Ruth Wildgen

Ruth Wildgen, née Besharah (1921 – September 11, 1999) was a Canadian politician and activist. She represented Britannia Ward on Ottawa City Council and the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Council from 1985 to 1988.

Wildgen died in her home in Dunrobin, Ontario on September 11, 1999.

While sitting on council, Wildgen represented the region on a provincial committee looking at social services. She usually voted with the left wing councillors. In the 1988 Ottawa municipal election, Wildgen lost in another close race against Jones, who was seen as being more "pro-development". After a recount, Jones defeated her by 10 votes. In her campaign, she supported a one-tier municipal government and keeping tax increases to a minimum.

Wildgen was elected to city council in the 1985 Ottawa municipal election defeating Jim Jones by just 47 votes. At the time of the election, she was area supervisor for the city's recreation and community development branch. She was also on the boards of the Social Planning Council of Ottawa-Carleton, the Ottawa Women's Credit Union and the Ottawa Distress Centre. She ran on a platform of a traffic study for a local intersection, more support services for seniors to stay in their homes, and implementing a 911 emergency number for the region.

Wildgen was born in 1921 in Saskatchewan, the second of eight children of Lebanese immigrants. The family moved to Almonte, Ontario when she was three. Wildgen married her husband Francis in 1952, but would later be estranged from him. In 1974, two of her children were making candles in the basement when a fire erupted that led to her house at 1146 Merivale Road being burnt down, forcing her and her children into public housing.