Catherine McKenney

Catherine McKenney MPP (born June 3, 1961) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent Ottawa Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) in the 2025 provincial election. McKenney previously served on Ottawa City Council from 2014 to 2022, and ran to be the mayor of Ottawa in the 2022 Ottawa election, placing second.

McKenney was elected to represent Somerset Ward in 2014, they were re-elected in 2018 and ran to be mayor of Ottawa in 2022, placing second to Mark Sutcliffe. McKenney was elected to be the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Ottawa Centre in the 2025 Ontario general election. Before running for office, they worked as an advisor and political staffer.

McKenney was born in Fort-Coulonge, Quebec, the child of a forester and stay-at-home parent. The family would then move to Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, where McKenney went to elementary school. In grade 9, McKenney moved to Pembroke, Ontario when their dad got a job at Algonquin College. McKenney had two children in their early 20s, working in fast food and as a photographer's assistant to support them. McKenney moved to Ottawa at the age of 26, where they completed a Bachelor of Social Science at the University of Ottawa in 1993.

After graduating, McKenney lived in Kanata and had a job reading news articles on television for people who are blind.

Prior to holding elected office, McKenney worked as a staffer in the offices of city councillors Diane Holmes and Alex Munter, and federal members of Parliament Ed Broadbent and Paul Dewar. They supported Jim Watson in the 2014 mayoral election.

McKenney was first elected in the 2014 municipal election to represent Somerset Ward, which consists of Centretown, Centretown West, and the downtown core. During the 2022 Canada convoy protests, McKenney criticized inaction by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and the Ottawa Police Service. McKenney virtually joined an Ottawa City Council meeting from the streets of the occupation.

In December 2021, McKenney announced that they would be running for mayor in the 2022 Ottawa municipal election. McKenney lost to Mark Sutcliffe with 119,241 votes to 161,679 votes.

In January 2023, McKenney co-founded CitySHAPES non-profit organization with Ottawa economist Neil Saravanamuttoo to address "climate change, active transportation, transit, affordable housing and ending chronic homelessness."

In October 2024, McKenney launched a campaign for the Ontario NDP nomination in Ottawa Centre. McKenney was announced as the NDP candidate in November 2024, replacing former Ontario NDP MPP Joel Harden who was announced as the federal NDP candidate in the 2025 Canadian federal election. McKenney won the riding in February 2025.

McKenney is queer and is the first non-male openly-LGBT person to serve on Ottawa's city council. McKenney is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. McKenney has three children.

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2023-01-26)