#onpoli SPECIAL SIDEBAR - Part 2: the #munipoli candidates of the Ontario Liberals
Who are the municipal government officials running for the Ontario Liberal Party?
Welcome to another issue of #munipoil Matters, where you can find the latest updates on what’s happening in the often underreported area of municipal elections, politics and governance happening in the local councils spread across Canada and beyond.
The Ontario provincial election campaign is in full swing and as of May 12, all candidates listed on Elections Ontario are the confirmed candidates for each of Ontario’s 124 ridings. For this election cycle, there seems to be a rather large number of municipal elected politicians running from the main parties.
While the Progressive Conservatives appear to have the bulk of the local government experience running on their slate, the Liberals, the Ontario NDP and even the Greens have also managed to recruit those with current, past municipal governing experience or those who previously ran for a council of some form.
This will be a series of special SIDEBAR issues focusing on those candidates. Let’s take a look at who running for MPP in each party has a municipal government background.
I am not including school trustees, police board members, or current MPPs who used to be in local government, although I may mention some if the circumstances permit.
If I missed anyone who previously ran for a city/town/township council from any party, I ask for the humblest of apologies. We took a look at the Tories’ slate in Part 1; this time we take a look at the candidates from the Ontario Liberals.
Barrie-Springwater-Oro Medonte: This is probably the Liberals’ highest profile “municipal get” in their slate of candidates. Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman served one term as Councillor (2006-2010) before getting elected Mayor in the latter year, then reelected in 2014 and 2018 with over 90% of the vote.
Beaches-East York: Mary-Margaret McMahon was elected to Toronto City Council in 2010, defeating longtime incumbent Sandra Bussin in a massive 65% landslide in one of the Beaches-East York wards during that time.
McMahon defeated Bussin in a rematch in 2014, winning 60% of the vote, but in a rare move for municipal politicians kept a promise of term limits and retired in 2018.
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound: Selwyn Hicks is a Councillor from Hanover Township, serving two terms as Deputy Mayor and is currently in his third term as Warden of Grey County.
Don Valley North: Jonathan Tsao wasn’t actually elected to Toronto City Council; he was appointed in 2018 in the former Ward 33 (Don Valley East) after then incumbent Shelly Carroll stepped aside to run for the Liberals led by Kathleen Wynne in that year’s election.
Carroll then ran again for her old council seat, now Don Valley North, later that year. Tsao served in council until the new term started as he didn’t seek reelection.
Durham: Liberal candidate Granville Anderson is looking to make a comeback as this riding’s MPP, where he served from 2014 to 2018. Prior to that he served as a trustee on the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board, becoming its chair. After he lost as MPP in 2018, Anderson was elected Durham Regional Councillor from the Town of Clarington.
Elgin-Middlesex-London: Heather Jackson was elected at 27 to the St. Thomas City Council in 2003 and was elected Mayor in 2010. She served as Mayor until 2018 when she was defeated by former Conservative MP Joe Preston. Jackson served on the local United Way until her nomination to run for the OLP.
Hamilton East-Stoney Creek: Jason Farr has represented Ward 2 (Downtown) on Hamilton City Council since 2010, though his bio says he grew up in East End Hamilton. Farr also had a 22 year career in local radio and television.
Kitchener Centre: Kelly Steiss boasts “more than 16 years of municipal government experience, from site plans to budgets, strategic planning to service delivery” working with the City of Kitchener. In 2018, she ran for mayor of Waterloo, losing to incumbent Mayor Dave Jaworsky.
Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston: Amanda Pulker-Mok is an elementary school teacher who briefly served as a town councillor in Mississippi Mills. Pulker-Mok previously ran in the same riding in 2018. Controversial former Tory MPP incumbent Randy Hillier is not running again.
Milton: Current Ward 4 Town Councillor Sameera Ali is running for the Liberals, looking to defeat previous sitting MPP Parm Gill.
Mississauga East-Cooksville: Dipika Damerla will be looking to return to Queen’s Park representing the riding she held from 2011 to 2018, until she lost her seat in the Tory tidal wave that year. But she rebounded a few months later, winning Ward 7 in Mississauga City Council after the incumbent opted for retirement.
Niagara Centre: Terry Flynn has 35 years experience as a frontline Paramedic with Niagara EMS and municipally, he spent 21 years on the Niagara-On-The-Lake Council, with 9 years as Deputy Mayor.
Niagara West: Doug Joyner served two terms as the Mayor of West Lincoln from 2010-2018, as well as a Niagara Regional Councillor.
Nipissing: while former North Bay mayor and incumbent minister Vic Fedeli may hold sway in this riding, the Liberals are fielding their own local elected in Tanya Vrebosch, the current Deputy Mayor for North Bay, who has served on Council since 2008.
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke: Oliver Jacob is currently a municipal councillor in the Township of McNab/Braeside, making him one of the youngest councillors in their history.
Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry: Kirsten Gardner was elected as a councillor in South Dundas in 2018 and also became Deputy Mayor in her first run at municipal politics. She also represents the town at the United Counties Council of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.
Thunder Bay-Superior North: with the Tories nominating At-Large Councillor Peng You as their candidate, the Liberals have picked someone from Thunder Bay City Council as well: Shelby Ch’ng, who has represented Northwood Ward since 2014. The previous Liberal MPP, Michael Gravelle, recently stepped down due to a recurrence of cancer he dealt with a decade ago.
Toronto-Danforth: Mary Fragedakis served as a Toronto City Councillor for Ward 29 at the time from 2010 to 2018. Fragedakis was running for reelection when Doug Ford’s government implemented the city council cuts, forcing her to run in a realigned ward against a fellow incumbent, Paula Fletcher, which Fragedakis lost.
Wellington-Halton Hills: This is a bit of a strange one; Tom Takacs isn’t an elected councillor but he did once run for a seat on Vaughan City Council in 2018, where he lives. His other political forays include running for the NDP in Mississauga East-Cooksville in the 2018 provincial and 2021 federal elections.
Windsor-Tecumseh: Gary Kaschak is currently serving his first term as Windsor City Councillor for Ward 8. First elected in 2018, Kaschak’s NDP opponent is Gemma Gray Hall, coincidentally also his opponent in that municipal race four years ago.
One interesting honourable mention is Steven Del Duca himself. In 2018, after he lost his own Vaughan-Woodbridge seat in the election that swept the Liberals out of power after 15 years in office, Del Duca said he would be running for the post of York Regional Chair. Unfortunately for him, the Ford government’s “Better Local Government Act” cancelled the regional chair elections in York and Peel, reverting them to appointed positions.
Mayor Lehman’s chances of defeating the previous sitting MPP in Barrie-Springwater-Oro Medonte, Attorney General Doug Downey, are still rather slim; this is central Ontario and very blue territory for the PCs.
Nevertheless, should Del Duca step down as leader after the election, the Barrie Mayor's name would likely be on the top of any potential list of Liberal leadership candidates.
NEXT: Part 3 with the Greens…and the Ontario NDP!
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