Mark Sutcliffe (born July 14, 1968) is a Canadian politician who has been the 59th

mayor of Ottawa In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

since 2022. Before entering politics, he hosted ''Ottawa Today'' on 1310News radio. Sutcliffe is the first Chinese Canadian and person from a

visible minority A visible minority () is defined by the Government of Canada as "persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour". The term is used primarily as a demographic category by Statistics Canada, in connect ...

group to serve as mayor of Ottawa.

Early life

Mark Sutcliffe was born at the Riverside Hospital on July 14, 1968, the son of John Michael Sutcliffe and Florence Ng-Yelim. Sutcliffe's maternal grandfather, Xavier, was born to a Chinese family in

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

in 1902. Sutcliffe's maternal grandmother, Yolande, was French, and the two moved to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. The family moved to Canada during the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

. John Sutcliffe was also an immigrant, coming from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. John and Florence met while working at the

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...

. 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 at

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 Wo ...

for one year before dropping out to take a job at the

CHEZ 106 CHEZ-FM (106.1 MHz, ''CHEZ 106'') is a Canadian radio station broadcasting a mainstream rock format in Ottawa, Ontario. The station is owned by Rogers Sports & Media. CHEZ's studios are located at the intersection of Thurston Drive and Conroy ...

radio station. At the same time, he started working as a news reader at

CFRA CFRA is a news/ talk formatted radio station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. The station broadcasts on the assigned frequency of 580 kHz. CFRA's studios are located in the Bell Media Building on George Street in Downtown Ott ...

, and then became a news reporter for the '' Ottawa Business News'', and was the first play-by-play announcer for the

Ottawa Lynx The Ottawa Lynx were a Minor League Baseball team that competed in the Triple-A International League (IL) from 1993 to 2007. The team's home field was Lynx Stadium in Ottawa, Ontario. Over 15 seasons, the team was an affiliate of the Montreal ...

baseball team. He then founded the ''

Ottawa Business Journal The ''Ottawa Business Journal'' (OBJ) is a regional business publication serving Canada's National Capital Region. In addition to a digital website, obj.ca, Ottawa Business Journal boasts a quarterly newspaper with a circulation of 10,000 copies, sp ...

'', where he met his wife, Ginny.

Political career

Sutcliffe was elected

in the 2022 municipal election. Described as a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

, Sutcliffe defeated

Catherine McKenney Catherine McKenney (born June 3, 1961) is a Canadian politician who served on Ottawa City Council from 2014 to 2022, representing Somerset Ward. McKenny did not seek re-election as councillor in the 2022 Ottawa election, instead running for ma ...

, a progressive councillor supported by many New Democratic Party and some

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

figures. Sutcliffe was supported by many sitting Liberal and Conservative politicians. He is the first Chinese Canadian mayor of Ottawa, as well as its first mayor from a visible minority group. Although Sutcliffe acknowledges that he has benefitted in his career from racial privilege, being born "visibly White" without "any Asian features."

Electoral record

References

1968 births Living people Mayors of Ottawa Canadian journalists of Chinese descent Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian people of French descent Canadian people of English descent Businesspeople from Ottawa Canadian male journalists Canadian radio journalists Canadian television journalists Journalists from Ontario Carleton University alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians {{Ontario-mayor-stub