Bob Chiarelli

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Robert Chiarelli

Rank:	57th MayorNote that in the population of the Ottawa region, there is disagreement about the status of the mayor and indeed the city. Some see the newly amalgamated city as a continuation of the original city of Ottawa with the mayor's office continuing from that. Others see the situation quite differently and see the new city of Ottawa as arising from a merger of equals. In this view, the mayor's office in the new city began with the new city's inception and the office of mayor in the old city of Ottawa was abolished at that time along with the offices of mayor and reeve in the other municipalities in the former region. Chiarelli is either the 57th or 1st mayor depending on the view taken. There is no consensus on this matter.
Term of Office:	January 1, 2001–Present
Predecessor:	Jim Watson
Successor:	incumbent
Date of Birth:	September 24, 1941
Place of Birth:	Ottawa
Spouse:	Carol Chiarelli (deceased)
Profession:	Lawyer
Political affiliations:	Liberal Party of Ontario

Robert (Bob) Chiarelli (born September 24, 1941 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is the current (2006) mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His term runs until November 2006.

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 an excellent hockey player in high school and attended Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, on a hockey scholarship. 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.

Chiarelli became a noted lawyer and businessman in the Ottawa area before entering politics in 1980. He served for seven years on the National Capital Commission before running for the Ontario provincial legislature in the 1987 provincial election.

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 three children. His cousin, Rick Chiarelli, unsuccessfully attempted to succeed him in the 1999 provincial election.

In 1997, Robert Chiarelli was elected as Regional Chair of Ottawa-Carleton. For the next three years, he argued in favour of 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).

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