About the candidate

Noel Buckley

Husband, father, grandfather, volunteer coach, board member and small business owner in St. Andrew’s Ward. Thirty-five years of leading organizations, and forty years calling St. Catharines home.

In his own words

I am a community-minded person who has lived in St. Catharines since 1986. My wife of 35 years, Maggie, has called St. Catharines home since she was three years old. We were married at St. Julia’s Church and raised our three children here.

Each of them left St. Catharines to pursue their post-secondary education, and all three chose to come home and build their lives here. Today our three adult children, their spouses and our four grandchildren all call St. Catharines home. That is not an accident. People come back to places worth coming back to, and I want to keep it that way.

Over the years I have been actively involved in our community as a volunteer coach, a board member with several not-for-profit organizations and a volunteer fundraiser.

I am also a small business owner here in St. Andrew’s Ward. I understand the costs and red tape that can come with development, what it takes to attract business and the very real pressure of meeting a payroll.

Professionally, I am an accomplished and focused senior leader with more than 35 years of experience leading and managing organizations and working with and for boards of directors. My strengths are management, strategic thinking, collaboration and bringing people together around a common goal.

I am a bilingual and experienced public speaker who is passionate about our community and what we can accomplish together.

Noel Buckley at Cold Break Brewing in St. Andrew’s Ward — Noel at Cold Break Brewing, the business he owns in St. Andrew’s Ward.

Born in Montreal. Educated at Waterloo and Brock. Escorted tours in Western Canada, worked in Toronto, Ottawa and Niagara Falls, and has travelled to every province and one of the territories.

Professional background

Forty years of running organizations

Chambers of commerce, destination marketing organizations, a casino resort and a convention centre. Every one of them meant budgets, boards, staff, partners and results that had to be reported publicly.

2015 – 2025

President and General Manager

Niagara Falls Convention Centre

Nearly ten years leading Niagara’s largest meetings and events venue, hosting regional, national and international events and reporting to a board of directors throughout.
2007 – 2015

President and Chief Executive Officer

Ottawa Tourism

Ran the destination marketing organization for the nation’s capital for seven and a half years, working with hotels, attractions, all three levels of government and national partners.
2005 – 2006

Senior Director, Business Development, Sales and Marketing

Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort
1995 – 2005

President

Niagara Falls Tourism
1986 – 1995

General Manager

St. Catharines Chamber of Commerce

Nine years advocating for St. Catharines businesses, which is where the work of understanding this city’s economy started.
1983 – 1986

National Sales Manager

Medallion Holidays

Education

Brock University
Graduate studies in Politics – Public Administration

University of Waterloo
B.A. Honours, Recreation, Business option

Small business owner

Noel is the founder of Cold Break Brewing, an owner-operated brewery and taproom in St. Andrew’s Ward. Payroll, permits, inspections, rising costs: he deals with the same pressures as every other business owner in this ward.

Service

Boards, commissions and community

Past and present. Most of it volunteer, all of it governance work: agendas, budgets, strategic plans and accountability to somebody.

Local and regional

Volunteer coach for more than 10 years, CYO Hockey and St. Catharines Minor Hockey Association
St. Catharines Red Cross — Vice Chair
Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce — Board Chair, Executive Committee Chair, Past Chair (ten years of service)
Region Niagara Tourist Council — Chair
Niagara Border Zone Advisory Committee — Chair
Niagara Falls International Marathon — Chair
Niagara College Tourism Advisory Committee — Chair
Niagara Economic and Tourism Corporation — Board Member
Regional Tourism Organization 2 (RTO2) — Chair
Southern Ontario Tourism Organization — Board Member

Provincial, national and cross-border

Destination Marketing Association of Canada — Chair
Tourism Industry Association of Canada — Board Member
Tourism Industry Association of Ontario — Board Member
Canadian Tourism Commission — Vice Chair, U.S. Leisure Executive Committee
Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation — Chair, North Americas Committee
Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation — Chair, U.S. Leisure Committee
New York / Ontario State-Provincial Task Force on Tourism — Chair

Why this matters at City Hall. Chairing a board is not a title. It means running a meeting, keeping people to the agenda, reading the financials before you vote and being answerable when the numbers do not work out.

Public speaking and media

Comfortable making the case in public

A councillor has to explain decisions to residents, to the press and to people who disagree. Noel has been doing that on camera for three decades.

Noel Buckley speaking into a microphone at a public event

Photo pending

Produced and hosted a bi-weekly television show on Cogeco Cable with Mayor Joseph McCaffery
Guest on Canada AM on multiple occasions
Television and radio appearances including CBC, CBC French, CTV, Global, Radio-Canada, NBC, CNN, CBS and ABC
Bilingual: English and French

I’m ready to get to work.

I’m not running to make more promises or have more conversations about what needs to change. I’m running to get things done for St. Andrew’s Ward and for St. Catharines.

Volunteer Get a Lawn Sign