Diane Holmes
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Diane Holmes (born in Montreal, Quebec) is an Ottawa City Councillor representing Somerset Ward which consists of Centretown, Centretown West and the downtown core. She was born and raised in Montreal and graduated from McGill University with a degree in Physical Education. She taught at McGill and the University of Toronto before moving to Ottawa.
She was first elected to Ottawa city council in 1982 in a surprise victory over veteran alderman Joe Cassey. On city council, her priorities include housing, urban planning, community development, transportation, social services, women's issues and social justice causes. As a previous head of Heritage Ottawa she worked to preserve heritage structures. She was easily re-elected in 1985 and 1988. She considered a bid for the mayoralty in 1991, but ended up supporting fellow progressive Nancy Smith who came in a strong second (36%) to Jacquelin Holzman (40%). Holmes was easily re-elected to council in 1991.
In 1994 Holmes moved to the council of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, facing little opposition in her bid. She was acclaimed in 1998 and retired from council in 2000 when the regional municipality was abolished and replaced with the new amalgamated City of Ottawa. In 2003 she returned to city council, winning another convincing victory in her previous ward. Holmes was similarly re-elected in 2006.
In 2006, Holmes came out against making Elgin Street "The Sens Mile" during the course of the Ottawa Senators playoff run for the Stanley Cup. After her comments aired on CBC Radio whereby she suggested Senators fans were made up of individuals with a "mob mentality" she backtracked and released a statement saying that while she did not support the Sens Mile concept on the day she was interviewed, she came to support it a few days later upon further reflection. Needless to say, Holmes took a hit in both the media and among some in her ward.
On the Council level, recently Diane Holmes has taken aim at businesses who are victims of graffiti by proposing a bylaw that would see businesses bear the full cost of clean-up.
Holmes is not engaged in support of any particular party but identifies with left-of-centre politics, which plays well in the ward. This has allowed her to be successful, and to maintain and increase her margins of victory, in successive elections.
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| Preceded by Elisabeth Arnold |
City councillors from Somerset Ward 2003-present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Joe Cassey |
City councillors from Wellington Ward 1982-1994 |
Succeeded by Elisabeth Arnold (Somerset Ward) |
