#munipoli Matters SIDEPLATE - The state of municipal elections across Ontario (Hamilton-Niagara and Southwest)
Part 2 of my odyssey on the local races across this province for the October 24 election
Welcome to another issue of #munipoil Matters, where you can find the latest updates on what’s happening in the often under reported area of municipal elections and governance spread across Canada and beyond.
The official municipal campaign of 2022 has gotten underway. Last time, I did an updated summation of the campaigns across the 905 and there is certainly a great deal of interesting municipal contests in and around Toronto.
Now we take a look at Ontario’s other “big cities” and the rest of the province, in an update from the piece I did back in June. Because there’s so many municipalities I mentioned, I have decided to split this review into three parts.
In Part 1, we took a look at the races across Central and Eastern Ontario. We now take a look at the regions of Hamilton-Niagara and Southwestern Ontario. Once again, cities in BOLD CAPITALIZED lettering indicate members of the Ontario’s Big City Mayors organization.
HAMILTON & NIAGARA REGION
Grimsby: Mayor Jeff Jordan is being challenged by the former president of the Chamber of Commerce and local Councillor John Dunstall, who has been in office since 2014.
HAMILTON: All eyes will be on Steel City as incumbent Mayor Fred Eisenberger’s exit from the scene will usher in a new mayor. Former Chamber of Commerce CEO Keanin Loomis was the first out of the gate to declare his candidacy, but he was soon joined by former mayor and MP Bob Bratina and former Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath.
Local station Cable 14 will be doing a mayoral debate at some point, but for now they’ve been producing in-depth ward-by-ward debates for streaming live on YouTube. You can go here and re-watch all of them.
With six councillors along with Eisenberger not running, that is close to half of the Council which will have new faces and voices. Other councillors, such as Jason Farr and Esther Pauls, are facing tough challenges in Cameron Kroetsch, who is running against Farr once again in Ward 2. Pauls will face former councillor and MP Scott Duvall in Ward 7.
Former Liberal MPP and cabinet minister Ted McMeekin, a former mayor of Flamborough, is running for Ward 15 as incumbent Judi Partridge is not seeking another term.
Niagara Falls: Mayor Jim Diodati will be seeking his fourth term, facing six other candidates that don’t have much high profile. What is more interesting is at the Council level.
Former MPP and councillor Kim Craitor, who ran against Diodati in 2018, is seeking to return as a regional councillor. So is Joyce Morocco, a former city councillor. Meanwhile, 26 candidates are vying for eight at-large city council seats.
One name that stood out is Tony Baldinelli, who coincidentally shares the same name with the Conservative federal MP for the city (they are not the same person). The Baldinelli running municipally cited his prior political experience as “Listening to campaign speeches’ and debates. Campaign volunteer. Speaking to candidates and constituents. Voting.”
Niagara-on-the-Lake: Lord Mayor Betty Disero is running for her second term and will face Regional Councillor Gary Zalepa and retired businessman Vaughn Goettler to retain her title.
Port Colborne: In this south end Niagara town, a bizarre version of ‘family feud’ has unfolded as Mayor Bill Steele is running against his estranged brother, Charles Steele, for the mayor’s chair. In the brothers’ own words:
"If I hadn't run, then my brother would have been acclaimed mayor because nobody else is running," Charles said. "A lot of politicians have silver spoons in their mouths. We could use some new thinking."
"I'm here to get Bill Steele elected. I've got a great campaign team, we've got more people on board this campaign than we've ever had," the Mayor said. "I'm here to talk about what we're going to do for the city when we're victorious."
ST. CATHARINES: Two term incumbent Walter Sendzik is not seeking another term, so Niagara Regional Councillors Mat Siscoe and Mike Britton are putting their names forward, along with Nick Petrucci, to become the next mayor.
Welland: Incumbent Frank Campion’s only opponent is Jeff Walters, a former Alberta politician with a controversial past. Walters had sought the United Conservatives’ nomination in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview but dropped out and was later nominated by the upstart Alberta Party.
He was fined $9,000 for two violations of the Alberta Election Finances and Contributions Act for taking ineligible contributions from five donors and ‘knowingly’ making a false financial statement.
West Lincoln: Mayor Dave Bylsma is facing Councillor Cheryl Ganann and political newcomer Greg Stephens.
Bylsma’s curren term has been mired in one controversy after another: spreading conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine and asking a woman over Facebook whether the jab affected her menstrual cycle.
The latest snafu involved Bylsma trying to rally protesters to disrupt a Canada Games cultural event. The ceremony was moved indoors because of rain, which meant Bylsma couldn’t deliver his welcoming remarks because he is unvaccinated. The township has a vaccination policy in effect to protect staff, council and the community from the continued spread of COVID.
SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO
Amherstberg: Mayor Aldo DiCarlo has announced he will not be running for re-election. There are four candidates running: Frank Cerasa, John Laframboise, Michael Prue and Bob Rozankovic.
Prue’s name may sound familiar to those who remember him as the former mayor of East York prior to Toronto’s 1997 amalgamation and as the Ontario NDP MPP for Beaches-East York from 2001 to 2014.
The former ONDP leadership candidate lost his seat in 2014, then moved to Amherstberg and became a councillor in 2018.
BRANTFORD: First term Mayor Kevin Davis will seek a second term. He is running against former councillor Dave Wrobel, Ryan Smith (aka the ‘Brantford Batman’), and the infamous John Turmel, who holds a Guinness World Record for running in the most elections and having lost the most.
CAMBRIDGE: Mayor Kathryn McGarry (a former Liberal MPP) will face Ward 4 Councillor Jan Liggett, Randy Carter and Cody Botelho in her bid for a second term. Former Cambridge mayor Doug Craig and Ward 5 Councillor Pam Wolf will be running for Cambridge’s seats on Waterloo Regional Council.
One set of races that stand out is that the founders of the provincial New Blue Party, Belinda and Jim Karahalios, are both running for Council seats, both of which have no incumbents reoffering. Belinda is contesting Ward 3 while Jim is contesting Ward 5.
Centre Wellington: Mayor Kelly Linton is not running for reelection. Councillor Neil Dunsmore, Shawn Watters and Councillor Bob Foster are running for the vacant position.
Essex: Appointed Mayor Richard Meloche, who took over after Larry Snively resigned earlier this year following a guilty plea for violating provisions in the Municipal Elections Act, is seeking his own four year term. Meloche, who was Deputy Mayor, will face Councillor Sherry Bondy, who made intentions known that she would run even before Snively stepped aside.
GUELPH: Mayor Cam Guthrie will be seeking his third term, having first been elected in 2014 after serving a stint as a city councillor.
Haldimand County: Mayor Ken Hewitt sought election to the Ontario legislature earlier in June as a PC candidate but was defeated by Independent Bobbi Ann Brady. The mayor is now seeking reelection, but faces four other candidates: Shelley Ann Bentley, Jennifer Gilmour, Dick Passmore and Jake Vandendool.
KITCHENER: Veteran municipal politician Mayor Berry Vrbanovic is looking to extend his tenure on City Council in seeking a third term as mayor. Vrbanovic was previously a Kitchener city councillor from 1994 until 2014, the year he became mayor.
Lakeshore: Mayor Tom Bain, first elected in 2006, will seek his fifth term, facing Deputy Mayor Tracey Bailey.
LONDON: Four years ago, London held Canada’s first ranked ballot election to elect the Mayor and City Councillors. Since then, the Ford government rescinded the law allowing municipalities to use ranked ballots, so London will go back to voting via first-past-the-post like everyone else.
The other major development was Mayor Ed Holder’s decision not to run again. Holder would be the third mayor in a row not to serve more than one term in the Forest City. 10 candidates are running, including Ward 7 Councillor Josh Morgan, former MPP Khalid Ramal and local pastor Sandie Thomas.
Several Council seats would be up for grabs, while others seem hotly contested. Wards 3, 4, 5, 7 and 11 are open races, while Ward 1 incumbent Michael Van Holst, rumoured to have mayoral ambitions earlier this year, is facing eight challengers.
Norfolk County: Mayor Kristal Chopp will be running again, facing Councillors Amy Martin and Ian Rabbitts, former Simcoe town councillor Bill Culver and businessman David Bate.
Pelee Island: Mayor Raymond Durocher is retiring after spending four years in the role and being deputy mayor before that. Businessowner Cathy Miller and Larry Bailey are running for the mayor’s job. Miller co-owns the Wandering Dog Inn with her husband.
Sarnia: First elected in 1988, Mayor Mike Bradley is the second longest serving mayor behind Milton’s Gord Krantz. Bradley faces first term City Councillor Nathan Colquhoun in his reelection bid.
St. Clair: Incumbent Steve Arnold is bowing out and Ward 1 Councillor Tracy Kingston, former councillor Jeff Agar and Chad Shymko are contesting for the mayor’s chair.
St. Thomas: Mayor Joe Preston, a former Conservative MP for Elgin-Middlesex-London, was first elected in 2018 defeating Heather Jackson for the job. Jackson ran as a provincial Liberal in the same riding in June and once again faces Preston in a bid to regain her old job.
Stratford: With Mayor Dan Mathieson not running again, Councillors Martin Ritsma, Kathy Vassilakos and Robert Rhiz will be looking to replace the longtime mayor.
Warwick Township: Mayor Jackie Rombouts is being challenged by former mayor Todd Case.
WATERLOO: Mayor Dave Jaworsky is retiring after two terms and four candidates are looking to replace him. Conestoga College instructor Shannon Weber, government relations professional Dorothy McCabe, entrepreneur Rob Evans and local businessman Kypp Saunders.
WINDSOR: I could never replicate the intricate details provided by the Rose City Politics podcast on all things political in Windsor but suffice it to say, their opinion of Mayor Drew Dilkens is not very high. Dilkens will be running for a third mayoral term, but he’s facing perhaps his most challenging opponent yet in Ward 4 Councillor Chris Holt.
Other notable candidates for mayor include Matthew Giancola, a former PPC candidate in the 2021 federal election, Ernie Lamont, otherwise locally known as ‘The Bacon Man’, and first time candidate and school bus driver Aaron Day.
There will be clear winners in Ward 1 as Councillor Fred Francis once again faces his only opponent in 2018 candidate Darcie Renaud. The same situation is in Ward 8, as incumbent Gary Kaschak faces returning opponent Gemma Grey-Hall. Both Kaschak and Grey-Hall faced each other provincially in the June election in Windsor-Tecumseh; Kaschak ran for the Liberals while Grey-Hall for the NDP.
Former councillor Paul Borelli is looking to make a comeback, by trying to unseat the man who ousted him in 2018, Ward 10 Councillor Jim Morrison. Borelli and Morrison are joined by Wally Chafchak and Mark Masanovich.
And Wards 3 and 4 will have new councillors as Holt is running for mayor and Ward 3 incumbent Rino Bortolin is just not running again.
Woodstock: Mayor Trevor Birtch has been criminally charged with sexual assault. Birtch made a court appearance back in July, and incredibly he is running for reelection.
Retired educator and realtor David Hilderley, businessman Anthony Scalisi, Peter Croves, Henry Biro and Councillor Jerry Acchione are also running for mayor.
NEXT: We visit…THE NORTH
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