Robert (Bob) Chiarelli (born September 24, 1941 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is the current (2005) mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His term runs until November 2006.

Charelli was raised in the Little Italy area of Ottawa near Preston Street. His parents were wealthy entrepreneurs owning a number of stores in the neighbourhood. Robert was the youngest of their seven children.

Chiarelli was an excellent hockey player in high school and attended Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York on a hockey scholarship. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, and then returned to Ottawa to attend the University of Ottawa law school. He began his legal practice in 1969, specializing in corporate law.

Chiarelli became a noted lawyer and businessman in the Ottawa area before entering politics in 1980. He served for seven years on the National Capital Commission before running for the Ontario provincial legislature in the 1987 provincial election.

Chiarelli ran as a candidate of the Liberal Party of Ontario and was easily elected in Ottawa West, which had previously been regarded as a safe Progressive Conservative seat. He was not included in the cabinet of David Peterson, though he served as the parliamentary assistant to the Chair of the Management Board in 1987-88.

Chiarelli was re-elected in the provincial elections of 1990 and 1995, though by narrower margins against his Progressive Conservative opponents. He resigned his seat in 1997, shortly after the death of his wife. His cousin, Rick Chiarelli, unsuccessfully attempted to succeed him in the 1999 provincial election.

In 1997, Robert Chiarelli was elected as Regional Chair of Ottawa-Carleton . For the next three years, he argued in favour of eliminating the region's "two-tiered" government, and amalgamating Ottawa with the surrounding municipalities as a single city. The provincial government of Mike Harris did this in 2000, and Chiarelli declared himself a candidate to become the first mayor of the amalgamated city of Ottawa.

Chiarelli was elected mayor of Ottawa on November 13, 2000, replacing the retiring Jim Watson (who later became a cabinet minister in the government of Dalton McGuinty). Chiarelli was re-elected on November 10, 2003 (see 2003 Ottawa election for full results).

External link

• City of Ottawa bio