By James Adair
Editor’s Note: There are a lot of union acronyms in this article. We’ve provided references at the bottom.
U
nion locals with membership in the Ottawa District Labour Council (ODLC) claim that they were eligible, but unable to vote at the regional organization’s annual general meeting (AGM). Members at the AGM were meant to vote on the council’s new executive, including the president’s position, which has been held by Sean McKenny since 2004.
The ODLC has an office on the fifth floor of 280 Metcalfe Street in downtown Ottawa, across from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)’s towering headquarters. In its shadow, questions have been raised about the validity and fairness of the ODLC’s most recent executive elections. Unions had their affiliation status challenged, delegates were forbidden from voting or even joining the meeting, and the closest results in years resulted in a near-unanimous incumbent slate being reelected.
The AGM and Election
On February 18, the ODLC held its AGM to elect its next executive. The race between McKenny and Susan Rab, an OSSTF organizer and high school teacher, who ran on a platform of a more active, democratic, and open ODLC, was close.
The results were 53 to 44 for McKenny. However, some ODLC members raised concerns about the election process.
One of the chief concerns was that the election was held over Zoom and managed by McKenny. Multiple individuals told The Leveller that at least some voters provided proof of previously registering with the ODLC and were not let in.
Christine Kelsey, president of OPSEU Local 416, was let into the meeting and was able to vote. However, during the meeting, she saw an instance of a delegate, who provided proof of registration and arrived before the vote had begun, being refused entry into the meeting.
“I watched one person, who reached out to his local president, saying, ‘Hey, I never got a link to the meeting,” Kelsey said.
“[The local president] put her hand up and said, ‘hey, I have a delegate – he never got a link,’ and [McKenny] said, ‘oh, he never signed up.’”
After presenting proof that he was registered and a member in good standing, Kelsey said, “[The ODLC] finally told [the local president] that [the member] should have tried to come earlier… they never let him in the meeting.”
In another instance, Nelson Ross Laguna, an organizer with an OPSEU local and a delegate for OPSSU (the staff union for OPSEU), registered to attend the AGM. He never received any information after registering. After following up with the Canadian Labour Congress (the affiliate organization for the ODLC), they directed him to contact McKenny. He never heard back.
“It’s concerning to me as a delegate, to say the very person who stands to gain from controlling who can come in and who doesn’t, is the same person who controls that,” Laguna said.
“So why am I not able to attend? And again, no response from any other party, other than a guessing game… And that happened to multiple locals, either they were told before, or simply never told why.”
Laguna said that he knew of multiple locals, many of whom were OPSEU affiliates, being refused their delegate status or never being told who would be able to attend.
A list of locals whose delegates were unable to attend the AGM was large enough that it could have swung the election, multiple sources told The Leveller.
With the exception of Elizabeth Houlding, a member of OPSEU who ran for vice president and won, every other incumbent was re-elected. The website has not been updated, over three months later, to reflect Houlding’s election, likely due to the fact that McKenny is the only staff person at the ODLC currently.
Previous Conflicts
This is not the first time that the ODLC and OPSEU have butted heads over delegates.
Laguna, and other sources who spoke on background, said the ODLC had refused former MPP Joel Harden from becoming an OPSEU Local 475 delegate in 2025.
Harden told The Leveller he wanted to become an ODLC delegate with OPSEU Local 475 because of his work with them on various issues as a member of the provincial parliament from 2018-2025.
While he admits he was not a member of OPSEU 475, he did not think that would be a problem, “especially considering” McKenny’s delegate status is with a hotel workers union despite never being a hotel worker, Harden told the Leveller.
McKenny, Harden alleges, denied his delegate spot on the basis that he was not a member of OPSEU. After being denied delegate status by the ODLC, Harden told The Leveller he was denied entry at the next meeting. He decided not to pursue ODLC delegate status after that.
Rab’s website listed various campaign promises, including the demand that “a budget needs to be proposed, debated and adopted by delegates. Audits should be shared. Transparency is required when unions attempt to affiliate or decide to disaffiliate.”
Many sources told The Leveller that delegates were often not told when locals disaffiliated. They also stated that council membership, which requires a local to pay 49 cents per local member per month to be affiliated, had dropped significantly since 2018.
“I’ve been a delegate for years,” Laguna explained, “if I were at a meeting, [locals disaffiliating] wouldn’t be reported.”
Despite their physical closeness, PSAC, for example – the largest union in Ottawa – is not an affiliate member of the ODLC.
In fact, despite the ODLC’s website claiming it “currently represents over 90 union locals comprised of approximately 55,000 union members” and providing a list of union affiliates on its website (including one PSAC local), a list of “ODLC Affiliates in Good Standing with Delegates/Alternates listed for the Feb. 18, 2026 AGM” obtained by The Leveller, shows only 36 union locals on it, less than half the purported 90.
Who is and is not a member of the ODLC was a question many found themselves asking at the AGM.
In an interview with The Leveller before the election, Rab said the ODLC needed to take a deep look at its culture. “There’s also a specific culture [in the ODLC] that hasn’t been as open as it needs to be in.”
“We would like to be bigger, have more people attend, have, quite frankly, more difficult discussions and more understanding about where we disagree.”
OPSEU 416 president Kelsey told The Leveller that “I feel like we could have a much bigger presence and much, much more power in this city and be able to organize more workers and get more things done.”
“But you’re not going to be able to do that by controlling the meetings; you have to have more democracy, right? People need to come. They need to contribute. They need to feel like they’re contributing to something.”
“And you know, it’s not important how many meetings you attend with the mayor. That doesn’t matter. That’s not how change happens.”
When asked to comment, the Canadian Labour Congress stated that “Unfortunately, we’re unable to comment on this issue at the moment.”
Sean McKenny had not responded to multiple requests for an interview or comment to The Leveller. By the time McKenny is done this term, he will have served 24 years.
Glossary & Abbreviations
AGM – Annual General Meeting that most organizations are required to hold, allowing for members to vote on elected positions and resolutions as well as see executive and financial reports.
ODLC – Ottawa District Labour Council, a regional association of union locals in the city can join to extend mutual support on campaigns
PSAC – Public Service Alliance of Canada
OSSTF – Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation
OPSEU – Ontario Public Service Employees Union
OPSSU – Ontario Public Service Staff Union
