Carol Anne Meehan
Quick Facts
Biography
Carol Anne Meehan (bornDecember 17, 1956) is an Ottawa City Councillor and former news anchor at CJOH. Living on the Rideau River near Manotick with her two children, she is a graduate of Ryerson University and began her career at CHRO in Pembroke, Ontario, the city where she grew up. She also worked in Sudbury, Edmonton and Calgary In 1989, she began co-anchoring the CJOH evening news, then known as Newsline, alongside Max Keeping. She was laid off on November 17, 2015, by station owner Bell Media. Following her departure from CJOH she joined 1310 News as a talk-show host. She left 1310 News in November 2017.
In January 2012, her missing husband was found dead in Brudenell, Ontario.
Meehan won a seat on Ottawa City Council in Gloucester-South Nepean Ward in the 2018 municipal election, defeating incumbent councillor Michael Qaqish by over 500 votes. She received endorsements from prominent local conservatives including councillor Jan Harder, former councillor Steve Desroches and senator Marjory LeBreton. When she was a teenager, she was a "young liberal".
In October 2018, shortly after her election, Meehan received media attention for an online confrontation with a constituent. The constituent was raising concerns about OC Transpo bus service in the ward. Meehan responded to the constituent "I would love to have a face to face, because you certainly like to slam me here. Let's see what kind of guts you have. I have the guts and courage to succeed YOU will never have."Meehan also divulged the constituent's street on Facebook, reportedly responding "Give me your address, or I will go and find you on [street name], it's not that long a street.". Meehan subsequently apologized and removed the Facebook posts.
While on council, Meehan often votes against mayor Jim Watson's bloc, which has been called the "Watson club".
Election results
Council candidate | Vote | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Carol Anne Meehan | 5,960 | 42.55 | |
Michael Qaqish (X) | 5,420 | 38.69 | |
Harpreet Singh | 2,152 | 15.36 | |
Zaff Ansari | 358 | 2.56 | |
Irene Mei | 118 | 0.84 |