By Pepper Parr
June 16th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Greg Woodruff ran for the Office of Chair of Halton Region in the 2014 election.
He got 12,000 votes of which 5,800 came from Burlington.
Garry Carr, trounced Woodruff.
Greg Woodruff – Aldershot resisdent
It was never certain what Woodruff was setting out to do – create a profile for some other race? He had zero political experience at the municipal level other than being a regular delegator at city hall in Burlington.
Woodruff certainly has an appetite for things political. A resident of Aldershot who works as an independent software development consultant and has a strong skill set in the technology field.
He points out that in the 2014 municipal election the candidate results were:
Rick GOLDRING 36,237
Anne MARSDEN 3,043
Peter RUSIN 2,942
Of the 42,222 votes cast Goldring took 36,237
He points out that only 42,000 people voted in election and 36,000 voted for Rick Goldring.
Meed Ward with Mayor Goldring – both want their names on the ballot
At the Council seat level Meed Ward got 4,600 votes which gave her the ward 2 seat.
Here is where it gets interesting.
Woodruff has run the numbers and according to him all it takes to win the race for the office of Mayor is 12,000 votes – in a four way race.
The four candidates?
Rick Golding, Marianne Meed Ward, Mike Wallace and Greg Woodruff.
It is pretty clear that both Meed Ward and Goldring are going to run for the office of Mayor. Howeer there are those who say they are close to Goldring and that he might decide to hang his hat up.
Meed Ward is believed to still be planning on a run for the office of Mayor
Mike Wallace is busy selling Real Estate, doing deals and running Jane McKenna’s attempt to get herself elected to the provincial legislature again.
Mike Wallace looks closely at a piece of art at the Art Centre.
There was more than enough evidence to suggest that Wallace was going to run for the office of Mayor. He was been both a school board trustee and a city Council member before he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Burlington.
He was defeated by Karina Gould for that job.
Woodruff seems to feel that the 5800 Burlington votes he got as a candidate for Regional Chair could be grown to the 12.000 he needs to be elected the Mayor.
It would be foolish to see the 2018 voter turn out as low as that in 2014 – the turn out could double. There will be some interesting dynamics if all four run for the office of Mayor.
Woodruff doesn’t appear to want to put in any time as a municipal Councillor – he wants to go straight to the top.
October 2018 might be an interesting month.
Agreed about seeing Greg run for a councillor first – ward 1 needs a new one!
Having only met Marianne Meed Ward at one council meeting, I can at least say that she was very attentive and asked important questions of the topics at hand. She was engaged, present, and demonstrated a desire to understand more about the issues presented by the delegates. This was not something I saw from some of the other councillors there, much less Mayor Goldring.
Greg Woodruff. Someone I would vote for. What exactly is politicalI experience anyway? I want democracy back in Burlington.
The next municipal election won’t likely be a reflection of the past. The Mayor has burned up a lot of supporters and good will based on many of his policies and programs. If he runs he will face incredible scrutiny and opposition over his stand on everything from bike lanes to road diets to intensification.
While Marianne is a credible candidate and a great communicator, the PARC fiasco didn’t do her election chances any favours. She’ll be hard pressed to win support outside of her ward, and many voters in Wards 3 and 5 are disillusioned with the Pearson and Bateman high school closures. Mike Wallace clearly has the background and experience, not to mention the support from the business community.
I would love to see Greg Woodruff run for Ward 1 Councillor. He would be a welcome addition to Council and an improvement over the incumbent. He is smart, well read, personable, sincere, and brings a lot of common sense. I gladly supported his campaign for Regional Chair, and would willingly support him again if he ran for Council. However, he should focus on getting a seat on Council first, and use it later as a springboard to the Mayor’s Office.
Never worked in Silicon Valley – I worked in Indiana actually.
In a wide ranging hour plus conversation I pointed out that the math makes it an interesting race.
All I care about is that we get characters in these positions that can identify and put forward concrete solutions to Burlington’s creeping problems. The current official plan and transit plan seem terrible to me and the current leadership seems unable to fix them. Covering you ears and eyes and chanting “density fixes everything” is not a plan – let alone a good idea.
Might also be nice council could control run away tax increases.
Editor’s note|: Could have sworn he said he worked in Silicon Valley when we interviewed him a number of years ago – he certainly knew a lot about the workings of the high tech community in the Valley. But Indiana it is – sorry for the error.