Tim Tierney wins Beacon Hill-Cyrville Ward for the fifth straight election

Tim Tierney waits for results at his election night party at the Richcraft Sensplex in Beacon Hill-Cyrville Ward. Photo by Marissa Meilleur /Special to the Citizen

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Tim Tierney will continue his longstanding tenure as city councillor for the Beacon Hill-Cyrville ward, defeating his opponents more narrowly than in the past, but still with the majority of the vote.

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A lively Richcraft Sensplex restaurant was decorated with red, white and blue balloons and flashy campaign signs as dozens of supporters, many wearing “Team Tierney” jerseys, exploded with applause as the results were called.

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“It’s an honour, five times in this ward,” Tierney said after the win. “After a while, you think, okay, maybe people are thinking something different, but clearly I got re-elected very well, and I’m very happy about it.”

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Tierney won his previous three elections with more than 80 per cent of the overall vote, after narrowly defeating previous incumbent Michel Bellemare in 2010.

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This time Tierney was elected with 63 per cent of the vote. He said he believed his decreased level of support was due to a lower voter turnout overall in 2026: 36.3 per cent in this municipal election compared to 43.8 per cent in 2022.

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In the next term of council, Tierney said he looked forward to continuing his presidency of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and hopes to chair another City of Ottawa committee. In the last term, Tierney chaired the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.

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With the defeat of Allan Hubley in Kanata South Ward, Tierney is now the longest-serving Ottawa councillor.

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“I might be 52, but there’s a lot of fire inside still,” Tierney said.

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Tierney said he looked forward to continuing his work with the re-elected mayor, Mark Sutcliffe.

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“It’s great news for the City of Ottawa when it comes to taxpayers, when it comes to community safety, which is something I ran on, it’s very important to the community,” Tierney said.

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Horizon Ottawa, a progressive non-profit organization, ran a campaign with advertisements directing voters to cast ballots against Tierney. While Tierney said his team was still looking into the impact that campaign had, he said he would be raising the issue of third-party advertising during elections to the province.

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“If there was (impact), this is a greater issue that’s actually perversing democracy,” Tierney said. “People are there to vote for the people and not vote for a special-interest group.”

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On Oct. 23, Horizon Ottawa also posted a statement to social media alleging that Tierney “approached, filmed, and harassed” its members. Tierney declined to comment on those allegations.

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Tierney ran against Cathryne Milburn, who had been a school board trustee elected in 2022, and Coreen Corcoran, previously a candidate for the Libertarian Party of Canada at the federal and provincial levels.