Darrin Canniff (born 1966) is a Canadian politician who has served as current the mayor of

Chatham-Kent Chatham-Kent (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 103,988) is a Census divisions of Ontario#Single-tier municipalities, single-tier municipality in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is mostly rural, and its population centres are Chatham, Wallac ...

since 2018. Canniff was born and raised in Chatham,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He attended elementary school at Winston Churchill School and high school at John McGregor Secondary School, and was educated at

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a Public university, public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo, Brantford, Ontario, Brantford and Milton, Ontario, Milton. The ...

, where he earned a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

degree and received a Chartered Accountant (CA) designation. He received his CA while working for accounting firm

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

Career

Early career

Prior to entering politics, Canniff worked for Union Gas, where he was the director of planning and forecasting. He has also worked for Transform SSO and Greenfield Specialty Alcohols. He also led a number of charitable campaigns, such as such as the Festival of Giving and the 2006 United Way of Chatham-Kent campaign. He also served as a board chair at Mainstreet Credit Union, and was a board director for the Children's Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent, past chair of the Prosperity Roundtable and past chair of Entegrus Inc.

Politics

Canniff first entered politics in the 2014 municipal elections, when he was elected to Chatham-Kent Municipal Council as one of six councillors for Ward 6 (Chatham). During his first term he served as co-chair of the 2018 International Plowing Match which was held in Pain Court. Canniff was first elected as mayor in the 2018 municipal elections, defeating Alysson Storey and incumbent mayor Randy Hope, winning more than 56% of the vote. Canniff ran on a platform prioritizing "quality jobs" and "infrastructure". Hope had been seeking a fourth term as mayor, despite having promised to only serve for three terms. He had also been criticized for making business trips abroad. After being elected as mayor, Canniff stated his priorities for 2019 could be summed in the statement "bringing community together", with one of his initiatives being 'Get Involved CK Campaign' to support volunteerism. He also planned on investing in local service clubs, which would result in a small tax increase. In his first year as mayor, he had to deal with an ice jam in the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

which caused flooding and the opening of a new casino in Chatham. Canniff's top priorities in 2020 have been dealing with shoreline erosion, high speed internet and the reopening Talbot Trail.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canniff, Darrin Mayors of Chatham-Kent Living people 1960s births Wilfrid Laurier University alumni Canadian accountants 21st-century mayors of places in Ontario