Six names now on the ward 2 ballot.

council 100x100By Staff

May 30th, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Another name will be on the municipal election ballot for the ward 2 city council seat.

Gerard Shkuda, filed nomination papers earlier this week. His contact information will be posted at a later date joins:

Kimberly Calderback

Kimberly Calderbank

Kimberly Calderbank
905-407-2063
campaign@kimberly.solutions
kimberly.solutions

David Cherry
1312 Hammond St., Burlington, ON, L7S 2C2
289-795-9203
info@davidcherry.ca
https://davidcherry.ca

Michael Jones
477 Holtby Ave., Burlington, ON, L7R 2R4
905-609-4305
jonesourward2@gmail.com
www.jonesward2.ca

Kerns - head slanted

Lisa Kearns

Lisa Kearns
416-414-5335
kearns_lisa@hotmail.com
Lisakearnsward2.com

Roland Tanner

Roland Tanner

Roland Tanner
357 Delaware Ave. Burlington, ON, L7R 3B4
289-259-4023
roland@rolandtanner.ca
https://rolandtanner.ca

This gives vote splitting a whole new dimension. In the 2014 election there were 10 candidates in ward 6 – the incumbent took the seat.

Ward 2 is one of those situations where the incumbent has vacated the seat to run for Mayor – so it was wide open with no heir apparent in place. A gong show now.

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6 comments to Six names now on the ward 2 ballot.

  • Penny

    Jim,

    I totally agree with you. Times have changed dramatically and in my opinion candidates need to have the necessary experience and education to be able to be an effective Council Member. Having a passion to help your community is not good enough.

    I also agree that 6 or 7 people running in Ward 2 or any other ward benefits no one. It may be time for some of the candidates to take a step back and really decide if they have the necessary background to do the job.

  • Penny

    Pam,
    ECoB has planned meetings in ALL WARDS, not only in Ward 2, for residents to meet all the candidates that are running in their ward. The purpose is to give residents the opportunity to ask questions. Mark Carr has agreed to moderate all the Ward meetings.

    ECoB does not endorse ANY candidates. We are taking the opportunity to meet ALL the candidates running in all Wards, prior to the Ward Candidate Meetings.

    Burlington is made up of 6 Wards not only Ward 2, and all residents deserve to have the same opportunity.

    Pam if you would like to be part of the Ward 2 candidate meeting that ECoB is organizing, please feel free to email us at info@engagedburlington.ca

  • To avoid a ‘gong show’ we need to select the best candidates based on relevant education, experience and specific technical and non-technical skills. For example, look for familiarity with the urban and regional planning process, (official plans, zoning, by-laws, etc.) with provincial and regional developmental and regulatory processes, and municipal government operations, Since Ward 2 is arguably the most challenging, look for an ability to cope with complex issues, to see the interrelatedness of multi-level governmental issues, and to envision the long-term characteristics of the Ward amidst an understanding of the growth of the city and the region as a whole. And don’t forget such capabilities as communication skills (listening), high productivity and performance characteristics, leadership traits and behaviours, interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. Simple!

    • Stephen White

      Hi Jim: Great ideas and suggestions, but my concern is that not everyone will be as thoughtful, reflective and incisive as you are in determining how to rate and evaluate candidates. It is highly possible you could have three or four credible candidates splitting the vote almost equally, and an incumbent candidate eek out a victory. Moreover, if a candidate enters the race who is a supporter of greater intensification, height and density then you run the risk of him or her garnering attention and support simply because they are different and the “shiniest new thing” in the room.

      Candidates need to do some serious soul-searching prior to the end of July using some performance criteria. Realistically, if a candidate doesn’t have: 1) a dedicated team of 30-40 volunteers; 2) $15-20K in funds to invest in their campaign; 3) a strong understanding of municipal government and issues; 4) broad-based support from within their Ward; and 5) a strong and compelling desire to win…then realistically, they should get out of the race and back someone else. In Ward 2 a couple of candidates might want to consider running in Ward 1 or even running for Board of Education.

      I don’t want to throw water on a candidate’s dreams or ambitions, but at some point people need to get real and take one for the team. We don’t need and can’t afford a repeat of what happened in Ward 6 in 2014….and that is the sad truth.

      • Hi Stephen.

        To be honest it is a quick overview of what I do in my ‘day job’. If you want to achieve desired performance, you need to first define what desired performance looks like. Then you can identify all of the technical and non-technical skills that are required to bring it about, and then you are more able to evaluate who actually has them. Unfortunately, this is hard to do in politics, especially at the Federal and Provincial levels, where party position, platforms and issue response, leadership choices, the regurgitation of party policies and increased media bias (to name a few) can cloud the evaluation of local candidates. At the municipal level, with most of these influences removed, it is easier to make a direct comparison between desired performance and candidate capability.

        Candidate selection error is one of the reasons why I jumped into the Provincial election. We often elect the wrong candidates for the wrong reasons, and then we complain about the results that we get. One of my main objectives has been to help people to be more informed (especially young people) so that they can at least make more logical choices on more than ‘photo-op’ familiarity. For the municipal election, we need to ensure that accurate, relevant, non-confusing information is available to the electorate, especially with a large number of contenders in some Wards.

        I understand your concern about vote splitting – I am coping with that at the moment as well because of similarity with the Progressive Conservatives. But in the end, I really believe that including more voices enables more information and more choice. And unless we vote FOR someone / something, rather than against, we will always end up with less desirable performers.

  • Pam Casey

    After the provincial election is over, i would like to have a meeting where the candidates for Ward 2 can outline each of their platforms. i would also like to see this meeting organized independently from the Engaged Citizens of Burlington.