McKenna rides wave of delivered promises

As a relatively little-known Liberal candidate in the race for Ottawa Centre back in 2015, Catherine McKenna ran a local campaign full of promises for the riding.

Four years later, the record shows McKenna, now a cabinet minister, didn’t forget what she pledged to bring to her local constituency. Now she’s ready to set new goalposts, McKenna announced Thursday at a campaign event.

Compared to other local candidates who went on to win seats in the last election, McKenna’s 2015 campaign was full of concrete commitments where success, or failure, would be clear-cut. Unlike, say, Anita Vandenbeld, who won Ottawa West—Nepean for the Liberals on a promise of constituency- and consensus-based decision making, McKenna promised to work for a new footbridge over the canal, funding for a new central library, a possible light-rail spur to the airport, improved cycling infrastructure in Ottawa Centre, a rethink on the Victims of Communism Memorial location, and a repurposing of the former U.S. embassy on Wellington Street into a more public venue.

Those promises all came to fruition, and the evidence is visible in the riding where she’s seeking re-election. The Flora Footbridge opened in late June, and a pareddown Victims of Communism Memorial is now located in the Garden of the Provinces and Territories, rather than beside the Supreme Court, as originally, and controversially, planned.

More than $70 million in federal money has been budgeted for a new central library on the edge of LeBreton Flats, while McKenna’s government, along with the province, has committed $155 million to get LRT to the airport.

The old U.S. embassy has been promised to three national Indigenous organizations (although not without controversy, as the Algonquins want an equal share of space).

At Thursday’s event, McKenna cited her government’s investment in local cycling infrastructure, and NCC multi-use pathways.

A few of her other campaign promises are more open to interpretation when determining success — an improved relationship with the public service, for example. Asked about this pledge Thursday, McKenna acknowledged that Phoenix has been a challenge. But she also raised areas of progress: collective bargaining, and the “unmuzzling” of government scientists.

Can Ottawa Centre expect another campaign full of concrete, local promises?

“Absolutely,” she said. “When you’re running, you’re running as a local member of Parliament ... I will have a local campaign.”

She said it will centre on three themes: “the greenest capital,” building “an inclusive Ottawa,” and prosperity.