Mark Sutcliffe (born July 14, 1968) is a Canadian politician who has been the 59th mayor of Ottawa since 2022. Before entering politics, he hosted Ottawa Today on 1310News radio. Sutcliffe is the first Chinese Canadian and person from a visible minority group to serve as mayor of Ottawa.
Early life
Mark Sutcliffe was born at the Riverside Hospital on July 14, 1968, the son of John Michael Sutcliffe and Florence Ng-Yelim. Sutcliffe's maternal grandfather, Xavier, was born to a Chinese family in Mauritius in 1902. Sutcliffe's maternal grandmother, Yolande, was French, and the two moved to Shanghai. The family moved to Canada during the Chinese Civil War. John Sutcliffe was also an immigrant, coming from Yorkshire in England. John and Florence met while working at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
Sutcliffe grew up in McKellar Park in the city's west end. He graduated from St. Pius X High School, and then studied political science at Carleton University for one year before dropping out to take a job at the CHEZ 106 radio station. At the same time, he started working as a news reader at CFRA, and then became a news reporter for the Ottawa Business News, and was the first play-by-play announcer for the Ottawa Lynx baseball team. He then founded the Ottawa Business Journal, where he met his wife, Ginny.
Political career
Sutcliffe was elected mayor of Ottawa in the 2022 municipal election. Described as a centrist, Sutcliffe defeated Catherine McKenney, a progressive councillor supported by many New Democratic Party and some Liberal figures. Sutcliffe was supported by many sitting Liberal and Conservative politicians.
He is the first Chinese Canadian mayor of Ottawa, as well as its first mayor from a visible minority group. Although Sutcliffe acknowledges that he has benefitted in his career from racial privilege, being born "visibly White" without "any Asian features."