areas that would provide the nation's capital with a more attractive appearance. Collaboration between the city and NCC's predecessor, the Federal District Commission also led to major water and sewer projects, the construction of the Queensway which had been the old GTR/CNR right of way, several bridges, expansion of Carling Avenue, and the offer of F.D.C. land at Green Island (near Rideau Falls) to create city hall, opened in 1958. Until then, the city had been without a permanent building for around 17 years. It was in use until 2000, when Ottawa City Hall occupied the former headquarters of the municipality. In the 1960s and 1970s, a building boom vastly changed Ottawa's skyline. Ottawa became one of Canada's largest high tech cities and was nicknamed Silicon Valley North. By the 1980s, Bell Northern Research (later Nortel) employed thousands, and large federally assisted research facilities such as the National Research Council contributed to an eventual technology boom. The early adopters led to offshoot companies such as Newbridge Networks, Mitel and Corel. Other large companies specializing in computer software and electronics infrastructures formed about this time, but by 2001, huge losses started being incurred. The industry continues today, but has been changed quite a bit. Ottawa's city limits had been increasing over the years, but it acquired the most territory on January 1, 2001, when it amalgamated all the municipalities of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton into one single city. Regional Chair Bob Chiarelli was elected as the new city's first mayor in the 2000 municipal election, defeating Gloucester mayor Claudette Cain. The city now not only includes former cities of Vanier, Nepean, Kanata and suburbs Orleans, Ontario and others, but now has many farms within its city limits. The city's growth led to strains on the public transit system and to bridges. On October 15, 2001, a light rail transit (LRT) was introduced, the O-Train, which connected downtown Ottawa to the southern suburbs via Carleton University. Much political debate about the expansion of light rail dominated civic politics throughout the next decade. The vote to extend the O-Train Trillium Line, and to replace it with an electric tram system was a major issue in the 2006 municipal elections where Chiarelli was defeated by businessman Larry O'Brien. The new council changed their minds on light rail expansion, sparking much legal controversy. Plans were later created to establish a series of light rail