Meet your candidates for Ottawa mayor

Although there are an even dozen candidates in the race formayor in this fall's election, few of them are running what one might consider a full-fledged campaign.

Two-time incumbent Jim Watson is clearly well-organized, with hundreds of supporters showing up to his campaign rally and first election promise in September.

Challenger and former councillor Clive Doucetdoesn't appear to have anywhere near the same political organization, but he does have an HQ oddly, just a few blocks from Watson's signs, volunteers and, most important, campaign promises: all the trappings of an actual election campaign.

Most candidates have websites; few have signs or other visible evidence of widespread support.

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Whose platform is the most appealing or realistic is, of course, up to you. We try to help you make your decisions by attending as many debates as possible, coveringnews conferences and fact-checking campaign promises. There will be more of that in the final two weeks of the campaign.

But you'll also want to hear from candidates directly. To that end, we invited all of them to fill out our questionnaire. Only Bernard Couchmanand James Sheahan (who has never provided any contact information) didn't answer the survey.

The questionnaire is not meant to providea comprehensive look at the candidates' platforms, but it's a place to start. The questionnaires have been posted as they were submitted. We've also included links to all of the candidates' platforms.

So with just a couple of weeks before you need to mark your ballot, meet your candidates for mayor.

Hamid Alakozai

HamidAlakozaimay not be a familiar name in Ottawa, but he says he had been asked to consider running for president of Afghanistan back in 2011 something he decided against, he told CBCNews.

About five years ago, Alakozai was an advisor to the Afghan attorney general. He says he's lived in Ottawa for 13 years.

• Read about HamidAlakozai'splatform here

Ahmed Bouragba

Ahmed Bouragbaran unsuccessfully to be a trustreeinthe French public school board in 2014. He does not appear to have a website, claims corporations have undue influence at City Hall, and has said he wants "Ottawa to be the most beautiful flower in the Canadian garden."

• Read about Ahmed Bouragba'splatform here

CliveDoucet

Clive Doucetrepresented Capital ward from 1997 to 2010. In the final years of his tenure, he was perhaps best known for opposing the Lansdowne redevelopment. He entered the race on the last day possible because he said he wanted to make sure that issues were properly debated during the campaign. He ran for mayor in 2010 and came in third with a little less than 15 per cent of the vote.

• Read about Clive Doucet'splatform here

Joey Drouin

Joey Drouinhas never run for public office before, but is doing so this time to promote his idea that Ottawa and Gatineaushould combine to form a single national capital region to, among other things, share resources and meld their transportation and social services.

• Read about Joey Drouin'splatform here

Ryan Lythall

Ryan Lythall'scentral campaign theme is to make Ottawa more accessible, which includes improving ParaTransposervice.

• Read about Ryan Lythall'splatform here

CraigMacAulay

Craig MacAulayran for College ward councillor in 2010, where he garnered one per cent of the votes, and again in 2014 where his share of the votes rose to eight per cent. Among other issues, he is concerned about the involvement of developers in City Hall business and how councillors spend their office budgets.

• Read about Craig MacAulay's platform here

BruceMcConville

Bruce McConvillehas been an active opponent of the Salvation Army's proposed 350-bed facility planned for Montreal Road. Stopping the development, and increasing the supply of affordable housing, is the central theme of his campaign. He has run unsuccessfully for councillor in Rideau-Vanierward in 2003 and 2006.

• Read about Bruce McConville'splatform here

MichaelPastien

Michael Pastien, who calls himself a "futurist", wants to create a 100-year infrastructure plan. He ran unsuccessfully for public school board trusteein 2010 and for Bay ward councillor in 2014.

• Read about Michael Pastien's platform here

MoisesSchachtler

MoisesSchachtler, the youngest candidate by far, is a former University of Ottawa student who is currently unemployed. His former experience in taking on the student union at the university led him to be interested in governance issues and to throw his hat into the mayoral candidacy ring.

• Read about MoisesSchachtler's platform here

Jim Watson

This will be Jim Watson's third consecutive time running for mayor after winning with 48 per cent of the vote in 2010 and a whopping 76 per cent in 2014.

• Read Jim Watson's platform here

But he was also the mayor of the pre-amalgamation City of Ottawa for three years. In the last eight years, Watson has overseen the construction of the first phase of LRT which is currently delayed and has lined up funding for the second phase. He has also overseen the Lansdowne redevelopment and the new Ottawa Art Gallery and approved a new central library.