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Sudds to take unpaid leave of absence during run for Liberals in Kanata North
Kanata North Coun. Jenna Sudds, announced this week as the federal Liberal candidate in Kanata-Carleton, said she won't take her councillor's salary during a federal campaign period, which is expected to begin soon.
“Once the writ has dropped, then I would be taking an unpaid leave of absence from my role,” Sudds said Tuesday. “My team will still be in place and the work will still get done, but I will have to step away during the campaign period.”
Sudds will continue to work as a councillor until the election is called.
The city would need to determine how political issues in Kanata North are handled in Sudds's absence.
Liberal MP Karen McCrimmon announced on social media Sunday night that she won't be seeking re-election, opening the door for a new candidate to represent the Grits in Kanata-Carleton during a federal election.
The Liberals announced Sudds as their candidate in the riding on Monday.
The Conservative candidate in Kanata-Carleton, Jennifer McAndrew, has a small head start canvassing in the riding. She won the party's nomination last month.
Running for the NDP is Melissa Coenraad.
Sudds hasn't yet finished her first council term, which ends in fall 2022. She won the 2018 municipal election in Kanata North with about 46 per cent of the votes, succeeding longtime councillor Marianne Wilkinson, who retired from politics and endorsed Sudds.
Sudds raised more than $36,000 through contributions and fundraising events during her municipal campaign, the most out of the leading candidates in the Kanata North election.
Asked what she would tell people who voted for her and donated to her campaign in 2018, Sudds said she had planned to run again in the 2022 municipal election, but “these opportunities don't come often, and I do think that it gives me the opportunity to serve the broader community, Kanata-Carleton, in an even bigger way.
“As much as I regret having to leave about a year early from my term, I hope that the residents will understand that it is my desire to keep serving them, just in a new capacity,” she said.
Sudds cited the economic recovery from COVID -19, rural internet availability and LRT to Kanata as top federal issues for Kanata-Carleton. The City of Ottawa will require money from the feds if it wants to extend LRT to the western suburbs.
Municipal politicians are all independents who don't represent a party around the council table.
Now Sudds is getting involved in the sometimes nasty business of partisan politics.
“At the municipal level, it can be pretty nasty as well. Although there is not an official party system, there are obviously party politics at play,” Sudds said.
The partisanship is amplified at the federal level, which doesn't appeal to her, but “it's important work that we need people to step up to do.”
Sudds has held senior leadership positions in her short time on council. She started the term chairing the community and protective services committee before switching last December to being a deputy mayor.
Sudds worked as an economist in the federal government before becoming the founding executive director of the Kanata North Business Association and then city councillor.
An Ottawa city councillor's salary is about $110,000.
The annual salary for an MP is about $185,000.