2003 Ottawa municipal election

The 2003 Ottawa municipal election was a municipal election that was held in Ottawa to elect the city's mayor, City Council, and school trustees for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The vote was held on November 10, 2003. The elections were held simultaneously with most other municipalities in Ontario.

The mayoral election was won by popular incumbent and former Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament Bob Chiarelli. His main competition was that of right-wing candidate Terry Kilrea.

Issues
The main issues of the race were a controversial Smoking ban, the expansion of the O-Train (Ottawa's light rail system), official bilingualism and the recent amalgamation. Chiarelli was in favour of the smoking ban, which had been implemented by the last city council. The ban was on smoking in all public places, which angered many bar and restaurant owners. Kilrea was against the smoking ban. He was also against putting money into expanding the O-Train, and official bilingualism in the city.

Controversy
One of the prominent fringe candidates for mayor was associated with white supremacist support. Donna Upson received contributions from the Ku Klux Klan, and she voiced support for racial segregation. She has also set up a Canadian branch of the National Socialist Movement. She finished in sixth place with 1,312 votes (0.71%).

Turnout
Turnout for the election was low, at 33%. The highest turnouts were in the rural areas, specifically in Goulbourn, Rideau and the highest West Carleton (45%). The lowest turnout was in Somerset Ward at 25% turnout.

Results for mayor
Chiarelli won all but three wards and had his most strength in the city core region. Kilrea won three wards, all in the rural south and west.

Council results
[[Image:Ottawawards2000-2006.PNG|300px|thumb|Map of Ottawa's Wards used in this election

1. Orléans Ward

2. Innes Ward

3. Bell-South Nepean Ward

4. Kanata Ward

5. West Carleton Ward

6. Goulbourn Ward

7. Bay Ward

8. Baseline Ward

9. Knoxdale-Merivale Ward

10. Gloucester-Southgate Ward

11. Beacon Hill-Cyrville Ward

12. Rideau-Vanier Ward

13. Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward

14. Somerset Ward

15. Kitchissippi Ward

16. River Ward

17. Capital Ward

18. Alta Vista Ward

19. Cumberland Ward

20. Osgoode Ward

21. Rideau Ward.]]

No incumbents lost any races, and only two councillors had a decrease in the popular vote percentage from the 2000 election.

Orléans Ward
 * 1) Herb Kreling 7,182 (72.89%) (+31.93%)
 * 2) Louise Malloy 2,671 (27.11%)

Innes Ward
 * 1) Rainer Bloess 5,925 (59.26%) (+7.25%)
 * 2) J.-F. Claude 4,073 (40.74%)

Bell-South Nepean Ward
 * 1) Jan Harder 11,678 (86.75%) (+25.86%)
 * 2) John R. Palmer 1,784 (13.25%)

Kanata Ward
 * 1) Peggy Feltmate 12,260 (70.58%)
 * 2) Richard Rutkowski 4,166 (23.98%)
 * 3) Donald Leafloor 561 (3.23%)
 * 4) Grant Johnston 384 (2.21%)

West Carleton Ward
 * 1) Eli El-Chantiry 2,738 (44.61%)
 * 2) Adele Muldoon 2,709 (44.14%)
 * 3) Daryl W. Craig 480 (7.82%)
 * 4) Jim Jenkins 210 (3.42%)

Goulbourn Ward
 * 1) Janet Stavinga 5,076 (64.15%) (+19.14%)
 * 2) Michael P. O'Rourke 2,837 (35.85%)

Bay Ward
 * 1) Alex Cullen 6,713 (56.74%) (+8.72%)
 * 2) John Blatherwick 4,477 (37.84%)
 * 3) Don Rivington 394 (3.33%)
 * 4) Didar Mohamed 248 (2.10%)

Baseline Ward
 * 1) Rick Chiarelli (acclaimed)

Knoxdale-Merivale Ward
 * 1) Gord Hunter 7,029 (84.79%) (+13.17%)
 * 2) Phillip Unhola 637 (7.68%)
 * 3) Al Speyers 624 (7.53%) (-20.85%)

Gloucester-Southgate Ward
 * 1) Diane Deans 6,166 (59.34%) (+10.64%)
 * 2) Harold G. Keenan 3,917 (37.70%)
 * 3) David Lamothe 308 (2.96%)

Beacon Hill-Cyrville Ward
 * 1) Michel Bellemare 4,613 (61.04%) (+3.17%)
 * 2) Frank Reid 2,812 (37.21%)
 * 3) Osman Abdi 132 (1.75%)

Rideau-Vanier Ward
 * 1) Georges Bédard 3,631 (41.52%)
 * 2) Bruce McConville 2,355 (26.93%)
 * 3) Angela Rickman 1,829 (20.91%)
 * 4) Giacomo Vigna 582 (6.66%)
 * 5) Abdillahi Omar Bouh 211 (2.41%)
 * 6) Natasha Duckworth 137 (1.57%)

Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward
 * 1) Jacques Legendre 6,070 (79.17%) (+15.29%)
 * 2) James Parker 934 (12.18%)
 * 3) Michel Binda 663 (8.65%)

Somerset Ward
 * 1) Diane Holmes 4,105 (61.62%)
 * 2) Dawn Pickering 1,195 (17.94%)
 * 3) David MacDonald 567 (8.51%)
 * 4) William A. Ostapyk 366 (5.49%)
 * 5) Steve Sweeney 189 (2.84%)
 * 6) Sotos Petrides 132 (1.98%)
 * 7) Bill Driver 55 (0.83%)
 * 8) Mike Jung 53 (0.80%)

Kitchissippi Ward
 * 1) Shawn Little 2,907 (27.12%) (-19.92%)
 * 2) Kris Klein 2,330 (21.74%)
 * 3) Gary Ludington 2,217 (20.68%)
 * 4) Linda Davis 1,540 (14.37%) (-26.07%)
 * 5) Daniel Stringer 1,058 (9.87%)
 * 6) David McConnell 625 (5.83%)
 * 7) Les Gangé 42 (0.39%)

River Ward
 * 1) Maria McRae 5,600 (63.11%)
 * 2) Todd Mattila-Hartman 1,654 (18.64%)
 * 3) Richard Smith 1,619 (18.25%)

Capital Ward
 * 1) Clive Doucet 5,785 (80.06%) (+9.67%)
 * 2) C.R.L. Erickson 1,024 (14.17%)
 * 3) Mike Salmon 417 (5.77%)

Alta Vista Ward
 * 1) Peter Hume (acclaimed)

Cumberland Ward
 * 1) Rob Jellett 2,957 (54.37%)
 * 2) Garry Lowe 1,871 (34.40%)
 * 3) Pierre E. Doucette 552 (10.15%)
 * 4) David Whissell 59 (1.08%)

Osgoode Ward
 * 1) Doug Thompson (acclaimed)

Rideau Ward
 * 1) Glenn Brooks 2,765 (62.68%) (-2.42%)
 * 2) Paul Paton 1,646 (37.32%)

Information on the candidates

 * Giacomo Vigna (Rideau-Vanier ward) is a lawyer with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. He was a candidate in the 1991 Ottawa municipal election, though he withdrew from the contest before election day. In 1994, he ran for a seat on the Saint-Leonard city council in suburban Montreal and narrowly lost to incumbent Robert Zambito. In the 2003 election, he focused on economic development issues and called for an expansion of the Ottawa Congress Centre. Vigna has argued cases before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against persons accused of online hate speech. In 2010, he won a libel suit against right-wing pundit Ezra Levant; a judge ruled that Levant had libelled Vigna with "reckless indifference" to the truth in various blog posts.