Daryl Bennett

Summary

Daryl Bennett (born May 27, 1948) is a retired Canadian politician in the Canadian province of Ontario. He was twice-elected as the mayor of Peterborough, having won the position in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. In October 2018, councillor Diane Therrien defeated him in his bid for a third term.[2]

Daryl Bennett
Mayor of Peterborough
In office
December 1, 2010 – November 26, 2018[1]
Preceded byPaul Ayotte
Succeeded byDiane Therrien
Personal details
Born (1948-05-27) May 27, 1948 (age 75)
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Political partyIndependent

Early life and business career edit

Bennett was born in Peterborough and graduated from the Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School. His father, George Bennett, was a city councillor from 1971 to 1980, and his father-in-law, Keith Brown, was a Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) from 1959 to 1967.[3]

Bennett worked for his father-in-law's businesses after graduating high school, founded Liftlock Coach Lines in 1974, and later established the Liftlock Group of Companies.[4] He chaired the Greater Peterborough Business Development Centre and the Greater Peterborough Community Futures Development Corporation in the 2000s.[5] Bennett was also a founding member of the Market Hall Fund-raising Committee,[6] and in 2003 he was named to a committee that oversaw plans for Peterborough's centennial celebrations.[7]

He served on the board of governors of Trent University from 2000 to 2004, and there was some surprise when his position was not renewed; Bennett has suggested this may have been because of difficult questions he posed to university officials.[8] He organized a campaign for local businesses affected by a major flood in mid-2004 and shortly thereafter was named as person of the year by the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce.[9]

In the 2003 provincial election, Bennett co-chaired the unsuccessful re-election campaign of Progressive Conservative incumbent Gary Stewart.[10] He supported Sylvia Sutherland's re-election as mayor of Peterborough in the same year's municipal election.[11]

Politician edit

Bennett challenged one-term incumbent mayor Paul Ayotte in the 2010 Peterborough municipal election and won by a significant margin. Bennett's supporters included former MPPs Keith Brown, John Turner, and Gary Stewart, as well as prominent municipal politician Paul Rexe (who died before the election). Ayotte has said that some of his financial backers from 2006 shifted to Bennett's campaign in 2010.[12]

In the 2014 municipal election, Bennett was reelected to a second term as mayor.

In the 2018 municipal election, Bennett was defeated by city councillor Diane Therrien.[13]

Bennett ran for mayor of Cavan Monaghan in the 2022 municipal elections, but lost.

Electoral record edit

2014 Peterborough municipal election – Mayor of Peterborough[14]
Candidate Votes % of vote
Daryl Bennett 11,210 41.4
Maryam Monsef 9,879 36.5
Alan Wilson 4,052 14.9
Patti S. Peeters 1,564 5.8
George "Terry" LeBlanc 202 0.7
Tom Young 183 0.7
Total 27,090 100.0


2010 Peterborough municipal election: Mayor of Peterborough
Candidate Votes %
Daryl Bennett 14,061 58.46
(x)Paul Ayotte 9,990 41.54
Total valid votes 24,051 100.00

References edit

  1. ^ "Peterborough's new mayor Diane Therrien, council sworn in - Peterborough | Globalnews.ca".
  2. ^ "32-year-old defeats Peterborough mayor in landslide win | CBC News".
  3. ^ Paul Rexe, "Businesses with their roots in community," Peterborough Examiner, July 3, 2002, A4; Brendan Wedley, "Daryl Bennett stresses leadership in launching campaign to become mayor of Peterborough," Peterborough Examiner, 2010, accessed November 13, 2010.
  4. ^ Brendan Wedley, "Men who would be mayor: Bennett," Archived December 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Peterborough Examiner, 2010, accessed November 13, 2010.
  5. ^ Daryl Bennett for Mayor: About Daryl Archived September 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, accessed November 13, 2010; Karen Snider, "Warrant issued for man wanted in cabbie stabbing," Peterborough Examiner, March 27, 2002, B1; "Business program gets funding," Peterborough Examiner, October 26, 2002, B1; JoElle Kovach, "Jobs co-operation vital," Peterborough Examiner, March 21, 2003, B3.
  6. ^ "Peterborough Civic Award winners," Peterborough Examiner, June 6, 2001, A5.
  7. ^ JoElle Kovach, "Negative campaigning," Peterborough Examiner, December 5, 2003, A1.
  8. ^ Ingrid Nielsen, "Downtown colleges `most profitable,'" Peterborough Examiner, November 29, 2000, B2; Don MacKay, "Trent governors out of touch," Peterborough Examiner, July 14, 2004, A4; Lee Berthiaume, "'The silencing of Trent': Profs speak out against secrecy by board of governors," Peterborough Examiner, July 17, 2004, B3.
  9. ^ Matthew van Dongen, "Businesses hurt by flood can access interest-free loans," Peterborough Examiner, July 24, 2004, A1; Matthew van Dongen, "Bennett named Citizen of the Year," Peterborough Examiner, October 21, 2004, A1.
  10. ^ R. Gary Stewart, "Negative campaigning," Peterborough Examiner, June 6, 2003, A4.
  11. ^ Elizabeth Bower, "Cost mayor more to get elected in 2003, papers show," Peterborough Examiner, March 30, 2004, A1.
  12. ^ Brendan Wedley, "Ayotte blames late start, lack of ad dollars, Peterborough Examiner, 2010, accessed November 13, 2010; Joel Wiebe, "Firefighters Association endorses Bennett, MyKawartha.com, October 21, 2010, accessed November 13, 2010.
  13. ^ "32-year-old defeats Peterborough mayor in landslide win". CBC News Toronto, October 23, 2018.
  14. ^ "2014 Municipal Election Results". peterborough.ca. City of Peterborough.

External links edit

  • https://web.archive.org/web/20100902135142/http://www.darylbennett.ca/