Catherine McKenney
Catherine McKenney (born June 3, 1961) is a Canadian politician who served on Ottawa City Council from 2014 to 2022, representing Somerset Ward. McKenney did not seek re-election as councillor in the 2022 Ottawa election, instead running for Mayor of Ottawa and finishing second. Before running for office, they worked as an advisor and political staffer.
Catherine McKenney | |
|---|---|
 McKenney in 2022 | |
| Ottawa City Councillor | |
| In office December 1, 2014 – November 15, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Diane Holmes |
| Succeeded by | Ariel Troster |
| Constituency | Somerset Ward |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 3, 1961[1][2] Fort-Coulonge, Quebec, Canada[1] |
| Spouse | Catharine Vandelinde[3] (m. circa 2005)[4] |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Centretown West[5] |
| Alma mater | University of Ottawa (BSocSc, 1993) |
| Website | mckenney2022 |
Early life and education
McKenney was born in Fort-Coulonge, Quebec, the child of a forester and stay-at-home parent. The family would then move to Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, where McKenney went to elementary school. In grade 9, McKenney moved to Pembroke, Ontario when their dad got a job at Algonquin College. McKenney had two children in their early 20s, working in fast food and as a photographer's assistant to support them. McKenney moved to Ottawa at the age of 26, where they completed a Bachelor of Social Science at the University of Ottawa in 1993.[5][6]
Career
After graduating, McKenney lived in Kanata and had a job reading news articles on television for people who are blind.[4]
Prior to holding elected office, McKenney worked as a staffer in the offices of city councillors Diane Holmes and Alex Munter, and federal members of Parliament Ed Broadbent and Paul Dewar.[7] They supported Jim Watson in the 2014 mayoral election.[8]
McKenney was first elected in the 2014 municipal election to represent Somerset Ward, which consists of Centretown, Centretown West, and the downtown core. During the 2022 Canada convoy protests, McKenney criticized inaction by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and the Ottawa Police Service.[9] McKenney virtually joined an Ottawa City Council meeting from the streets of the occupation.[10] In December 2021, McKenney announced that they would be running for mayor in the 2022 Ottawa municipal election.[11]
In January 2023, McKenney co-founded CitySHAPES non-profit organization to address "climate change, active transportation, transit, affordable housing and ending chronic homelessness."[12]
Personal life
McKenney is queer and is the first non-male openly-LGBT person to serve on Ottawa's city council.[13] They are non-binary and use they/them pronouns.[14] They have three children.[8]
Electoral record
2022 Ottawa municipal election
| Candidate | Popular vote | Expenditures | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | ||||||||||
| Mark Sutcliffe | 161,679 | 51.37 | – | $537,834.79 | ||||||||
| Catherine McKenney | 119,241 | 37.88 | – | $542,847.97 | ||||||||
| Bob Chiarelli | 15,998 | 5.08 | – | $96,844.84 | ||||||||
| Nour Kadri | 7,496 | 2.38 | – | $71,062.45 | ||||||||
| Mike Maguire | 2,775 | 0.88 | – | $5,500.00 | ||||||||
| Graham MacDonald | 1,629 | 0.52 | – | $5,334.50 | ||||||||
| Brandon Bay | 1,512 | 0.48 | – | $9,478.02 | ||||||||
| Param Singh | 1,176 | 0.37 | – | $13,650.40 | ||||||||
| Celine Debassige | 867 | 0.28 | – | none listed | ||||||||
| Ade Olumide | 636 | 0.20 | – | $1,966.25 | ||||||||
| Gregory Jreg Guevara | 584 | 0.19 | – | $2,349.61 | ||||||||
| Bernard Couchman | 471 | 0.15 | -0.21 | none listed | ||||||||
| Jacob Solomon | 432 | 0.14 | – | none listed | ||||||||
| Zed Chebib | 264 | 0.08 | – | none listed | ||||||||
| Total valid votes | 314,760 | 99.53 | ||||||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined votes | 1,500 | 0.47 | -0.92 | |||||||||
| Turnout | 316,260 | 43.79 | +1.24 | |||||||||
| Eligible voters | 722,227 | |||||||||||
| Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.) and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates. | ||||||||||||
| Sources: City of Ottawa[15][16] | ||||||||||||
2018 Ottawa municipal election
| Somerset Ward (Ward 14)[17] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Catherine McKenney | 7,754 | 76.66% |
| Jerry Kovacs | 1,461 | 14.44% |
| Arthur David | 701 | 6.93% |
| Merdod Zopyrus | 199 | 1.97% |
2014 Ottawa municipal election
| Somerset Ward (Ward 14)[18] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Catherine McKenney | 3,997 | 40.13% |
| Jeff Morrison | 1,681 | 16.88% |
| Martin Canning | 1,631 | 16.38% |
| Conor Meade | 807 | 8.10% |
| Edward Conway | 576 | 5.78% |
| Thomas McVeigh | 434 | 4.36% |
| Lili V. Weemen | 292 | 3.94% |
| Denis Schryburt | 223 | 2.24% |
| Sandro Provenzano | 99 | 0.99% |
| Curtis Tom | 77 | 0.77% |
| Silviu Riley | 43 | 0.43% |
References
- Pearson, Matthew (21 October 2015). "The two Catherines: How to tell McKenney and McKenna apart". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- @CatharineV (3 June 2020). "Happy birthday to my person @cmckenney" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Catherine McKenney, Catherine McKenna and Ottawa's struggle to tell them apart". Macleans.ca.
- "Catherine McKenney is trying not to think about making history". CBC Ottawa. October 13, 2022.
- "Why Catherine McKenney keeps showing up: the making of Ottawa's progressive mayoral candidate". Ottawa Citizen. October 19, 2022.
- "Annual Report 2015-2016" (PDF). The Alumni Association of the University of Ottawa.
- "Catherine McKenney to run for Somerset Ward". Xtra Ottawa. April 22, 2014.
- "Ottawa votes: Somerset candidates answer our questions". Ottawa Citizen. September 25, 2014.
- "Ottawa police board chair ousted in dramatic city council meeting". Ottawa. 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
- "'What is the plan?': Ottawa councillor joins meeting from downtown street crowded with protesters". CBC News. February 16, 2022.
- Pritchard, Trevor (2021-12-10). "The first 3 candidates aiming to replace Jim Watson as Ottawa's mayor". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2022-10-24.
- "Where are they now? Fourteen public figures a year after the convoy protest". ottawacitizen. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
- "Ottawa elects first openly queer woman to city council". Xtra Ottawa. October 28, 2014. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014.
- "Councillor posts hateful email to 'give people pause'". CBC News. November 5, 2019.
- "2022 Official election results". City of Ottawa. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
- "Financial statements for the 2022 Municipal Elections". City of Ottawa. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
- "2018 Election Results". City of Ottawa. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
- "2014 Election Results". City of Ottawa. Retrieved 2018-09-19.