5/5 The Globe editorial ends with Beckett line: “Fail again. Fail better.” #ottawa has already failed better once. Real question is whether #ottcity is sleepwalking toward Lansdowne 3.0 15 members of #ottcity Council are apparently good with this.
@jleiper.bsky.social @seandevine9.bsky.social

4/5 This isn’t just about football. It’s about public money chasing private dreams. 87% of projected revenue comes from retail, at a time when bricks-and-mortar retail is still trying to remember what customers look like.
@kanatanorth.bsky.social @mayormarksutcliffe.bsky.social

3/5 Lansdowne 1.0 cost more than double the estimate. Lansdowne 2.0 costs triple the total of 1.0 and assumes everything goes right — for 50 years. Globe’s verdict: hope isn't a business plan.

@timtierney.ca @catherinekitts.bsky.social @riverwardriley.bsky.social @clarkekelly.bsky.social

2/5 The Globe’s message: City of Ottawa is betting half a billion $ on assumptions that don’t match reality. Construction costs at the low end of the range. Retail revenues at the high end. If ever there was a recipe for overruns, this is it.
@shawnmenard.bsky.social @lainejohnson.bsky.social

7/8

8/8 Lesson 11: Seize the political day. Affordability is everyone’s message, which means @jleiper.bsky.social must make it unmistakably his. #Ottawa wants calm competent municipal management with a spark of excitement. If he can’t ignite the conversation well before May 2026, Sutcliffe wins.

7/8 Lessons 8,9, & 10: Give digital content room to breathe; talk to everyone, everywhere; win at the door. Mamdani’s digital shop was a creativity firehose. But he still won driveway by driveway. Ottawa’s creators are few but influential — and doors still decide elections.

6/8 Lessons 6 &7: Make volunteering fun and policy big. Mamdani built a 70,000-person volunteer army by making politics social. And he offered bold ideas people remembered. Leiper doesn’t need a public grocery store, but he needs at least one Big Bold Beautiful Idea.

5/8 Lesson 5: Drive the contrast. Mamdani never hesitated. Ottawa hates “going negative,” but clarity isn’t negativity — it’s adulthood. With transit chaos, Lansdowne taxes, and landfill melodrama in the mix, Leiper has ample material for a polite but unmistakable contrast.

4/8 Lessons 3 & 4: Build a meta-narrative and run it in every language. Mamdani spoke affordability in Urdu, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic. Ottawa is just as diverse — politically underused. If Sutcliffe sticks to “low taxes,” Leiper needs a slogan that actually makes people listen.

3/8 Lesson 2: Treat design as propulsion, not garnish. Mamdani’s materials looked like New York transit fell in love with a graphic designer. Ottawa campaigns still look laser-printed at Staples. Leiper needs visuals that tell voters: something different is happening here.

2/8 Lesson 1: Mamdani rooted his campaign in real places. Not metaphors — neighbourhoods. If Leiper wants reach, his message has to land equally in Preston Street cafés, Heron Gate walk-ups, Kanata cul-de-sacs, and Carp farms. Authenticity travels or it dies.

Per Porter: "Given Syntax Strategic's CEO is Jennifer Stewart, who was one of Sutcliffe’s honorary campaign co-chairs in the 2022 election and was deeply involved in the communications for his campaign, CBC News asked if the mayor sees a conflict of interest."

5/5 Now the hardest PR lesson: political change won’t come from central #Ottawa wards. As
@jleiper.bsky.social
knows, a change election runs through #ottawa’s suburban & rural wards. Flip four seats and the city changes. #ottnews #ottpoli