Alex Cullen
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- For the television character from The Bill, see DI Alex Cullen
Alex Cullen is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a former Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and a current member of Ottawa City Council, representing the Bay Ward in Ottawa's west end.
Cullen was born in Montreal in 1951 and attended Lower Canada College before moving to Ottawa to attend Carleton University. He then went to York University in Toronto, where he obtained a Master's degree in economics, and returned to Ottawa to work for the federal Department of Health and Welfare as a policy analyst.
He began his political career in 1982, when he was elected as a school board trustee with the Ottawa Board of Education. He successfully initiated electoral reform for the school board, changing it from an "at-large" system of representation to smaller electoral zones. In the 1985 provincial election, he ran as a Liberal candidate in the riding of Ottawa West but lost to Ontario Progressive Conservative Party incumbent Reuben Baetz by about 3,000 votes. Easily re-elected as a school board trustee in 1985, Cullen again sought the Liberal nomination to run in the riding in the 1987 election, but lost to local lawyer Bob Chiarelli.
He remained active in Liberal politics, rising to prominence as one of the most vocal opponents of the Meech Lake Accord within the Ontario Liberals. He ran for Ottawa City Council in 1988 against incumbent Jacquelin Holzman in the Richmond Ward, but lost after a contentious election. Cullen became active in local community affairs, and when Holzman vacated the seat to successfully run for mayor in the 1991 election, Cullen ran again and won the seat in a close three-way race. He was one of the most progressive councillors and a frequent opponent of Mayor Holzman. He continued to remain active in the constitutional debate, speaking out against the Charlottetown Accord.
As an Ottawa City Councillor he also served jointly on the Council of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and there was also a prominent gadfly. Controversy arose and he was dumped from OC Transpo Commission after he leaked information to the Ottawa Citizen about negotiations between Regional Council and OC Transpo workers. During his term he chaired the Region's Task Force on Property Tax Issues, which made recommendations to shift provincially-mandated social programs off the local property tax base. In 1994 Cullen was easily elected as the first Regional Councillor for Bay Ward, when provincial legislation created a directly-elected Regional Council. In 1996, Cullen supported Dalton McGuinty to lead the Ontario Liberal Party (Ottawa Citizen, 2 December 1996).
In 1997, Bob Chiarelli resigned from the Legislature to run for Chair of the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Municipality. In the subsequent Ottawa West by-election, Cullen ran for the Liberals and was easily elected as MPP. He soon gained national prominence as the only provincial legislator in the country to vote against the Calgary Declaration, as he opposed any document that would give Quebec unequal powers under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
This vote made him unpopular within the Liberal Party. In the run-up to the 1999 provincial election, Cullen was challenged for the Liberal nomination in the new riding of Ottawa West-Nepean by Rick Chiarelli, a Nepean city councilor. After a contentious nomination battle, Chiarelli emerged victorious with support from party leader Dalton McGuinty and Rick's cousin Bob Chiarelli. Cullen claimed that he had been "knifed in the back", and left the Liberal caucus to sit as an independent on November 15, 1998. He joined the New Democratic Party a few weeks later, and subsequently won the NDP nomination in the riding.
Cullen received 7,701 votes in the 1999 Ontario general election, behind second place Chiarelli (16,419 votes). Progressive Conservative Garry Guzzo was elected with 22,834 votes. This was nearly as much as the combined Chiarelli and Cullen vote, so Guzzo's election was not due to vote splitting, although some observers believed the contentious nomination battle kept some Liberal votes at home. [citation needed]
Cullen went on to become Executive Director of the Council on Aging, a United Way agency and lobby group for seniors. Cullen was elected to represent Bay Ward in newly amalgamated City of Ottawa in 2000, defeating four other candidates. He joined the newly amalgamated Ottawa City Council with Bob Chiarelli as Mayor, and Rick Chiarelli as a fellow City Councillor. One of Cullen's first motions as councilor was to abolish the prayer that had opened meetings of the old city of Ottawa, arguing it should be replaced by a moment of silence; this effort was unsuccessful. He joined Peter Hume in a partially successful effort to curtail pesticide use in Ottawa (pesticides are no longer used on City properties). He was also the driving force behind a council motion condemning the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also chaired the City's Task Force on Property Assessment & Property Tax Issues, making recommendations again to shift provincially-mandated social programs from property taxes (a regressive tax) to income taxes (based on abiliy to pay). He continued to lobby on these issues at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. In 2006, in response to AMO pressure, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a provincial review of these fiscal issues.
In the 2003 Ottawa municipal election, Cullen fended off a strong challenge from more conservative candidate John Blatherwick. After the election, he emerged as one of the most important councillors, playing a central role in the 2004 city budget debate.
Cullen has been a vocal advocate for a pesticide by-law in the City of Ottawa and has stated that it's a question of when, not if, Ottawa will adopted one. *Source: Nov 22, 2005
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| Preceded by Ron Kolbus (Britannia-Richmond Ward) |
City councillors from Bay Ward 2000-present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Bob Chiarelli, Liberal |
Member of Provincial Parliament from Ottawa West 1997-1999 |
Succeeded by district abolished |
| Preceded by Jacquelin Holzman |
City councillors from Richmond Ward 1991-1994 |
Succeeded by Ron Kolbus |
