Rainer Bloess was a member of

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 ...

. He represents Innes Ward (Ward 2), covering some of the city's eastern suburbs. Bloess was originally a member of the city council of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

, being first elected to that council in 1994 on a cost-cutting platform. When Gloucester was merged into

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

in 2000 he ran for Ottawa city council and was elected with a majority of the vote, defeating Ed Campbell and two other candidates. He was subsequently re-elected in 2003, 2006, and 2010. Bloess is a member of the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

. In 2009, he lost to David Bertschi for the Liberal nomination in Ottawa—Orléans for the 2011 federal election. Bloess lives in the suburban community of

Blackburn Hamlet Blackburn Hamlet is a suburban community in Innes Ward, in the east end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Before the 2001 amalgamation of the city of Ottawa, it was in the city of Gloucester. It is surrounded by rural areas and contains several older ...

2003-2006 term

On the Ottawa council his main issue was widening

Innes Road Innes Road ( Ottawa Road #30) is one of the most important corridors in the east end of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, running through the former cities of Gloucester and Cumberland. It is the main route serving Blackburn Hamlet and south ...

and working to encourage the spread of the booming economy of western Ottawa to the east. He is described as one of the council's fiscal conservatives and was one of three councilors to refuse the controversial 2003 pay-raise city council voted for themselves. He is generally seen as an opponent of mayor

Bob Chiarelli Robert Chiarelli (born September 24, 1941) is a Canadian politician. He was a Liberal member in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who served from 1987 to 1997 and again from 2010 to 2018 who represented the ridings of Ottawa West and Ottawa W ...

. According to the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'' Bloess, along with councilor

Jan Harder Janet Harder (born 1951 in Ottawa) is a former Ottawa City Councillor who represented the ward of Barrhaven. She was the appointed chair of the Ottawa Public Library board, which sets policy and has the ultimate say in decisions affecting the libr ...

, are sometimes called the councils "

official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

." He once initiated a controversial motion that would have required that all residents use Ottawa in their postal address, rather than the names of their former communities. He withdrew the motion after the initiative proved unpopular. In the

2003 Ottawa election The 2003 Ottawa municipal election was a municipal election that was held in Ottawa to elect the city's mayor, City Council, and school trustees for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The vote was held on November 10, 2003. The elections were h ...

he faced a stiff challenge from Jean-Francois Claude who argued that Ottawa East was being ignored by the city and that Bloess had failed to lobby hard enough for official bilingualism. The race was one of the closest for an incumbent councilor in 2003, but Bloess was reelected.

Light rail extension project

Bloess was an opponent of the city's

O-Train The O-Train is a light metro transit system in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operated by OC Transpo. The O-Train system has two lines, the electrically-operated Confederation Line (Line 1) and the diesel-operated Trillium Line (Line 2). Since May 20 ...

light-rail extension from downtown Ottawa to

Barrhaven Barrhaven is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about southwest of the city's downtown core. Prior to amalgamation with Ottawa in 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean. Its population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 103, ...

. On December 7, 2006, council voted in favor by a margin of 12–11 to pursue the project without the downtown segment. However, Bloess, who was on holiday during the vote, could not vote against the project, which would have derailed it. He mentioned that he was not aware that the vote would have taken place during his absence. When O'Brien modified his position to be against it because of insufficient funding, a new vote was held in which Bloess was present that officially derailed the project on December 14 by a margin of 13–11.

Cycling

Bloess is an avid cyclist and cycles both in town and on holidays. He tends to vote for cycling improvements.

References

External links

Official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloess, Rainer Ottawa city councillors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 1950s births