Every member of Council returned to office: Mayor takes 85.82% of the vote.

council 100x100By Pepper Parr

October 27, 2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

 

Burlington seemed to be a little more animated leading up to the 2014 municipal election.

There was one absolutely fascinating ward where nine candidates were running against a first term incumbent. My colleague Joan Little, who writes a column for the Spectator and shares the media table at Burlington city council, tells me that she cannot recall when there have been that many candidates running against an incumbent.

Ward 6 FINAL

 

Little has served as a Burlington Council member and a member of the Regional council. She was first elected in 1973 – so Joanie knows what she is talking about. Blair Lancaster has set a new election record for the city; she defeated all nine handily and knocked out a strong advocate who lead the north Burlington community against the air park which while it didn’t show up on the radar screen is nevertheless a significant issue for the city.

Mayor FINALMayor Goldring took 85% + of the vote. Peter Rusin, who came in late in the game to insure that there was a debate on the issues and the Mayor’s leadership garnered fewer votes than Anne Marsden who claims she was on her way to city hall to register as a candidate the same day Rusin registered.

Burlington is happy with the man who wears the chain of office and he will serve for the next four years.

He will also have exactly the same Council that he had Monday morning. Except for Lancaster none of the incumbents was seriously threatened. Councillors Craven, Meed Ward and Taylor were shoo ins from the beginning.

Ward 4 FINAL

 

Some, including the Gazette, thought Jack Dennison was in trouble. The voters south of New Street were not happy with Dennison over his application for a lot severance on his Lakeshore Road home. The city’s Committee of Adjustment denied the application; Dennison appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board. That OMB hearing has been postponed twice.

Ward 5 FINAL

 

Paul Sharman in ward 5 was felt to be up against a strong contender. The vote count from 2010 suggested James Smith had enough going for him to take the seat this year. Sharman prevailed.

During the campaign Mayor Goldring said he saw his first term as a “cleanup/set-up” period of time.

Other than cleaning up the problems with the pier – there wasn’t much more to get done.

References to the Cam Jackson damage are overblown. Jackson had a different way of doing things that senior people at city hall didn’t like and the public didn’t want to see continue – so they turfed him and went for Goldring.

Rick Goldring passed the smell test last night. Peter Rusin thought he was a weak leader; so did a number of others but the people who pay their tax bills every year didn’t think so and they have asked Rick Goldring to continue being Mayor. One can’t argue with 85%

Ward 1 FINALWard 2 FINALWard 3 FINALCouncillors, Craven, Taylor and Meed Ward each took their wards with solid majorities.

One can argue with 34.14% which was the number of eligible voters who went to the polls. The city made it easy to vote. The advance polls were convenient and voting electronically was certainly seen as very convenient by a lot of people.

Toronto got more than 64% of its voters out; does Burlington need a Rob Ford type of disaster to get voters out of their LazyBoy chairs and take a stroll to the polling station?

There are a number of matters on the 2014-2018 order paper that just might rile voters enough to get them out to vote.

But that is for another day.

Today, congratulations to the members of Council; several had tough campaign’s to run. Our Mayor had his feet held to the flames and those who voted said they were content with what they have.

 

Return to the Front page
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

3 comments to Every member of Council returned to office: Mayor takes 85.82% of the vote.

  • pinzerella

    It must not be overlooked that less then 2/3rds of eligible voters voted.
    Apathy? Disconnect? Disengagement? Disillusionment? Fed up?
    All of the above?
    Likely.

    Only one Councillor succeeded in winning more then 65% of her Ward. The rest were well below that. So, of the approximate 35,000 who did vote, the electoral response to the incumbents is lack-lustre at best. This is rather telling anout the state of political engagement in Burlington.

    It remains rather shocking that with a running deficit of over $150 million, taxpayers are not ‘tuning in’ to who’s running their ‘home turf’ and City. Not sure what it will take for more citizen engagement. A scandal riddled mayor would act as a ‘focus’ magnet, but there’ll be nothing of that with Rick Goldring at the helm.

  • Gareth Williams

    “The city made it easy to vote. The advance polls were convenient and voting electronically was certainly seen as very convenient by a lot of people.”

    Yet not convenient enough to raise the turnout beyond a miserable level – now or in 2010.

    And how would we ever know if this happened?

    “Ontario Provincial Police allege Peter Byvelds, 60, cast more than one vote in the Township of South Dundas’ municipal election on Oct. 25. Police said he used the “pin” code of others to cast extra online votes”

    The only reason they caught that guy was probably that he was stupid enough to brag about it to the wrong person.

    I wonder how many voters in Burlington were ‘assisted’ by their husband/wife/father/mother etc. by standing behind them as they voted online, to make sure they voted ‘correctly’. This would not allowed at the polling station. I’ve seen people try, only to be stopped by polling officials.

    Online voting throws away the principle of the secret ballot, and for what? We don’t even get more people to vote.

  • Ron Dennis

    No kudos for the very low turnout but hearty thanks to all candidates who ran and congrats to those who won election. As my late friend John Boich was wont to say, “This town has good bones.” He’s right.