Ottawa City Hall Guide

Ottawa City Hall can often be more interesting than Parliament Hill. After all, our mayor and councillors make decisions on services like garbage, roads, transit and health that impact our lives directly every single day. Until recently, Ottawa was made up of several smaller cities. In 2001, the cities amalgamated into one municipality, governed by a mayor and 22-member city council. Another important political body is the National Capital Commission (NCC), which oversees federal buildings and parkland in the Nation's Capital.

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City Services Search

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The City of Ottawa manages most of the day-to-day services we use, like garbage, roads, transit, water, sewers, and much more. Use this search box to search Ottawa.ca for all municipal services.

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Inside City Hall

The Mayor: His Worship Jim Watson
Jim Watson was elected Mayor of the City of Ottawa on October 25, 2010. First elected as a city councillor in 1991, he was also mayor of Ottawa from 1997-2000, before amalgamation. Between 2000 and 2010, he was President and CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission, and an MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean. In 2007 he was named the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing in the Ontario Government.
Mayor Watson - or just "Jim" - is on Twitter and Facebook, and updates frequently throughout the day. He also attends a ton of events every weekend.
City Council
There are 23 City Councillors in Ottawa, each one representing a geographical area in the city. In the 2010 municipal election, we elected 10 rookie councillors.

City Services

Local Politics Blogs

(Blogs that frequently cover City Hall and other local politics)

City Limits by Perry Marleau
City of Orleans
Climate Ottawa
Greater Ottawa by David Reevely (Ottawa Citizen)
The Hume Blog by City Counillor Peter Hume
Miss Vicky's Offhand Remarks (hintonburg/westboro)
Urban Ottawa / Ottawa Urbain
OttawaStart Blog: City Hall
OttawaStart Blog: The Mayor
Perspective Ottawa by Blake Batson
Sun & The City (Ottawa Sun City Hall blog)
West Side Action
By Eric Darwin, a resident of the Preston/Somerset area, and writes about issues affecting his area and the rest of downtown/urban Ottawa.

National Capital Commission

The N.C.C. is a Crown corporation that manages the land and buildings in the National Capital Region, including Ottawa and Gatineau.

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