Alex Munter
| Alexander Mathias Munter | |
|---|---|
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| Kanata City Councillor | |
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In office 1991–1994 |
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| Preceded by | Bev Read |
| Succeeded by | Tom Flood |
| Constituency | Katimavik-Hazeldean Ward |
| Ottawa-Carleton Regional Councillor | |
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In office 1994–2000 |
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| Preceded by | Merle Nicholds |
| Succeeded by | position abolished |
| Constituency | Kanata Ward |
| Ottawa City Councillor | |
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In office 2001–2003 |
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| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Peggy Feltmate |
| Constituency | Kanata Ward |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 29, 1968 Montreal |
Alexander Mathias "Alex" Munter (born April 29, 1968) is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), and a former elected official and business owner in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Throughout his career, Munter has been at the forefront of numerous social change initiatives.
In 2001, as head of the city of Ottawa’s Health and Social Services Committee, he led the adoption of Canada’s first big-city workplace and public place smoking ban on city council. The Ottawa by-law became a model for many other jurisdictions, including New York City, which invited Munter to present to its city health commission in 2002. While second-hand smoke prohibitions are now commonplace, Ottawa’s regulations broke new ground and came only a few years after Toronto had been forced to repeal a similar by-law due to public protest.
In 2003, Munter was approached by Canadians for Equal Marriage, a coalition of churches, professional groups and citizen organizations, and was asked to be the group’s National Co-ordinator. In that role, he led a successful national campaign in support of Bill C-38: Civil Marriage Act, the federal legislation to entrench same-sex marriage rights in Canadian law.
Since moving into health and social services administration in 2007, Munter has continued to be a national voice on important public policy issues like gene patenting, obesity, mental health and the future of health care.
In 2014, Munter spoke for the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) when the organization launched a lawsuit against a private company, Transgenomic, challenging the legality of gene patents in Federal Court in Canada. CHEO argued that genes and other segments of the human genome should not be subject to patents for commercial purposes. CHEO declared victory in 2016, when it secured the right to use the disputed genes for all public hospitals and non-profit labs and created a public access framework that could be replicated for other genes. Munter called it “a historic day for Canada and Canada's health care system.”
In 2012, Munter was appointed co-chair of a provincial expert panel on childhood obesity. Its 2013 report proposed a three-pronged strategy to reduce rates of childhood obesity: putting kids on the path to lifelong health, changing the food environment and building healthier communities. Recommendations included baby-friendly hospitals, better support for breastfeeding and restrictions on the marketing of junk food to children.
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