Larry O'Brien

O'Brien attended Elmdale Public School and Fisher Park High School, and graduated from Merivale High School in 1968. He studied at Algonquin College and graduated with a diploma in Technology in 1972. After graduating, O'Brien worked in the high technology sector, where he met Terry Matthews and Michael Cowpland. He then joined Microsystems International Ltd. In 1975 he worked for the Communications Research Centre and Motorola Communications. O'Brien then launched his first company, Insta-Call Ltd., which went bankrupt in 1979. From then to 1982, he was the general manager of reliability-testing firm Reltek Inc. in Kanata, subsequently leaving to open Calian Technologies Ltd., a staffing (outsourcing) and engineering service provider.

O'Brien left Calian as CEO and chairman in 2006 when he was elected mayor of Ottawa. He remained a director of the firm until stepping down in 2012.

O'Brien married Debbie Green in 1983. They had two sons, Michael and Matthew. In 1995, O'Brien and Green divorced. In 2008, O'Brien married real estate agent Colleen McBride.

Controversies

In his first week of office, O'Brien came under attack for supporting a raise in his salary from $140,000 to $172,000, despite O'Brien's campaign platform of strict fiscal prudence. After controversy, O'Brien reversed his position on the matter and declined the pay raise two days later.

On February 10, 2007, the Ottawa Citizen reported sworn allegations from Terry Kilrea, who had dropped out of the mayoral race on August 30, 2006, that O'Brien had met with Kilrea twice and offered him a financial inducement of up to $30,000 and a political appointment on the condition that Kilrea withdraw from the race and support O'Brien. O'Brien had been under investigation for bribery by the OPP since March 27, 2008, in connection with the allegations. The Ottawa Citizen reported that Terry Kilrea sent correspondence to the federal Minister of the Environment John Baird, concerning a possible appointment if Kilrea dropped out of the mayoral race. On December 10, 2007, the OPP charged O'Brien for two offenses under the Criminal Code of Canada. O'Brien temporarily stepped down during the trial; councillor Michel Bellemare served as acting mayor for two months. O'Brien contested the charges in court and on August 5, 2009, both charges against him were dismissed by Justice Douglas Cunningham, associate chief justice of Ontario’s Superior Court.