Glen Gower (born 1978) is a Canadian politician. He was elected to

Ottawa City Council The Ottawa City Council (french: Conseil municipal d'Ottawa) is the governing body of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is composed of 24 city councillors and the mayor. The mayor is elected at large, while each councillor represents war ...

representing Stittsville Ward in the

2018 Ottawa municipal election The 2018 Ottawa municipal election was a municipal election that was held on October 22, 2018, to elect the mayor of Ottawa, Ottawa City Council and the Ottawa-Carleton Public and Catholic School Boards. The election was held on the same day as ...

. Gower grew up in the neighbourhood of

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the T ...

Nepean, Ontario Nepean ( ) is a former municipality and now geographic area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Located west of Ottawa's inner core, it was an independent city until amalgamated with the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton in 2001 to become the ne ...

, now part of Ottawa. He attended

Merivale High School Merivale High School (abbreviated as MHS, or 'Merivale' to students) is a public high school, located at the intersection of Merivale Road and Viewmount Drive in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (former city of Nepean, Ontario). The school is known for i ...

, where he helped start a school newspaper. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

. While at Carleton, he started a website to track gas prices in Ottawa, which would later be bought out by

GasBuddy GasBuddy is a tech company based in Boston that operates apps and websites based on finding real-time fuel prices at more than 140,000 gas stations in the United States and Canada. They also sell software products to convenience store owners via ...

. Later, he would start the website OttawaStart.com. He moved to

Stittsville Stittsville is a suburban community, part of the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario. It is within the former Goulbourn Township. A part of the National Capital Region, Stittsville is immediately to the southwest of Kanata, adjacent to Richmon ...

in 2009. After moving there, he helped create a community association for the neighbourhood. Prior to being elected, he was the director of Marketing and Communications with Iceberg Networks. He has also worked in marketing and communications with the

Ottawa 67's The Ottawa 67's are a major junior ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that plays in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Established during Canada's Canadian Centennial, centennial year of 1967 and named in honour of this, the 67's c ...

and

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

hockey teams, where he was also the

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

ist. He served as the director of game presentation for the Senators until 2013. Ideologically, Gower has been described as a "moderate", and has stated that he has "voted for every political party". He is an admirer of former Prime Minister

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

, whom he calls a "social trailblazer". One of his websites he created in his youth was dedicated to Diefenbaker. Gower won election to city council in 2018, campaigning on "healthier development". He defeated three-term incumbent

Shad Qadri Shad Qadri (born September 7, 1952 in Pakistan) is a politician and businessman in Ottawa, Ontario. He was the councillor for Stittsville (Ward 6) from 2006 until 2018. Personal life Born in Pakistan, Qadri came to Ottawa in 1963. Prior to h ...

with 58% of the vote to Qadri's 42%.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gower, Glen Living people 1978 births Ottawa city councillors Carleton University alumni Male organists Canadian organists Canadian male journalists Journalists from Ontario Ottawa Senators personnel