Chris Friel (politician)

Friel was born and raised in Brantford. He has an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Waterloo (1989).^[2] Before running for office, he was the executive director of a non-profit government agency.^[3]

Both of his parents were active in politics. His father, James Friel, was involved in the labour movement and ran for a trustee position on the Brant County Board of Education in 1976.^[4] His mother, Judy Friel, ran for a seat on the Brantford City Council in 2000.^[5]

After his loss in 2003, he worked in business and economic development with the Ontario Native Affairs Secretariat.^[6]

Friel was first elected as mayor of Brantford in the 1994 municipal election, defeating one-term incumbent Bob Taylor. He was only twenty-seven years old at the time.^[7] He was re-elected in 1997, defeating right-wing candidate Andy Woodburn by a significant margin. He initially planned to stand down in 2000, but later changed his mind and was re-elected for a third term.^[8]

Friel became mayor during a period of economic difficulties for Brantford; shortly after his election, he described the city as having the worst downtown in Canada.^[9] He later presided over a period of economic growth for the city.^[10]

Friel initially opposed the Brantford Charity Casino, describing it as a "scam" designed to shift money from the city to the province. He was quoted as saying, "What bothers me is that the government used to do these capital projects to build a country. . . . Now the government is doing work that is building gaming. It's like they've given up, there's no creativity."^[11] He later accepted the casino's presence and tried to ensure it would provide some benefits to his community, though he still described it as an economic mistake.^[12]

He helped establish Laurier Brantford, a local division of Wilfrid Laurier University.^[13] He was also mayor when the Brantford Eaton's closed and took part in overseeing the site's transformation into a call centre.^[14] During his second term, he spoke in favour of keeping the Brantford Hydro-Electric Commission as a public utility.^[15]

Friel encouraged merger discussions between Brantford and neighbouring Brant County in 2000. At one stage, he said that he would ask the province to impose a decision on restructuring if the county declined talks. Brant County Mayor Ron Eddy strongly opposed this position, and Friel later acknowledged that producing a local agreement would be impossible.^[16] During the same period, Friel argued that the Six Nations people have a legitimate claim to the land surrounding the Grand River, six miles in each direction.^[17] Generally, Friel was known for having good relations with local indigenous groups.^[18]

Friel strongly supported Brantford's anti-smoking by-law, citing his own father's death from lung cancer at a relatively young age.^[19] He himself took a three-month leave of absence in 2002 due to serious health issues.^[20]

Friel was defeated in the 2003 mayoral election, losing to Mike Hancock by only fifteen votes.^[21] He chose not to seek a recount.^[22] He challenged Hancock again in the 2006 election and lost by 165 votes. When Hancock did not seek re-election in 2010, Friel ran for mayor again and won by a significant margin.

A newspaper article from 2000 described his political style as "flamboyant, sometimes truculent."^[23] When running for re-election in 2003, he acknowledged that he had been an unorthodox mayor.^[24]

Friel was a political ally of Brant Member of Parliament (MP) Jane Stewart, who served as a cabinet minister in Jean Chrétien's government.^[25] He strongly criticized provincial premier Mike Harris at a 2001 Labour Day rally,^[26] although he was more complimentary toward Chris Hodgson, Harris's municipal affairs minister.^[27]

Friel sought the Liberal Party nomination for Brant in the buildup to the 2004 federal election, but lost to Lloyd St. Amand.^[28]

• See the 2010 Brantford election page for information on defeated candidates other than Turmel.

• See the 2003 Brantford election page for information on Tooke.

• See the 2000 Brantford election page for information on Raymond and Gallant.

• See the 1997 Brantford election page for information on Barlett and Clement.

• See the 1994 Brantford election page for information on Lancaster.

• www.chrisfriel.ca