He favoured amalgamation of the district with Christchurch City and led a high profile and controversial campaign leading to a poll in 2005.

The Strategy was adopted in 2007 by all of the member councils and is today the basis for all spatial planning in the greater Christchurch area.

In October 2007, Parker successfully stood in the local government elections for the Christchurch mayoralty, after the retirement of Garry Moore.

In October 2010, Christchurch band The Bats and many others played at a free earthquake relief concert in Hagley Park in front of about 140,000 people.

[22] In April 2013 when the government announced the cost of the rebuild was going to be as much as $40 billion, Parker said it was "no surprise", and welcomed the extra investment as being "good for GDP".

[24][25] Brownlee and Parker had at times a strained relationship, with the government taking an increasing amount of control in local decision making.

He stated that although staff had assured him they would satisfy the requirements of the consenting process the accreditation had been withdrawn;[27][28] as this had happened on "his watch" as Mayor he felt he should take responsibility for the loss.

[29][30] In July 2013 an editorial in The Press noted that a tribute paid to Parker by the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key was "well deserved".

[31] The Prime Minister in a speech to the Local Government New Zealand organisation in 2013 stated that Parker's "commitment to the city during its darkest hours will be his legacy".

[32] In the 2014 New Year Honours, Parker was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to local-body affairs and the community.

Parker spent eleven days in intensive care, followed by three months of rehabilitation, during which he suffered two smaller strokes.