Stephen Blais

As part of his election campaign, Blais promised to donate the pay raise Trustee's voted for themselves. In 2006, Blais endowed a bursary at Carleton University for high school students from Orleans, Ontario.[2]

In 2010, Blais was elected the third Ottawa City Councillor for Cumberland Ward defeating the two-term incumbent. He quickly made his mark securing early victories by having the City of Ottawa conduct an environmental assessment to widen HWY 174 and to extend Light Rail Transit to Orléans.[3]

In 2011, Blais successfully spearheaded a campaign to ban smoking on outdoor patios in Ottawa.[4][5]

In 2013, Blais proposed that Ontario should re-upload HWY 174 and if not, allow the City of Ottawa to introduce a toll on out-of-town users to help pay for the much needed widening of the highway with the addition of a dedicated bus lane to Rockland.[6] Ottawa City Council received a direction to pursue the uploading of HWY 174 and if not, to designate it as a Toll Highway under Subsection 40(2) of the Municipal Act, 2001 If Council so chooses in the future.[7] The idea was well received by residents of Orléans.[8]

In addition to his focus on reducing commute times through investments in roads and transit, Blais prioritized local park construction.

In his first term of office, seven new parks were built in Cumberland Ward and Blais announced a plan to partner with the local homebuilding industry to complete an $8 million expansion of Millennium Park.[9] In total, more than a dozen new parks were built in Cumberland Ward under Blais' leadership.

In his final years in office, Blais began the work on yet another major new park for the growing south Orléans community. Located on 8 hectares of land adjacent to the François Dupuis Recreation Centre. Concept plans for the park included extensive walking paths, BMX facilities, hockey rink, sledding hill and other amenities.[10]

Blais was named Chair of the City of Ottawa Transit Commission on December 10, 2014. The Transit Commission is the body charged with oversight of the City's public transit provider OC Transpo.[11]

The Transit Commission is responsible for ensuring the development of a safe, efficient, accessible, and client-focused transit system and for providing overall guidance and direction to the Transit Services Department on all issues relating to the operation of public transit, including the O-Train and Para Transpo. The Transit Commission consists of eight members of Council and four citizen members, as approved by Council. The Transit Commission meets on a monthly basis in a public forum.[12]

In October 2019, Blais announced that he would be seeking the Liberal nomination for the provincial riding of Orléans, which had been left vacant when Marie-France Lalonde stepped down to run for the federal Liberal Party.[13] He won the nomination on November 9.[14] Blais won the February 27 by-election with 55 per cent of the vote, defeating his nearest rival, Progressive Conservative candidate Natalie Montgomery, by more than 8,000 votes.[15] This is the largest majority in Orléans in more than 30 years.[16]

Blais serves as the Ontario Liberal critic for several areas:[17]

• Caucus Chair
• Municipal Affairs and Housing
• Transportation
• Economic Development and Trade

To continue his leadership on HWY 174, Blais introduced a Private Members Bill to re-upload HWY 174 and 17 back to provincial responsibility.[18][19] Since downloaded by the Conservative Government of Mike Harris, the City of Ottawa has spent over $40 million on maintenance and improvements to the highway.[20]

He was re-elected in the 2022 Ontario general election with the highest margin of any Ontario Liberal.