Shawn Michael Menard (born April 14, 1982) 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

Capital Ward Capital Ward or Ward 17 (French: ''Quartier Capitale'') is a city ward located in the centre of Ottawa, Ontario. Situated just south of downtown Ottawa, the ward includes the communities of Old Ottawa East, Old Ottawa South, the Glebe, Heron P ...

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 ...

. Menard grew up in Ottawa, the son of a single mother. He graduated from Sir Robert Borden High School, and studied criminology and public administration 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 World ...

. At Carleton, Menard was the president of the

Rideau River Residence Association The Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) is the student organization that represents undergraduate students living in residence at Carleton University. It was founded in 1968 as the Carleton University Residence Association. Following a protr ...

and later the president of the Carleton University Students' Association. He graduated from Carleton with a master's degree in Public Policy and Administration. After university, Menard worked as a strategic analyst for the Department of Justice and then as manager of government relations for the

Federation of Canadian Municipalities The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM, ''Fédération canadienne des municipalités'') is an advocacy group representing over 2000 Canadian municipalities. It is an organization with no formal power but significant ability to influence d ...

. He was also involved in neighbourhood politics, serving as president of the

Centretown Centretown is a neighbourhood in Somerset Ward, in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is defined by the city as "the area bounded on the north by Gloucester Street and Lisgar Street, on the east by the Rideau Canal, on the south by the Quee ...

Citizens Community Association and established an umbrella group of community associations called "Our Ottawa". Menard was elected as a public school trustee for the

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB, known as English-language Public District School Board No. 25 prior to 1999) refers to both the institution responsible for the operation of all English public schools in the city of Ottawa, Ont ...

in the 2014 municipal elections with no opposition. He represented Zone 9, which covers both Capital and

Rideau-Vanier Ward Rideau-Vanier Ward is a ward in the city of Ottawa, designated as Ward 12 and represented on Ottawa City Council. It was originally created in 1994 as a Ward on Regional Council. Prior to Ottawa's amalgamation in 2001, the Ward was partly in the ...

s. Menard had planned on running for re-election as a school trustee for the 2018 election, but entered the race for city council when fellow-progressive Emilie Taman opted to not run. Many had also wanted Menard to run for mayor. Menard ran on a progressive platform of reducing fares for public transportation, barring planning committee members from taking developer donations, and eliminating single use plastics. Often a critic of mayor Jim Watson Menard endorsed Watson's rival

Clive Doucet Clive Doucet (born 1946) is a Canadian writer and politician. He served as the Ottawa City Councillor for Capital Ward from 1997 to 2010 and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Ottawa in the 2010 Ottawa municipal election, finishing third with 15 pe ...

in the 2018 mayoral race. Menard was elected winning 28% of the vote, defeating his nearest rival Christine McAllister by fewer than 400 votes and incumbent

David Chernushenko David Chernushenko (born June 1963) is an author, speaker, sustainability consultant, documentary filmmaker and former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was elected to the Ottawa City Council in the 2010 municipal election and re-elected for a sec ...

by just under 600 votes. Menard claimed the win as a "referendum on development" in the area, while Chernushenko blamed his defeat on being out organized by an "

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

campaign". Menard is running for a second term on

in the

2022 Ottawa Municipal Election The 2022 Ottawa municipal election was held on Monday, October 24, 2022, to elect a Mayor of Ottawa, mayor, Ottawa City Council, city councillors, and trustees to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, English and Conseil des écoles publiq ...

, and has endorsed

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 ...

for mayor.

Election Results

2018 Ottawa municipal election

2014 Ottawa municipal election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menard, Shawn Living people 1982 births Ottawa city councillors Carleton University alumni Ontario school board trustees