A month from now and it will all be over - will we see new faces in the Council chamber?

By Pepper Parr

September 29, 2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

A month from now it will all be over.

You will know who your Mayor, your city council members and school board trustees are going to be.
Each of the candidates is now, for the most part, in full election mode dropping off literature and pushing signs into lawns.

This election has been slow to get some heat going – the announcement of a candidate for the office of Mayor smartened things up a little. The moment Peter Rusin announced he was in the race, perennial city hall delegator, Anne Marsden saw the opportunity and filed her nomination papers.
While late into the race, and he needs to explain why the late entry, Rusin will bring some energy to every level of the election.

Will there be some surprises? There usually are – the Cam Jackson loss to Goldring in 2010 was a surprise to many and coming third to Carol D’Amelio was a jolt.

Councillor Craven is running a crafty campaign – he is good at it – and unless there is a surge for Katherine Henshell – Craven is at the horse shoe for another term – but that race isn’t a done deal yet.
Ward two is clear – despite the efforts by people who can write big cheques getting behind Kelly Arnott, Marianne Meed Ward has this one locked up.

Ward three – no race there yet. Once again a candidate – Jeff Brooks – has come out very late in the race and has no name recognition and there is no strong reason to defeat John Taylor – other than it is time for a change,

Ward four could be a sleeper. Carol Gottlob is making ground – too soon to tell if she can make enough ground in the time left. Jack Dennison finally said he would take part in the debate that will be held at the Paletta Mansion October 7th. The debate will include the Mayoral candidates as well as the municipal candidates. Could be an interesting evening.

Ward five is a real race. James Smith came very close in 2010 with a much bigger field of candidates. An analysis of the 2010 numbers suggest the incumbent, Paul Sharman has his work cut out for him.
The tight race between Lancaster in ward six made the 2010 election interesting. It will be even more interesting in that ward this time around when there is a real city wide issue being decided in that ward. The Air Park is going to take up a lot of time at city hall and needs to be watched very carefully. Having nine other names on the ballot will make that race one to watch.

This is the time for the voters to make sure their names are on the voters list – we are hearing stories of some screw up that we are looking into.

There is really no reason not to vote. The opportunity to vote electronically –it is perfectly safe – means you can do it on the way home while on the GO train.

Just don’t vote for the name you recall – the city provides the services you use on a daily basis – do your homework and choose wisely