Diane Holmes’s unexpected retirement from city council has thrown the civic election wide open in Somerset ward.
Holmes, 75, announced last week she was leaving civic politics after a career that lasted more than 30 years, opening opportunities for the crowded slate of at least six candidates.
At the times of her announcement that she would retire, she threw her support behind Catherine McKenney, one of her former aides, who indicated she would be running on the same day.
McKenney worked briefly for Holmes when she was a regional councillor for Somerset ward in 1998,. She has also worked for Ottawa Centre NDP MP Paul Dewar. and ran Alex Munter’s failed mayoral campaign in 2006.
Holmes has been a city councillor in the newly amalgamated Somerset ward since 2003, but was first elected as a regional councillor in 1982.
She says McKenney’s decision was made six weeks ago, when she heard that the veteran councillor would be retiring and approached her about running in her stead.
“I had heard rumours … that she was looking to possibly retire, and looking to see if there was anyone she could support,” McKenney says
“I worked for (Holmes) back in 1998 so it was an easy enough discussion to have."
Though she had been thinking about retiring for about a year, Holmes says she still filed nomination papers for her ward in January, as she was still looking for someone who would share her values at that time.
“When Catherine came to talk to me I said ‘If you in fact make the decision, I’ll step down,” Holmes says.
McKenney then decided to take an unpaid leave of absence from her job working for the deputy city manager, Steve Kanellakos, in order to prepare her campaign, she says.
“I needed six weeks to kind of get things in order for myself personally. I have a family and a mortgage, so I wasn’t able to leave work immediately,” she says.
McKenney joins a packed race for Somerset ward.
She will be challenging environmentalist Martin Canning, former Centretown Citizens Community Association president Thomas McVeigh, former Centretown Community Health Centre president Jeff Morrison, former CCCA vice-president Denis Schryburt and Lili Weemen, who previously unsuccessfully ran in the Kanata North Ward.
McKenney says that although she has experience with campaigns, bring considered a kind of a rontrunner is a refreshing change of pace.
“I’ve never been a candidate, but I’m very excited. I’m looking forward mostly to getting out and knocking on thousands of doors,” she says.