. Now? Its an order of magnitude higher, 10x.

Finally the debate views, still attrocious, at 1345 but that is about 60% higher than the debate in 2022.  So, view the debate, a 30 minute ask.

I have found the unsolicited positive feedback from voters, email, phone calls and comments most encouraging.

I have managed to spend the grand sum of $200 on my campaign, with no signs, except those I made myself.

I am particularly proud of my mobile campaign office and popup canopy and campaign bicycle/trailer. ( very eco friendly)

Let's be honest, incumbents have an enormous structural advantage. In a city where incumbents win almost 100% of the time, in Ottawa two wards of 24 have acclaimed candidates. Still I have created the public space for debate of municipal issues.  My aim was to inform and engage voters.

Consider that your community associations would not speak to me, and organized exactly zero debates.  

Honourable mention to Linden Lea for organizing a "meet and greet" I could not attend.

Congratulations to the 40% of citizens who will actually vote, and especially to the 10% of those who will have bothered to watch the debate.

Now for the media, ctv and cbc...their local coverage has been remarkably poor for ward 13.  A student newspaper could have done better.

Thanks to the citizens of Ward XIII, Rideau Rockcliffe.  

Campaign Video
https://youtu.be/zBxbnuPAazE

#580 Debate Views: The Numbers Are In

Ward 13 · Rideau-Rockcliffe · Accountability Brief

By Peter Karwacki, candidate for Ward 13 (Rideau-Rockcliffe)
Friday, 23 October 2026

The Rogers TV ward debates are up. The view counts have been tracked since mid-September. Here is what the numbers actually show.

When view counts stay in the low hundreds, these debates stop functioning as public forums. They become recorded performances for a mostly empty room. That is not a criticism of the candidates who showed up. It is a measurement of reach.

Total views by ward, split into the first count and growth since (as of ~23 Oct 2026)

Wards are ranked by total views. The dark segment is the count recorded around 12–15 September; the light segment is what each debate has gained since. The number at the end of each bar is the current total. Ward 13 is in orange. The dashed line marks the median ward.

Source: YouTube view counts tracked since post #511. Views are not unique viewers: they include repeat plays and viewers who cannot vote in the ward.

Key observations

• Only two debates have cleared 6,000 views (Stittsville open seat and Orléans East-Cumberland).
• Most contested wards sit between 500 and 2,500 views.
• Ward 13 (Rideau-Rockcliffe) stands at 1,347 views — roughly in the middle of the pack, and still a small fraction of the ~11,300 estimated voters at 40% turnout.
• Open seats (Stittsville, Kitchissippi) drew higher absolute numbers than most races with incumbents.
• Low view counts are not unique to any one part of the city. They are the pattern.

These figures come from the tracking begun in post #511. They will continue to rise between now and election day (Monday, 26 October), but the relative ranking and the overall scale are unlikely to change dramatically.

A debate that is watched by a few hundred or even a couple of thousand people is still a useful record. It is not, on these numbers, a broad public conversation.

Rideau-Rockcliffe voters who want to hear both candidates can watch the full debate here:
Ward 13 Rogers TV Debate

Voting day is Monday, 26 October 2026.

Peter Karwacki
Candidate for Councillor, Ward 13 – Rideau-Rockcliffe