David Courtemanche

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David Courtemanche

Mayor of Greater Sudbury
In office 2003 – 2006
Preceded by	Jim Gordon
Succeeded by	John Rodriguez

Born	1964 Sudbury, Ontario
Occupation	city councillor, management consultant

David Courtemanche (born 1964) is the former mayor of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, serving one term from 2003 to 2006.

Courtemanche won the 2003 municipal election after the retirement of longtime mayor Jim Gordon. His "Campaign for Change" was launched on a platform of sustainable growth. His priorities included re-building the local infrastructure, establishing Sudbury as the National Centre for Mining Excellence, building a healthy community, launching a community image campaign, promoting green energy and restructuring the newly-amalgamated city government. He emerged the victor over prominent local businessman Paul Marleau and 12 other opponents in the province's second largest field of mayoral candidates that year. (Only Toronto, with 44 candidates, had a larger mayoralty race.)

He was previously a city councillor, elected for the first time in 1997. At 39 years old, he was the youngest elected mayor in the history of Sudbury. Highlights of his term in office included: implementing a major infrastructure and roads renewal program; the development of a Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation ^[1]; establishing a healthy community strategy; setting up citizen-led Community Action Networks throughout the city; the opening of the first new medical school in Canada in the last 30 years; creating a new vision for downtown revitalization, launching the My Sudbury! campaign; developing the “Claiming our Stake” plan for the future of the local mining industry ^[2]; commissioning the post-amalgamation “Constellation City” report; implementing a 100% smoke-free public places bylaw; and being awarded the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Peter Marshall Award for Innovation ^[3]. After almost a decade of decline, the city's population started to grow once again, housing starts and property values rose dramatically ^[4], the local economy was strong, and the city remained debt-free.

In the 2006 municipal election, which was marked by ongoing controversy around the municipal amalgamation of Greater Sudbury in 2001, Courtemanche was defeated in his bid for re-election. He was succeeded on December 6, 2006, by former federal Member of Parliament John Rodriguez.

Today, Courtemanche is president of Leading Minds, a management consulting company that provides facilitation, training, coaching and management services primarily in the government and health sectors. In July of 2007, Courtemanche was named project manager for the City of Lakes Family Health Team, a primary health care initiative in Sudbury. ^[5]