Darrin Canniff (born 1966) is a Canadian politician who has served as current the mayor of

Chatham-Kent Chatham-Kent ( 2021 population: 104,316)Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He attended elementary school at Winston Churchill School and high school at John McGregor Secondary School, and was educated at

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and received a Chartered Accountant (CA) designation. He received his CA while working for accounting firm

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

Career

Early career

Prior to entering politics, Canniff worked for

Union Gas Union Gas was a major Canadian natural gas company based in Ontario. Its distribution arm serviced approximately 1.5 million customers in northern, southwestern and eastern Ontario. Union Gas has been a subsidiary of Enbridge since February 2017 ...

, where he was the director of planning and forecasting. He has also worked for Transform SSO and Greenfield Specialty Alcohols. He also led a number of charitable campaigns, such as such as the Festival of Giving and the 2006 United Way of Chatham-Kent campaign. He also served as a board chair at Mainstreet Credit Union, and was a board director for the Children's Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent, past chair of the Prosperity Roundtable and past chair of Entegrus Inc.

Politics

Canniff first entered politics in the 2014 municipal elections, when he was elected to

Chatham-Kent Municipal Council The Chatham-Kent Municipal Council is the governing body of the Chatham-Kent, Municipality of Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The municipality is divided into six wards. Each ward elects a different number of members to council. Curr ...

as one of six councillors for Ward 6 (Chatham). During his first term he served as co-chair of the 2018

International Plowing Match The International Plowing Match (IPM), held annually in Ontario, is North America's largest outdoor agricultural and rural expo. It is usually held in late September, and usually attracts more than 80,000 visitorscontent over the 5-day event. Each I ...

which was held in

Pain Court Pain Court (often incorrectly spelled Paincourt) is a primarily French-speaking agricultural village in southwestern Ontario, Canada, in the municipality of Chatham-Kent. It was established in 1854, as one of the earliest French-speaking settleme ...

. Canniff was first elected as mayor in the 2018 municipal elections, defeating Alysson Storey and incumbent mayor

Randy Hope Randy R. Hope (born ) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was the mayor of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario from 2006 to 2018. He also served as a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995. ...

, winning more that 56% of the vote. Canniff ran on a platform prioritizing "quality jobs" and "infrastructure". Hope had been seeking a fourth term as mayor, despite having promised to only serve for three terms. He had also been criticized for making business trips abroad. After being elected as mayor, Canniff stated his priorities for 2019 could be summed in the statement "bringing community together", with one of his initiatives being 'Get Involved CK Campaign' to support volunteerism. He also planned on investing in local service clubs, which would result in a small tax increase. In his first year as mayor, he had to deal with an ice jam in the Thames River which caused flooding and the opening of a new casino in Chatham. Canniff's top priorities in 2020 have been dealing with shoreline erosion, high speed internet and the reopening

Talbot Trail This is a List of Ontario Tourist Routes throughout the province, which are designated to highlight places of cultural, environmental, or social importance. It is currently unknown if the majority of these trails are still listed since many of the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canniff, Darrin Mayors of Chatham-Kent Living people 1960s births Wilfrid Laurier University alumni Canadian accountants