CATARAQUI DISTRICT [About this district]
Rick Downes
CONTACT
3 Daly Street
Kingston, Ontario K7K 4Y8
Phone: 613-766-6920
E-mail: rdownes@cityofkingston.ca
BIOGRAPHY
Rick Downes was elected to represent Cataraqui district on Oct. 25, 2010.
Downes was born in Toronto in 1958 and graduated from Royal York Collegiate Institute in 1977. He was first elected to political office as a school trustee for the former Frontenac County Board of Education where he served St. Lawrence Ward for two terms. He was first elected to Kingston City Council at amalgamation (1998) and served King's Town district for three terms.
Downes is the only citizen of Kingston to run to serve available political office: to become Mayor, a Member of Provincial Parliament, and a Member of Parliament.
He served in the Canadian Armed Forces with the 48th Highlanders of Canada and came to Kingston to work at Historic Fort Henry as a member of the Fort Henry Guard. Downes is a graduate of the University of Toronto, Universite Laval and Queen's University. He is a career educator and has worked at KCVI, QECVI, Holy Cross and Regiopolis-Notre Dame Secondary Schools. He has also served at Calvin Park, Welborne and James R. Henderson Public elementary schools.
While on Council, Downes has served on the Board of Health, the Children's Aid Society and the Cataraqui Conservation Authority. At Council he championed the City of Kingston's "smoke free" bylaw and initiated and chaired the committee to bring more family physicians to Kingston. He also provided leadership at Council to preserve the Memorial Centre property as public park space.
Downes has a particular interest in the city's brownfields and has promised his constituents that he will focus on getting the abandoned gas stations on Montreal and Division Streets cleaned up.
