Nicholas (Nick) Tunnacliffe came to Canada in 1968 after degrees from Cambridge and Liverpool Universities.  He first worked for the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs in Toronto, where he cut his teeth on Official Plans and Subdivision Approval.
In 1970 he moved to Ottawa to join the newly formed Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton where he worked on the first Regional Official Plan, which was adopted in 1974.  In January 1975 he joined the Ministry of State of Urban Affairs in the unit responsible for railway relocation in municipalities across Canada.  He was responsible for projects in almost every Province from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.
In 1978 he returned to Ottawa-Carleton where he was responsible for long range planning which included a second official plan, a housing policy statement, environmental planning and was part of the team which implemented Ottawa-Carleton’s innovative grade separated bus rapid transit system.
In 1988 he was made Planning Commissioner of Ottawa-Carleton and remained in that position until the municipality was dissolved in 2010.  He then joined the Region of Peel as Planning Commissioner until his retirement in 2010, where he contributed both to Peel’s long range planning and the long range and transportation planning in the Greater Toronto Area.
He is a strong supporter of the Regional Planning Commissioners group in Ontario, which brings together Planners from all major municipalities in Ontario to research planning issues.
He is particularly interested in long range policy planning, the integration of land use and transportation planning, environmental planning including how planning can respond to the impacts of climate change, social planning, especially the provision of affordable housing and the creation of healthy communities, and the management of Canadian municipalities.