Rick Chiarelli

Richard "Rick" Chiarelli is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is an Ottawa City Councillor, and the second cousin of former Ottawa mayor Bob Chiarelli. He represents the College Ward covering part of Nepean and Ottawa's west end.

Early years

At age 16, while attending St. Pius X high school in Ottawa, Rick Chiarelli formed the Ontario Students Alliance for Fair Funding (OSAFF) to fight for the equality that was promised in the Canadian Constitution. At this time, Ontario’s separate schools were funded only to grade 10. Beyond this, a high school student was required to pay substantial tuition fees.

Chiarelli began to speak at hundreds of schools and the OSAFF quickly grew to over 70,000 members across Ontario.

OSAFF launched a legal challenge against the Government of Ontario’s treatment of separate schools and convinced Ian Scott, a prominent Canadian lawyer, to represent them in court. The action was timed to coincide with the visit to the Premier by Pope John Paul II. The court imposed deadlines on the Province to file its full defence to the action. As a result, Premier Bill Davis announced a change in the Province’s century old policy and granted full funding to separate schools. The case was unanimously won by OSAFF 9-0 at the Supreme Court of Canada.

During OSAFF’s legal challenge, Chiarelli ran for school trustee of the school board and won. This resulted in Chiarelli becoming the youngest ever elected.^[1]

City Council

He was first elected to office at age 19 when he won a seat on the Carleton Separate School Board in 1980s. At the time, he was the youngest elected official in the province. He ran for a seat on the council of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa Carleton in 1985, but lost.

In 1988, he was elected to the Nepean City Council for the Borden ward. He was re-elected to Nepean council in 1994 in the newly created Nepean Centre Ward.

The 2000 municipal election was the first for the newly amalgamated City of Ottawa. Chiarelli, who had been a leading opponent of amalgamation, faced long-time Councillor Al Loney in what was thought would be one of the tightest election battles of the year. Chiarelli prevailed in a landslide and became Councillor for Baseline Ward. In 2003 Chiarelli was re-elected by acclamation. In 2006, after ward boundary changes, Chiarelli faced a challenge from cycling activist Brett Delmage in the election for Councillor of College Ward. Chiarelli won by a wide majority, securing 73% of the votes.

Rick Chiarelli is a second cousin of former Mayor Bob Chiarelli with whom he often disagreed on matters of policy. They are both members of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Election results

Ottawa municipal election, 2010
College Ward
Candidate	Vote	%
Rick Chiarelli (X)	10531	65
Ralph Anderson	513	3
John Campbell	423	2
Catherine Gardner	606	3
Lynn Hamilton	2367	14
Craig MacAulay	239	1
William McKinnon	249	1
Julia Ringma	1139	7

Ottawa municipal election, 2006
College Ward (Ward 8)
Candidate	Votes	%
Rick Chiarelli	13,761	72.59%
Brett Delmage	3,765	19.86%
Laura Lee Doupe	1,432	7.55%
Source(s)  "2006 Municipal Election Results". City of Ottawa. Archived from the original on 2010-03-11. Retrieved 2010-03-11. Check date values in: |access-date=, |archive-date= (help)

Ottawa municipal election, 2003
Baseline Ward (Ward 8)
Candidate	Votes	%
Rick Chiarelli	ACCLAIMED
Source(s)  "2003 Municipal Election Results". City of Ottawa. Archived from the original on 2010-03-11. Retrieved 2010-03-11. Check date values in: |access-date=, |archive-date= (help)

Ottawa municipal election, 2000
Baseline Ward (Ward 8)
Candidate	Votes	%
Rick Chiarelli	5,738	59.67
Al Loney	3,879	40.33

Ontario general election, 1999: Ottawa West—Nepean
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	Garry Guzzo	22,834	47.79	$ 52,524.00
	Liberal	Rick Chiarelli	16,419	34.36	69,057.01
	New Democratic	Alex Cullen	7,701	16.12	32,467.74
	Green	Richard Warman	453	0.95	0.00
	Independent	Megan Hnatiw	129	0.27	0.00
	Independent	John Turmel	94	0.20	0.00
	Confederation of Regions	Anthony C. Silvestro	79	0.17	806.00
	Natural Law	Lester J. Newby	70	0.15	0.00
Total valid votes/Expense limit			47,779	100.0	$ 78,526.08
Total rejected ballots			393	0.82
Turnout			48,172	58.89
Eligible voters			81,798
Source(s)  "General Election of June 3 1999 – Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. "General Election of June 3 1999 – Statistical Summary". Retrieved June 1, 2014. "1999 Candidate and Constituency Associations – Candidate Campaign Return (CR-1)".

References

1. "Councillor Rick Chiarelli". City of Ottawa. 2002-02-18. Archived from the original on 2010-01-27. Retrieved 2010-01-27.

External links

• Rick Chiarelli website
• City biography