ISSUE 13 - Welcome to 2022!
Happy New Year and welcome to a brand new start in 2022 for #munipoli Matters!
With a slew of local elections across the country in four provinces, not to mention the pivotal Ontario provincial election coming in June and a Quebec provincial election that’s looking more like a cakewalk for Francois Legault’s CAQ, this year will have ample electoral news.
You can also toss in the United States midterm elections down south if you’re into following American politics, which also includes mayoral elections such as the open seat in Los Angeles. There is also a minority government situation in Canada always open to speculation about a possible snap election.
Hopefully our federal leaders actually hunker down and govern before going back to the polls anytime soon. Let’s dive into what’s going on so far.
Ontario mayors are not running again
At least two mayors in Ontario have publicly declared that they will not be re-offering themselves on the ballot in the 2022 municipal elections. First is Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien. A city known as the ‘gateway to cottage country’ because of its geographical location in the Kawarthas, Peterborough’s current population is estimated at around 81,000.
Originally from Mississauga, Therrien was elected to Peterborough city council in 2014 and served one term before running for mayor in 2018. She defeated incumbent Daryl Bennett in a landslide, getting 69% to Bennett’s 31%. But on November 12, 2021, she announced that she would not be running for a second term.
“I plan to use the remainder of my term to continue to serve the city to the best of my ability and to speak candidly, from my heart, about some major changes that are needed,” Therrien said, adding that ‘real change’ requires a majority of council and a city staff willing to ‘enthusiastically carry out the decisions of that majority’.
“There is still significant opportunity for continued progress, but it will require new, bold leaders on council who have the courage to make hard decisions. This means electing a council with a mandate for change. It also means electing representatives who are committed to action, not lip service to populism,” she continued, saying she was open to discussing with anyone interested in running for council.
During this interview for a local Peterborough television show, Therrien said that although there were parts of the job that she loved, there were other parts that were more challenging. In other interviews, Therrien also shot down speculation that she was planning to run provincially.
As one relatively young mayor departs the political scene (for now), a veteran of municipal politics also announced his departure.
Rick Bonnette, the Mayor of Halton Hills, announced he was retiring after serving 19 years as mayor. Bonnette’s career spanned some 40 years, first getting elected at the age of 27 to council before becoming mayor in 2003.
Bonnette made his announcement during the annual mayor’s lunch at the Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce. Usually the Mayor waits until May, which is when municipal candidates can start officially registering to run, to declare his intentions, but because he made his mind up not to run again he said he wanted to give time for those seriously considering a run.
“I didn't want to wait until the end because I want to give potential candidates (time), to be fair to them so they can start thinking from now to May, because you can be knee jerk and say ‘OK, I’m running,’ and in two weeks thinking, ‘Good god, what did I just do?’ This will give people plenty of time to think about it,” he said.
So..who’s running?
For Peterborough, the one current name I am aware of that has enough name recognition to mount a mayoral campaign is former federal cabinet minister Maryam Monsef, whom before she was elected as Peterborough’s MP ran for mayor, losing to Bennett in a very close race.
She won Peterborough-Kawartha as a Liberal in 2015 and held the Democratic Reform, International Development and Women’s Issues portfolios. While she managed to get reelected in 2019, Monsef lost her seat to the Conservatives last year…so she actually might be available.
As for Halton Hills and Bonnette’s possible successor, your guess is as good as mine. I’m more interested in hearing the plans of Halton Region’s other mayors, as well as their elected regional chair Gary Carr. I’m quite certain Burlington’s Marianne Meed Ward is seeking another term, but I am not as sure about Oakville’s Rob Burton or Milton’s 84 year old incumbent Gord Krantz.
Milton braces itself for sea of election signage
Speaking of one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, it’s going to look quite busy during the municipal election campaign…at least when it comes to the dreaded ‘sign war’.
Milton council voted in a 6-3 decision to keep the existing sign by-law in place at the November 15 council meeting, opposing an outright ban, meaning that the town could see an influx of election signs, according to Councillor Zeeshan Hamid.
Hamid said a sign ban would only be emulating what is in place in nearby municipalities. “This is something that’s relatively common in other municipalities, especially municipalities around us,” he said, a list that includes Burlington, Brampton and Mississauga. “Time after time the public told us that they want to better control the signs that end up in our creeks, our parks and roadways.”
However, other Milton councillors argued that a ban would be undemocratic. “To discourage or to stop other candidates, new candidates from getting their names out there in front of the public, I think, is undemocratic and wrong,” Councillor Rick Malboeuf, who was against the ban, said.
Get ready, Milton. You’re about to see a lot more of this.
New Brunswick makes massive local government shakeup
The province of New Brunswick may have held local elections as recently as last year, but it looks like there may be some coming this year, in light of recent changes to municipalities brought on by the provincial government.
On December 14, 2021, the provincial Tory government passed legislation to make sweeping changes to the number of municipal governments in the province. The legislation reduced the number of local governments from 340 to 90, leaving 78 municipalities and 12 rural districts.
The white paper outlining the proposed municipal changes can be seen here.
According to the CBC article, the reform is intended to address chronic local government problems that have built up for years, including the sharing and funding of local services and infrastructure, and the growth of urban sprawl just outside the taxation reach of cities, towns and villages.
There will be no major boundary changes on New Brunswick’s major cities, such as Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton, except some absorption of adjacent areas or a small part of local service districts.
One interesting statistic that got brought up in the white paper is that New Brunswick had 208 local government entities with less than 1,000 people. In contrast, Nova Scotia only has 4 local entities with less than 1,000 in population.
The transitioning of new local government boundaries and rural districts begins this year, culminating in special elections in November 2022.
Another Olympian enters the political arena
In the grand tradition of Olympians such as Adam van Koeverden and Peter Fonseca, both of whom went from sport to politics as federal MPs, another Olympian is entering the political arena in BC municipal politics.
Evan Dunfee, who won a bronze medal for race walking in the 2020 Summer Olympics which took place in Tokyo just last year, announced he was running for a city council seat in his hometown of Richmond, BC, during the province’s fall municipal elections.
Like in most parts of British Columbia, Richmond has municipal political parties and candidates run citywide where voters rank their top eight choices for council. However, Dunfee said he would likely run as an Independent, focusing on issues like active transportation, affordable housing and climate resilience.
He would not be the first Olympian to enter Richmond’s council chambers as an elected member should he be successful. Canadian snowboarder Alexa Loo, who competed in parallel giant slalom in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics, was elected to Richmond City Council in 2014 and 2018. Loo ran as a BC Liberal in the 2020 provincial election but was unsuccessful.
New ward boundaries for Guelph in 2022
The City of Guelph, Ontario has implemented one of the rather mundane, but nonetheless important, projects that a city has to do every few decades or so: changing their local ward boundaries.
Guelph will have new ward boundaries in place for the 2022 municipal election, after an appeal of the boundaries to the Ontario Land Tribunal was dismissed.
The city said the new boundaries redistributed the population (approximately 131,000 based on the last census) more evenly and gave consideration to future growth projections. It keeps six wards which will elect two councillors each, totalling 12 councillors, which was the arrangement that was in place before.
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