5 Questions With Bay Council Candidate Spencer Radford

The following are 5 questions that we sent out to every Ottawa City Council candidate in hopes of getting to know them better. We publish the responses exactly as we receive them, in the order that they were sent to us. Here are the responses from Bay (Ward 7) Council candidate Spencer Radford.

1. Who are you? Where are you from? What relevant experience do you have for the job?

My name is Spencer Radford and I’m running to be Bay Ward’s next city councillor. I was born in England, moving to Ottawa when I was just five years old.

I’ve worked or volunteered in many areas that have prepared me to be a great city councillor. One of those was as a member of the Kiwanis Club of Kanata Stittsville, where I rose to serve as president for three years. As president I held meetings, ran the Stittsville Youth Centre, now known as the Home Bosses Youth Centre, established policies, managed budgets, coordinated over 50 volunteers, established meeting minutes, and was the face of the club at community events.

Other positions that have helped give me the skill set needed to be Bay Ward’s next city councillor include working as a youth facilitator at the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization during my placement, earning two diplomas from Algonquin College in Police Foundations and Social Service Worker, as well as my experience working with Ottawa By law Services. I also previously volunteered for over two years at a long term care facility, and during COVID I became a bus driver after seeing there was a shortage of drivers in Ottawa.

All of this experience and education has helped me work with and represent people from many different backgrounds, understand that to solve a problem you usually have to look for the root cause, and given me perspectives from both enforcement and social services. It’s also given me the skills I need to lead a team, manage a budget, and get things done right.

2. The city spends nearly $1B/y on OC Transpo, though many constituents remain dissatisfied with the state of Ottawa’s public transportation. What would you do as a councillor to improve the city’s transportation system?

I’d request a citywide survey from OC Transpo so that transportation isn’t just based on the ridership of today, but instead looks toward the riders of tomorrow. The city needs to know where residents would be going, how often they’d be using transit, and what trips they’d make if transit was reliable and affordable, so that the city can plan routes that actually work for residents.

I’d also want accurate and timely reporting of buses for delays and cancellations, letting residents know why their bus was late when that information is available, and what steps are being taken when the same problems keep happening. Residents deserve reliable, affordable transit, and until that trust can be repaired, I’d advocate for lower fares and increased transfer times to two hours so that if a bus or train is cancelled or late, riders don’t have to pay twice just to get to their destination.

3. In a December 2025 poll from Abacus Data, 37% of respondents said that cost of living was the most important issue facing the city; another 19% responded ‘housing affordability.’ What would you do as a councillor to make the city of Ottawa more affordable?

For housing, I’d advocate for Ottawa’s Inclusionary Zoning requirement to move from its current 0% toward the provincial maximum of 5% for eligible new developments around protected major transit station areas. If the Province gives Ottawa a tool that can be used to create more affordable housing, I believe the city should be working toward using it. I also support proper densification, provided that the infrastructure needed to support that growth is already in place, or will be in place, by the time those buildings are move in ready.

I’d also want OC Transpo fares lowered and transfer times increased to two hours.

Access to resources should also be easier to find. Whether a resident is looking for free legal services to help review a Landlord and Tenant Board rent increase document, trying to understand what benefits or programs they’re eligible for, or wondering where they can go for help with another issue, they should be able to find that information easier than they currently do. There are already services and organizations that the City of Ottawa can help connect residents to, and those resources can have a direct impact on affordability.

4. Certain city services like OC Transpo and the OPS have run significant deficits in recent years. Is there anything that you would do as a councillor to try to balance the city’s budget?

A thorough review needs to be done on major budget allocations. The city can’t afford to keep increasing budgets without understanding where that increase is going, why it’s needed, whether it’s actually producing the results we want, and if there are other options available that could reduce the need for that increase. For example, instead of automatically increasing police spending to respond to growing problems, we should also be looking at whether investing more in housing, social services, mental health supports, and community programs could reduce some of the pressure being placed on police in the first place.

After reviews have been done of the major budget allocations, I’d also advocate for city staff to review smaller and more discretionary costs, figuring out what is being allocated that might no longer be needed or could be reduced. Small budget allowances might not look like much individually, but across the entire city they can add up, and I think that review should include Council itself. I’d support looking at things like duplicate transportation benefits for councillors, unnecessary office expenses, and other costs that aren’t providing residents with enough value.

My goal wouldn’t be cuts just for the sake of saying we cut something. It would be making sure the city is using its budget in the best way it can before asking residents to pay more.

5. Why are you running for Council? What do you think is the biggest issue facing your ward today?

A few years ago I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I’d spent most of my childhood thinking that I wanted to go into policing, because I wanted to make that difference I wanted to see in the world. As I thought about it more, I realized that as much as I loved the idea of being the community police officer, walking through neighbourhoods and being the good role model we’d all love our police officers to be, that wouldn’t necessarily put me in a position to bring about the larger scale change that I wanted. I still wanted to be someone who worked with others on the community level, but also someone people could come to when they had a problem, and someone who would be in a position to actually help.

That’s what drew me toward municipal government. Being a city councillor isn’t just a job that interests me, it’s a role where I believe I can do a lot of good for people and help rebuild some of the trust residents have lost in their municipal government.

I believe one of the biggest issues in our ward today is communication, and the ability for residents to see where their feedback has actually gone. The recent flooding showed how important that can be. While talking with residents, especially those in Crystal Beach and Lakeview, I was told that concerns about construction projects and their potential impacts on stormwater and flooding protections had previously been raised, but many residents didn’t feel they received clear answers about what happened after those concerns were shared.

I can’t say whether those concerns were connected to the flooding, and I don’t want to make that claim without evidence. What I will say is that residents deserve to know what happened after they raised them. Was something researched? Was there a change to the construction plan? Was it determined that no changes were needed? If so, why? Residents shouldn’t have to wonder whether their concerns were looked at or whether anything was done.

In general, being able to communicate with your councillor shouldn’t be something residents have a hard time doing, and every resident’s voice has a right to be heard. Just as importantly, residents should be able to see what happened after they spoke up.