Alex Munter left local government in November 2003 after four terms in elected office as a municipal councillor in Ottawa. He is now a Visiting Professor of Urban Studies and Communications in the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Social Sciences, a columnist for the Ottawa Citizen and a commentator on Radio-Canada, CBC Radio and CJOH-TV.
He has remained very active in the community. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Community Foundation of Ottawa and a member of the Board of Directors of the Ottawa Art Gallery. In 2005 he was appointed by the Ontario government to be a member of its Public Health Capacity Review Committee, an expert panel reviewing the ability of local health units to meet their mandate. He chairs the capacity review’s sub-committee on governance and structure. He has been national co-ordinator of Canadians For Equal Marriage, a frequent speaker to community groups and devotes time to raising money for numerous charitable organizations, including the Alex Munter Charitable Foundation, which supports agencies that seek to prevent homelessness.
A leader on the amalgamated city of Ottawa's first council, he was chair of the city's Health, Recreation and Social Services Committee, overseeing public nursing homes, public health, child care, recreation and culture, arts programs, social services and housing. Dealing with the area's rapid growth is a priority that Alex has pursued as a member of the city's Planning and Development Committee. Setting up solid finances and adequate staffing for the new city was the task of council's Corporate Services Committee, of which he was also a member.
Alex was the former city of Kanata's sole representative on Ottawa-Carleton Regional Council from 1994 to 2000, where he also served as a member of the standing committee on Planning and Environment and was Chair of the region's Community Services Committee, responsible for public health, ambulance service, public nursing homes, low-income and seniors housing and social services. He also sat on the Board of Directors of the Ottawa Economic Development Corporation and the Board of the Ottawa-Carleton Children's Aid Society.
Alex was a Kanata city councillor from 1991 to 1994. He chaired the city's Public Participation Task Force and the Kanata Police Services Board. From 1994 to 1997, he was a member of the Ottawa-Carleton District Health Council.
In 1982, at age 14, Alex founded the Kanata Kourier and was the newspaper's editor and publisher until December 1989. The Kanata Kourier began as a small monthly newspaper with a circulation of 2,300 and grew to a press run of 16,400 twice weekly by the time Alex sold it. He subsequently worked as a staff writer for the Ottawa Citizen and later worked as an advisor to Ontario's Ministers of Housing and Health.
In 1988, Alex was singled out by the Federal Business Development Bank as Ontario's "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" in the Bank's inaugural series of Young Entrepreneur awards. He has also received the Ontario Youth Medal and Ontario Volunteer Service Award and was named one of "100 Canadians To Watch" by MacLean's Magazine. In March of 2001 the United Way presented Alex with the 2000 Community Builder award.
Alex speaks English, French and German and was named “Francophile de l’Année” in 2003 by the Association Canadienne-Française de l’Ontario (Ottawa). In 2005, Leadership Ottawa named him “Community Leader of the Year”.
