Mark Sutcliffe

For other uses, see Mark Sutcliffe (disambiguation).

Mark Sutcliffe (born July 14, 1968)^[1][2] is a Canadian politician who has been the 59th mayor of Ottawa since 2022.^[3] Before entering politics, he hosted Ottawa Today on 1310News radio.

His Worship Mark Sutcliffe
Sutcliffe in 2022
59th Mayor of Ottawa
Incumbent
Assumed office November 15, 2022
Preceded by	Jim Watson
Personal details
Born	(1968-07-14) July 14, 1968 (age 57) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Ginny Sutcliffe ​ (m. 2008)​
Children	3
Parents	John Sutcliffe (father) Florence Ng-Yelim (mother)
Residence	Wellington Village[1]
Alma mater	Carleton University (no degree)
Occupation	Politician journalist
Website	marksutcliffe.ca

Early life

Mark Sutcliffe was born at the Riverside Hospital on July 14, 1968, the son of John Michael Sutcliffe and Florence Ng-Yelim.^[4][5] Sutcliffe's maternal grandfather, Xavier, was born to a Chinese family in Mauritius in 1902. Sutcliffe's maternal grandmother, Yolande, was French, and the two moved to Shanghai. The family moved to Canada during the Chinese Civil War. John Sutcliffe was also an immigrant, coming from Yorkshire in England. John and Florence met while working at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.^[6]

Sutcliffe grew up in McKellar Park in the city's west end. He graduated from St. Pius X High School, and then studied political science^[6] at Carleton University for one year before dropping out to take a job at the CHEZ 106 radio station.^[1] At the same time, he started working as a news reader at CFRA, and then became a news reporter for the Ottawa Business News, and was the first play-by-play announcer for the Ottawa Lynx baseball team. He then founded the Ottawa Business Journal, where he met his wife, Ginny.^[6]

Political career

Sutcliffe was elected mayor of Ottawa in the 2022 municipal election.^[7] Described as a centrist, Sutcliffe defeated Catherine McKenney, a progressive councillor supported by many New Democratic Party and some Liberal figures.^[8] Sutcliffe was supported by many sitting Liberal and Conservative politicians.^[9][8]

He is the first Chinese Canadian mayor of Ottawa, as well as its first mayor from a visible minority group.^[6] Despite this, Sutcliffe acknowledges that he has benefitted in his career from racial privilege, being born "visibly White" without "any Asian features."^[10]

Published works

Sutcliffe is a long-distance runner and has written two books about his experiences: Why I Run and The Road to Boston.^[11]

Electoral record

2022 Ottawa municipal election: Mayor

Candidate		Popular vote			Expenditures
		Votes	%	±%
	Mark Sutcliffe	161,679	51.37	–	$537,834.79
	Catherine McKenney	119,241	37.88	–	$542,847.97
	Bob Chiarelli	15,998	5.08	–	$96,844.84
	Nour Kadri	7,496	2.38	–	$71,062.45
	Mike Maguire	2,775	0.88	–	$5,500.00
	Graham MacDonald	1,629	0.52	–	$5,334.50
	Brandon Bay	1,512	0.48	–	$9,478.02
	Param Singh	1,176	0.37	–	$13,650.40
	Celine Debassige	867	0.28	–	none listed
	Ade Olumide	636	0.20	–	$1,966.25
	Gregory Jreg Guevara	584	0.19	–	$2,349.61
	Bernard Couchman	471	0.15	-0.21	none listed
	Jacob Solomon	432	0.14	–	none listed
	Zed Chebib	264	0.08	–	none listed
Total valid votes		314,760	99.53
Total rejected, unmarked and declined votes		1,500	0.47	-0.92
Turnout		316,260	43.79	+1.24
Eligible voters		722,227
Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.) and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates.
Sources: City of Ottawa[12][13]