Clive Doucet
Clive Oliver Robert Doucet (born 20 March 1946) is a Canadian writer and politician. He served as the Ottawa City Councillor for Capital Ward from 1997 to 2010 and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Ottawa in the 2010 Ottawa municipal election, finishing third with 15 per cent of the vote. Eight years later, in 2018, he again ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Ottawa, this time finishing second with 22 per cent of the vote.
Clive Doucet

Bfoster · Own work, photo taken at press conference · Public domain
- Name
- Clive Doucet
- Born
- 20 March 1946
- Birthplace
- London, England
- Spouse
- Pat Steenberg
- Nationality
- Canada
- Occupation
- novelist · politician · poet · writer
- Education
- University of Toronto · Carleton University · Université de Montréal
- Languages
- English
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Clive Oliver Robert Doucet (born 20 March 1946) is a Canadian writer and politician. He served as the Ottawa City Councillor for Capital Ward from 1997 to 2010 and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Ottawa in the 2010 Ottawa municipal election, finishing third with 15 per cent of the vote. Eight years later, in 2018, he again ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Ottawa, this time finishing second with 22 per cent of the vote.
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wikidata · Q5134548 · wikipedia · Clive Doucet
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Clive Doucet • Born — 20 March 1946 • Birthplace — London, England • Office — Ottawa City Councillor • Term Start — 2001 • Term End — 2010 • Predecessor — Inez Berg • Successor — David Chernushenko • Office2 — Ottawa-Carleton Regional Councillor • Term Start2 — 1997 • Term End2 — 2000 • Predecessor2 — Brian McGarry • Successor2 — Position abolished • Party — New Democratic Party (c. 2006) Green Party of Canada (since 2019) • Constituency — Capital Ward • Constituency2 — Capital Ward • Spouse — Pat Steenberg
Early life
Early life
Doucet was born in 1946 in London, England to an Acadian serviceman from Grand Étang and an English war bride. Doucet grew up in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, having moved there at the age of six. He also spent some of his youth in St. John's, Newfoundland. Doucet was raised as a Catholic, and his mother was Protestant. He became a Quaker in 1980. He first came to Ottawa in his teens when his father worked there. Doucet played for the Carleton Ravens football team for one season, and then moved to the University of Toronto. A football injury took him out of that sport and into the sport of rowing. He received a master's degree in urban anthropology from the University of Montreal. In his younger days, he spent a summer working in a rock copper mine in British Columbia and helped build the National Arts Centre as a construction worker. Before entering politics, Doucet was a municipal affairs policy advisor.
Politics
Politics
In the 1997 regional elections, Doucet ran for Ottawa-Carleton Regional Council in Capital Ward, which includes The Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Old Ottawa East, part of Riverview Park, Carleton University, and Heron Park. He was an activist against the proposed Bronson Freeway, which propelled him to victory. Central to his political platform has been the creation of a light rail rapid transit system across Ottawa manifested to date with the O-Train demonstration project (today's Line 2). On 6 July 2010, Doucet announced his candidacy for Mayor of Ottawa in the 2010 Ottawa municipal election. Doucet joined a record number of 115 candidates running for municipal office in 2010, of which 15 challenged mayoral incumbent Larry O'Brien. Doucet placed third with 15 per cent of the vote. During the 2018 Ontario election campaign, Doucet volunteered in Ottawa Centre for NDP candidate Joel Harden. On July 27, 2018, Doucet announced that he would once again be running for Mayor of Ottawa in the 2018 Ottawa municipal election. Doucet placed second behind incumbent mayor Jim Watson, whom he had also lost to in 2010. He won 22 per cent of the vote. Doucet ran as the Green Party candidate in the 2019 federal election for the riding of Cape Breton—Canso, the riding of his secondary residence of Grand Étang, Nova Scotia. He placed fourth, losing to Liberal candidate Mike Kelloway.
Fiction
Fiction
• Disneyland Please, novel, 1978, shortlisted for the W.H. Smith First Novel Award • John Coe's War, novel, 1983 • Gospel According to Mary Magdalene, novel, 1990 • The Priest's Boy, linked short stories, 1992
Non-fiction
Non-fiction
• My Grandfather's Cape Breton, originally 1980, republished in 2003 – a memoir of summer boyhood visits to his grandfather on the family farm on Cape Breton Island in the 1960s. • Lost and Found in Acadie (2004), a meditation on Acadian history, the Great Expulsion of 1755 and his visit to the Second Acadian World Congress in Louisiana in 1999. • Notes from Exile, 1999 – profiles his visit to the 1994 First Acadian World Congress in New Brunswick. • Acadian Memories, 2005 – collaboration with photographer Francois Gaudet, a coffee table book keepsake of the Third Acadian World Congress held in Ste Anne, Nova Scotia in 2004.
Poetry
Poetry
• Before Star Wars, 1981 • Debris of Planets, 1993 • Looking for Henry, 1999 – an epic poem meditating on the deportation of Acadians in 1755 contrasted to the defeat of the Metis Nation in 1885, and how the victors get to write history. • Canal Seasons, 2003
Plays
Plays
• Hatching Eggs, National Arts Centre, 1976 • A Very Desirable Residence, Penguin Performance Company, 1978 • Chicken Delight, CBC Playhouse (radio), 1978 • May the Best Man Win • The Chez Lucien is Dead (with Wayne Rostad)
Mayoral
Mayoral
• Mayoral candidate — Vote — % • — Jim Watson (X) — 188,960 — 71.03 • — Clive Doucet — 59,156 — 22.24 • — Bruce McConville — 4,360 — 1.64 • — Craig MacAulay — 2,272 — 0.85 • — Ahmed Bouragba — 1,912 — 0.72 • — Joey Drouin — 1,893 — 0.71 • — Hamid Alakozai — 1,867 — 0.70 • — James T. Sheahan — 1,354 — 0.51 • — Michael Pastien — 1,177 — 0.44 • — Ryan Lythall — 1,115 — 0.42 • — Moises Schachtler — 994 — 0.37 • — Bernard Couchman — 964 — 0.36 • Mayor • Candidate — Votes — % • Jim Watson — 131,323 — 48.70 • Larry O'Brien (X) — 64,862 — 24.06 • Clive Doucet — 40,148 — 14.89 • Andrew S. Haydon — 18,914 — 7.01 • Mike Maguire — 6,618 — 2.45 • 15 other candidates — 7,775 — 2.88 • Total votes — 269,640 — 100.00
City Councillor
City Councillor
• Capital Ward (Ward 17) • Candidate — Votes — % • Clive Doucet (X) — 6,495 — 48.14% • Jay Nordenstrom — 4,602 — 34.11% • Ian Boyd — 1,963 — 14.55% • Sean Curran — 433 — 3.21% • Capital Ward (Ward 17) • Candidate — Votes — % • Clive Doucet (X) — 5,785 — 80.06% • C.R.L. Erickson — 1,024 — 14.17% • Mike Salmon — 417 — 5.77% • Capital Ward (Ward 17) • Candidate — Votes — % • Clive Doucet (X) — 6,486 — 69.51 • Jim Bickford — 2,845 — 30.49 • Capital Ward (Ward 17) • Candidate — Votes — % • Clive Doucet — 2,984 — 36.80 • Jim Kennelly — 2,051 — 25.29 • Robin Quinn — 1,571 — 19.37 • Ed Barter — 1,002 — 12.36 • David McNicoll — 501 — 6.18

Cropped Photo of Clive Doucet Press Conference for Mayor
Bfoster

Clive Doucet in 2018
CosmicCuttlefish
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1946
Clive Doucet born at London.
Publications
Throughout his career, Doucet has been a writer of novels, poetry, plays, and non-fiction, often writing about his Acadian roots. His most recent book, Urban Meltdown: Cities, Climate Change and Politics as Usual, was published by New Society Publishers in 2007. In its review, The Walrus wrote "When Doucet speaks from the firm ground of experience as city councillor, his sharply logical solutions to municipal problems seem both hopeful and achievable."
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Party: Fear of a polarized council. Ottawa Citizen. 26. 31 January 2006.
- 2.cite LCAuth id=n78000433
- 3.clive Doucette, Noted in a book review), Globe and Mail, August 07, 2009
- 4.Meet your candidates for Ottawa mayor CBC News.
- 5.Mohammed Adam, "Clive Doucet: Accidental politician", Ottawa Citizen, 13 September 2010
- 6.Cockburn, Neco. O'Brien responsible for record number of candidates: Watson. Ottawa Citizen. November 2017.
- 7.City of Ottawa. Official Results/Résultats officiels.
- 8.Can Ottawa's municipal candidates shed political allegiances?. Ottawa Sun. 2018-07-31.
- 9.Willing, Jon. Former councillor Clive Doucet announces run for mayor. Ottawa Citizen. July 27, 2018.
- 10.Crawford, Blair. Clive Doucet to run for Parliament as a Green in Cape Breton. Ottawa Citizen. September 7, 2019.
- 11.Quon, Alexander. 2019 Canada election results: Cape Breton-Canso. Global News. September 22, 2019.
- 12.New Society Publishers – Urban Meltdown
- 13.Dutkiewicz, Jan. Book Review: Urban Meltdown – Cities, Climate Change and Politics as Usual. January 2008.
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Clive Doucet is connected to 2 other published records in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,991 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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