Karin Howard

Karin (Duncan) Howard is a lawyer and politician. She represented Mooney's Bay Ward (now River Ward) on Ottawa City Council, covering the south central area of the City.

Karin Howard
Ottawa City Councillor
In office December 1, 1994 – February 3, 1999[1]
Preceded by	George Brown
Succeeded by	Jim Bickford
Constituency	Mooney's Bay Ward
Personal details
Born	Toronto
Political party	Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario[2]

Early life

Howard, born in Toronto, attended Malvern Collegiate. While completing her undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Guelph, Howard was elected to the Biological Students Council and the University Senate. She moved to Ottawa in 1981 with her husband, where they raised three children in the Riverside Park area. Howard articled at Burke-Robertson, Chadwick & Ritchie, worked as a tax lawyer with Drache, Rotenberg, in government on the GST (Financial Institutions), and operated the business Tax Research Consultants.

First mandate

In the Ottawa municipal election of 1994, Howard ran as a community representative to replace the departing George Brown, defeating six opponents. On Council she was known as "Captain Accountability" for bringing in monthly performance reports[3] to Council, a Code of Ethics, and the independence of the City Auditor function. She instituted monthly reporting to community associations and made it her practice to attend all meetings. Howard was part of the Fiscal Five on Council, routinely holding the line on spending. She also fought to protect greenspace[4] by serving on the Environmental Advisory Committee, protecting McCarthy Woods, the Southern Corridor of the Greenbelt, and saving the environmentally sensitive land at 4160 Riverside Drive. This land, situated at the end of the Ottawa International Airport main runway, was protected by a land swap, and kept future building heights from interfering with air traffic. Her successful motion to pay into reserve funds any extra money received by the City after the Budget, saved $1,000,000.

Second mandate

Howard was re-elected in 1997, increasing her percentage of the vote from 35% to 62%, despite the strong challenge by respected school board trustee Kathy Ablett. During the municipal amalgamation discussions, Howard and Rideau Township Councillor Rob Fraser, jointly organized a televised public town hall discussion on amalgamation, and issued a report on the results. Howard brought a successful motion to support amalgamation on condition that the total budget of the new city would not be greater than the sum of the budgets of the amalgamated cities.

Howard announced in September 1998 that she would join her family in Beijing, China where her husband was newly posted with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), now Global Affairs Canada. Instead, to ensure a balanced budget was passed, Howard stayed on Council for five extra months after her family had left. She resigned once the budget passed without a tax increase on a 6:5 vote split.

Committees of Council and related boards

• Policy, Priorities and Budget
• Audit
• Planning and Economic Development
• Ottawa Public Library Board
• Riverside Hospital Board
• Central Canada Exhibition Board
• Police Services Board
• Environmental Advisory Committee
• Disability Advisory Committee.

In Beijing, Howard was elected to the local board of the Canada China Business Council for three years, and became chair of the Policy Committee. She was appointed as a trustee to the International School of Beijing and helped to build the new school at Shunyi, a USD74 million project. As policy chair, Howard revised the school policies manual. She also served business clients at the law firm Goodman, Philips, and Vineberg in their Beijing Office.

Upon returning to Ottawa in 2001, Howard organized a rally to support a free press after Russell Mills, publisher, was ostensibly fired for allowing a certain editorial to be printed in the Ottawa Citizen.[5][6] For three years she managed an import business in Wellington West. During this time the City cut garbage pick-up service to businesses, which she opposed[7] because waste removal is a basic service. In terms of corporate social responsibility, Howard committed to making a donation from her fair trade business sales to a Chinese charity and did so in 2008.[8] The funds went to support victims of the earthquake in Sichuan, China.

Howard has taught many law courses and consulted on course development at Algonquin College and at two universities. She has been active in the community as a director on the Riverside Park Community and Recreation Association,[9] restoring the Victoria Day Fireworks[10] to the new Mooney's Bay site, serving on several accessibility committees, on the Ottawa Rowing Club board,[11] and as President of the Somali Canadian Youth Centre[12] dedicated to help youth and their families involved with the criminal justice system.

Accountability advocacy

Howard has a special interest in the law of political accountability,[13][14] the subject of her Masters of Law studies at Queen's University. She spoke at a 2016 conference about the lack of accountability in Ontario Liberal health care reforms that had inadequate consultation with physicians.[15]

Howard has advocated for the rights of persons with disabilities by serving on Accessibility with Moxie Foundation,[16] Queen's Accessibility Committee, and the City of Ottawa's Disability Advisory Committee.

Electoral record

2018 Ontario general election: Ottawa South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Fraser	20,773	39.63	−10.40
	Progressive Conservative	Karin Howard	15,319	29.23	-2.63
	New Democratic	Eleanor Fast	14,250	27.19	+14.82
	Green	Les Schram	1,618	3.09	−1.26
	Libertarian	Robert Daigneault	342	0.65	+0.07
	Communist	Larry Wasslen	114	0.22	−0.08
Total valid votes			52,616	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing
Source: Elections Ontario[17]

Municipal Election Results 1994

Mooney's Bay Ward
Candidate	Votes	%
Karin Howard	3645	35.02
Pat Murphy	3025	29.06
Fred Bowie	1468	14.11
Don Tudin	1085	10.43
Riley Brockington	535	5.14
Alan Murphy	391	3.75
Coreen Fast	260	2.50

Municipal Election Results 1997

Mooney's Bay Ward
Candidate	Votes	%
Karin Howard	5005	62.00
Kathy Ablett	3068	38.00

References

1. Ottawa City Council Minutes, 1998–1999, Volume 1
2. http://bulldogottawa.com/karin-howard-to-run-for-pc-nomination/
3. "HCCO Minutes 2 Dec 1996". Hunt-club.ncf.ca. December 2, 1996. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
4. CCAPresident (April 5, 2017). "Carlington Community Association » CCA Report May 97". Carlingtoncommunity.org. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
5. Skinner, David; Compton, James Robert; Gasher, Mike (January 1, 2005). Converging Media, Diverging Politics: A Political Economy of News Media in the United States and Canada. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739113066 – via Google Books.
6. "AsperNation" (PDF). Marcedge.com. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
8. "Connecting People Through News". PressReader.com. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
9. "Riverside Park Community & Recreation Association : Minutes" (PDF). Riversidepark.ca. March 5, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
10. "Riverside Park Community & Recreation Association : Minutes" (PDF). Riversidepark.ca. January 8, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
11. Martin Cleary (September 2, 2014). "Ottawa Rowing Club aims to turn 150 with a bang". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
12. "Somali Canadian Youth Centre". Somalicanadianyouthcentre.ca. October 3, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
13. "Citizens' Circle for Accountability". Members.tripod.com. June 1, 1996. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
14. "Centre for Public Accountability". Archive.is. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
15. "Panel Discussions — Health City Ontario". Healthcityontario.com. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
16. "Access Moxie – A video produced by the Accessibility with". Facebook. March 1, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
17. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 8. Retrieved January 20, 2019.