May 31, 2019
Jeffrey Leiper is the current Ottawa city councillor for
Kitchissippi Ward. He was first elected in the Ottawa municipal
election, 2014.
Leiper was born and raised in Ottawa. He studied History and
English at the University of Ottawa, and Print Journalism at
Algonquin College. As a youth, Leiper was a member of the youth
wing of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, though he is
now a committed progressive. He has lived in Kitchissippi Ward
since 1995 when he and his spouse Natalie moved into the Julian
Apartments in the Wellington West area. Today, he lives in
Hintonburg with Natalie and their son.
In this podcast Jeff talks shares his motivations for getting into
politics, what are his principles are and what it means to be
courageous. He touches on how quality of life should influence
policy and planning and some of the Climate initiatives
including the recently declared Climate Emergency and the ongoing
energy evolution and on the personal side adapting to work and
life after his recent heart attack.
At the end of the day you just try to be true to a certain set
of principles, and when the trolls comes out, if you’ve done your
work and stayed true to your principles and been courageous in your
pursuit, a lot of the negative comments will roll off. Some of it
stings, everyday someone will be hypercritical of something that
you are pursuing or a decision you’ve made, or a process that
hasn’t turned out the way they want. But if you can go to bed,
staying true to your principles, being open minded, did I do the
right thing, than ultimately it will roll off, it’s a huge
rollercoaster"
--Jeff Leiper