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Bob Chiarelli

Robert (Bob) Chiarelli (born September 24, 1941 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian politician. He served in the Ontario Legislative Assembly from 1987 to 1997, and served as regional chair and then mayor of Ottawa, Ontario from 1997-2006.

Early life

Chiarelli was raised in the Little Italy area of Ottawa near Preston Street. His parents were wealthy entrepreneurs owning a number of stores in the neighbourhood. Robert was the youngest of their seven children. Chiarelli was a ice hockey player in high school and attended Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, on a hockey scholarship. At Clarkson he joined Theta Chi Fraternity. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, and then returned to Ottawa to attend the University of Ottawa law school. He began his legal practice in 1969, specializing in corporate law.

Prior to entering politics in 1980, Chiarelli was a lawyer and businessman in the Ottawa area. He served for seven years on the National Capital Commission before running for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1987 provincial election.

His career at Queen's Park

Chiarelli ran as a candidate of the Liberal Party of Ontario and was easily elected in Ottawa West, which had previously been regarded as a safe Progressive Conservative seat. He was not included in the cabinet of David Peterson, though he served as the parliamentary assistant to the Chair of the Management Board in 1987-88. Chiarelli was re-elected in the provincial elections of 1990 and 1995, though by narrower margins against his Progressive Conservative opponents. Chiarelli endorsed Dalton McGuinty's bid to lead the Ontario Liberal Party in 1996 {Canada NewsWire, 19 August 1996).

He resigned his seat in 1997, after his wife Carol died following a long battle with cancer on December 27, 1996, leaving behind two children. His second cousin, Rick Chiarelli, unsuccessfully attempted to succeed him in the 1999 provincial election.

Municipal politics

In 1997, Robert Chiarelli was elected as Regional Chair of Ottawa-Carleton. For the next three years, he advocated eliminating the region's "two-tiered" government, and amalgamating the regional municipalities into a single city. The provincial government of Mike Harris did this in 2000, and Chiarelli declared himself a candidate to become the first mayor of the amalgamated city of Ottawa.

Chiarelli was elected as the first mayor of the newly amalgamated city of Ottawa on November 13, 2000, and was re-elected on November 10, 2003 (see 2003 Ottawa election for full results).

2006 election

In the 2006 election, he ran for re-election against two main opponents: former Kanata councillor Alex Munter, and businessman Larry O'Brien. Terry Kilrea, runner-up to Chiarelli in 2003, campaigned through the summer but withdrew when it seemed left-wing candidate Alex Munter had taken the lead Kilrea decided to support Chiarelli for the remainder of the campaign.

Chiarelli's main project was the expansion of the city's light-rail system: a north-south line would run from Barrhaven to downtown Ottawa starting in 2009. His opponents in the election alleged that the project had been undertaken without sufficient consultation or communication with the public. The project was cancelled shortly after his departure of City Hall.

Chiarelli also had plans to improve the east end of the city. He introduced a 10-point revitalization plan that would include attracting more jobs and businesses east of the Rideau River in order to improve its economic development. He also planned to build new roads to improve connections between Orleans and the south end of the city. Also, he promised to expand the existing bike trail system with additional trails connecting suburban and rural areas of Ottawa. In a survey conducted by UniMarketing during the week of October 13, 2006, Chiarelli placed second with an 11-point percentage deficit on Munter but had a three-point advantage over O'Brien among the most likely to vote. In the election, he finished in third position with just over 15% of the vote and lost the mayoral position to O'Brien.