Glen Edward Gower (born April 20, 1978) is a Canadian politician. He was elected to

Ottawa City Council Ottawa City Council () 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 wards throughout the city. Council member ...

representing

Stittsville Ward Stittsville (Ward 6) is a city ward in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, represented on Ottawa City Council. It consists of the community of Stittsville in suburban Ottawa. Prior to the 2006 election, the Ward was known as Goulbourn Ward which consisted of ...

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 was born at the Grace Hospital, the son of Alen and Gail Gower (née Cheesman). Gower grew up in the neighbourhood of

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue and Music festival, festival in the towns of Lenox, Massachusetts, Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony ...

Nepean, Ontario Nepean ( ) is an 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 new city of Ottawa. However, the name ...

, now part of Ottawa. He attended Merivale High School, 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 university, 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 se ...

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

GasBuddy GasBuddy is a technology company headquartered in Dallas that offers mobile applications and websites for tracking crowd-sourced locations and prices of gas stations and convenience stores in the United States and Canada. Their platforms offer i ...

. 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 Ric ...

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 centennial year of 1967 and named in honour of this, the 67's currently play thei ...

and

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

hockey teams, where he was also the

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

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 of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...

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

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gower, Glen Living people 1978 births Ottawa city councillors Carleton University alumni Canadian male organists Canadian organists Canadian male journalists Journalists from Ontario Ottawa Senators personnel 21st-century Canadian municipal councillors