Dorothy McCabe (born 1969) is a Canadian politician. She has served as the current mayor of Waterloo since 2022. As mayor, she also serves on

Waterloo Regional Council The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumfrie ...

Early life

McCabe is originally from

Arthur, Ontario Arthur (population 2,628) is a community located just north of Ontario Highway 6, Highway 6 and Wellington County Road 109, Wellington Road 109 in the township (Canada), township of Wellington North, Ontario, Canada. Formerly an independent vill ...

. She is the daughter of Terry McCabe and Stella Mulhall. McCabe attended

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 she received a bachelor's degree in Communications and History. While attending Laurier, she was a member of the

Laurier Golden Hawks The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, commonly shortened to Laurier Golden Hawks, is the name used by the varsity sports teams of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The university's varsity teams compete in the Ontario Universit ...

varsity women's basketball team. In 2015, she received a master's degree in public administration from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

Early career

She worked in the office of

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

MPP

John Milloy John Christopher Milloy (born June 29, 1965) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2014 who represented the riding of the Kitchener Centre. He served as a cabinet ...

from 2003 to 2010, served as chief of staff to mayor of Kitchener

Carl Zehr Carl Zehr (born ) is a retired Canadian politician. He served as the mayor of Kitchener from 1997 to 2014. Prior to that he was a city councillor from 1985 to 1994. As of 2014, he was the longest-serving mayor in Kitchener. He was a member of ...

from 2010 to 2015, and in the office of Liberal MPP

Daiene Vernile Daiene G. Vernile (born July 1, 1960) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2014 to 2018 who represented the riding of Kitchener Centre. She was a member of cabinet in t ...

in 2016. As Zehr's chief of staff, she worked on trying to bring two-way all-day

GO Train GO Transit rail services (commonly referred to as the GO Train) are provided throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The system comprises seven lines and 68 stations. In , the system had a riders ...

s to the region. She worked as a senior executive for KidsAbility from 2016 to 2019. In 2018, McCabe ran as the

candidate in that year's provincial election in the riding of

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

. She finished in third place, winning 12 per cent of the vote. The NDP's

Catherine Fife Catherine Eileen Fife (born ) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who represents the riding of Waterloo. She has been a Member of Provincial Parliament since first winning ...

won the seat. Beginning in 2021, McCabe worked for the City of Milton, and worked as a professor at

Conestoga College Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a public college located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. History In 1967, the college was founded as Conestoga College of Applied Arts and Technology by the government of Ontar ...

from 2020.

Mayoralty

Following the announcement that

Dave Jaworsky David Jaworsky (born 1964) is a Canadian politician and former BlackBerry executive. He served as the mayor of Waterloo from 2014 to 2022. As mayor, he also served on Waterloo Regional Council. Career In 1988, Jaworsky received a bachelor's de ...

would not be running for re-election as mayor of Waterloo McCabe announced she would be running for mayor of the city in the 2022 mayoral election. In her announcement, she cited her past experience in working in governance at the municipal and provincial levels, as well as her position at KidsAbility. In the election, McCabe narrowly defeated community volunteer Shannon Weber by just 331 votes. Weber was married to Dan Weber, who was McCabe's Progressive Conservative opponent in the 2018 provincial election. McCabe campaigned on leading "Waterloo toward the future", "creating a greener, more sustainable city", and to "hear and understand diverse perspectives to work toward collective action". Following her election, she announced that one of her first issues she would focus on would be affordable housing. When the provincial government passed the ''

Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act The ''Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022'' () is a statute in Ontario that grants extra powers to the Mayor of Toronto and the mayors of other designated municipalities within their mayor–council governments. Powers granted Previously, a ...

'', McCabe announced she was unlikely to use her new "strong mayor" powers.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCabe, Dorothy Living people 1960s births Mayors of Waterloo, Ontario Women mayors of places in Ontario 21st-century Canadian women politicians Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks players University of Western Ontario alumni People from Wellington County, Ontario Political chiefs of staff Legislative staff Basketball people from Ontario Canadian women's basketball players Guards (basketball) Ontario Liberal Party candidates in Ontario provincial elections 21st-century mayors of places in Ontario 20th-century Canadian sportswomen