Daryl Bennett (born May 27, 1948) is a retired Canadian politician in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

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 was twice-elected as the mayor of

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

, having won the position in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. In October 2018, councillor Diane Therrien defeated him in his bid for a third term.

Early life and business career

Bennett was born in Peterborough and graduated from the Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School. His father, George Bennett, was a city councillor from 1971 to 1980, and his father-in-law, Keith Brown, was a Progressive Conservative

Member of Provincial Parliament Member of Provincial Parliament is the title given to provincial legislators in two legislatures: * Member of Provincial Parliament (Canada) * Member of Provincial Parliament (Western Cape) In the Western Cape province of South Africa, Member of Pro ...

(MPP) from 1959 to 1967. Bennett worked for his father-in-law's businesses after graduating high school, founded Liftlock Coach Lines in 1974, and later established the Liftlock Group of Companies. He chaired the Greater Peterborough Business Development Centre and the Greater Peterborough Community Futures Development Corporation in the 2000s. Bennett was also a founding member of the Market Hall Fund-raising Committee, and in 2003 he was named to a committee that oversaw plans for Peterborough's centennial celebrations. He served on the board of governors of

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Founded in 1964, the university is known for its Oxbridge college system, sma ...

from 2000 to 2004, and there was some surprise when his position was not renewed; Bennett has suggested this may have been because of difficult questions he posed to university officials. He organized a campaign for local businesses affected by a major flood in mid-2004 and shortly thereafter was named as person of the year by the Greater Peterborough

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

. In the 2003 provincial election, Bennett co-chaired the unsuccessful re-election campaign of Progressive Conservative incumbent Gary Stewart. He supported

Sylvia Sutherland Sylvia Sutherland is a retired Canadian politician who was mayor of Peterborough from 1986 to 1991 and from 1998 to 2006. Sutherland has a diploma in journalism from the Ryerson Institute of Technology, a BA (Hons) in history from Trent Universi ...

's re-election as mayor of Peterborough in the same year's

municipal election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...

Politician

Bennett challenged one-term incumbent mayor Paul Ayotte in the 2010 Peterborough municipal election and won by a significant margin. Bennett's supporters included former MPPs Keith Brown,

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposit ...

, and Gary Stewart, as well as prominent municipal politician Paul Rexe (who died before the election). Ayotte has said that some of his financial backers from 2006 shifted to Bennett's campaign in 2010. In the 2014 municipal election, Bennett was reelected to a second term as mayor. In the 2018 municipal election, Bennett was defeated by city councillor Diane Therrien."32-year-old defeats Peterborough mayor in landslide win"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

Toronto, October 23, 2018. Bennett ran for mayor of

Cavan Monaghan Cavan Monaghan (known as Cavan-Millbrook-North Monaghan until 2007) is a township in Peterborough County in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, southwest of the city of Peterborough. History The original townships of Cavan and Monaghan were surve ...

in the 2022 municipal elections, but lost.

Electoral record

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20100902135142/http://www.darylbennett.ca/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Daryl Living people Mayors of Peterborough, Ontario 1948 births 21st-century mayors of places in Ontario