Diane Holmes

Diane Holmes
Ottawa City Councillor
In office 1983–1994
Preceded by	Joe Cassey
Succeeded by	Elisabeth Arnold
Constituency	Wellington Ward
Ottawa-Carleton Regional Councillor
In office 1983–2000
Preceded by	Joe Cassey
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Constituency	Wellington Ward (1983-1994); Somerset Ward (1995-2000)
Ottawa City Councillor
In office 2003–2014
Preceded by	Elisabeth Arnold
Succeeded by	Catherine McKenney
Constituency	Somerset Ward
Personal details
Political party	Independent

Diane Holmes was an Ottawa City Councillor representing Somerset Ward which consists of Centretown, Centretown West and the downtown core. She was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, 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.

Holmes supported a bylaw to require property owners to promptly remove graffiti.

Holmes was re-elected in the 2010 municipal election, but didn't seek re-election in 2014.

External links

• Official site
• 2010 campaign site
• City biography