Ellen Webber served as an alderman on Ottawa City Council from 1961 to 1962 and on the Ottawa Board of Control from 1963 to 1969.
20 Facts About Ellen Webber
1.
2.
Ellen Webber was the second woman ever to be elected to the city's Board of Control.
3.
Ellen Webber came from a family involved in Liberal Party politics on Prince Edward Island.
4.
Ellen Webber's grandfather was James Joseph Hughes, an MP and Senator, and her uncle William Wade Hughes was a provincial cabinet minister.
5.
Ellen Webber attended Saint Dunstan's University for a year prior to joining the Canadian Women's Army Corps during World War II, where she was stationed at Kitchener and Ottawa, and achieving the rank of corporal.
6.
Ellen Webber spent two years in arts and journalism at Dalhousie University, before enrolling at Dalhousie Law School in 1951, and graduating with a law degree in 1954.
7.
Ellen Webber practised law in Halifax, Nova Scotia for two years before moving to Ottawa in 1956 or 1957.
8.
Ellen Webber decided on the last day of nominations to run for a seat on Ottawa City Council in the 1960 Ottawa municipal election.
9.
Ellen Webber was convinced to run after receiving discouraging phone calls the night before suggesting she shouldn't run because she didn't grow up in Ottawa, and because "women had no business participating in municipal politics".
10.
Ellen Webber was elected with 3,354 votes in Rideau Ward, in second place in the two-seat ward.
11.
Much to her surprise, Ellen Webber was elected to the Board winning over 40,000 votes, placing third on the four seat board.
12.
Ellen Webber only spent a little over $1,500 on her campaign.
13.
Ellen Webber decided to run for re-election to the board for the 1966 Ottawa municipal election, unsure at first at wanting to commit to a longer three-year term.
14.
Ellen Webber ran on a platform of "attraction of industry, more public housing, urban renewal and 'continuation of a bit of harmony at city hall'".
15.
On election day, Ellen Webber was re-elected with over 42,000 votes, placing second.
16.
On election day, Ellen Webber won just 18,000 votes, finishing in sixth, and therefore losing her spot on the Board.
17.
Ellen Webber did not feel her tax issues played a large role in losing.
18.
Ellen Webber was arrested August 9,1972 following a car crash, where she had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit.
19.
Ellen Webber faced more legal issues later in the year when she was summoned to provincial court for leaving her vacated house in Manor Park in a derelict condition, and was declared a fire hazard.
20.
Ellen Webber died on April 6,2003, in Souris, Prince Edward Island.