By Staff
November 9th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
In an advertisement published in the November 3rd of the Burlington Post Mayor Elect Marianne Meed Ward wrote:
This is the advertisement as it appeared in the Post on November 3rd, 2022
I’m honoured by the support and trust the overwhelming majority of Burlington residents have put in me. This is a tribute to the work of the entire council over the last four years.
I love serving our community. I’ll continue to advocate for reasonable growth in the right place; more community amenities and parks for our growing community; action on our affordable housing, climate and mobility plans; protecting our rural area and cutting red tape for businesses and farmers; and promoting community pride, so everyone feels welcome and included.
Please join me and council to usher in another four years of service at our official Inauguration Celebration on Tuesday, November 15th, 6;30 pm, Burlington Performing Arts Centre.
For a better Burlington.
We have a question for the Mayor:
What does she mean when she said she was honoured by the
“…support and trust the overwhelming majority of Burlington residents have put in me.”
The facts are that 27.6% of those eligible to vote cast a ballot. The Mayor Elect did get a majority of that minority.
This year, 2022, 27.6 per cent of eligible voters in Burlington voted in the municipal election.
In the 2018 municipal election, 39.79 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.
This is yet another example of the Mayor taking the truth and twisting it to serve her agenda.
A responsible politician would comment on just how poor the turnout was and think aloud about how she will work towards getting better voter turnout.
One of the things Marianne Meed Ward might do is look at what a community based organization did in the 2018 election to get out the vote. They held debates in all six wards. Another group held a debate for the people running to be elected Mayor.
That is what community involvement is about – which the Mayor knows – but isn’t able to actually do.
Photo ops are not community engagement
Ward 4 Councillor was reelected in October.
Councillor Shawna Stolte nailed it back in June when she was having a nasty public dispute with the Mayor during a virtual session of Council. At that time Stolte said: “it’s entirely inappropriate that you make an attempt to bring that forward now and turn it into yet another political circus for your own selfish gain. And I think you should be ashamed of yourself.
If you want to refresh your memory on how that event went click HERE
While we have published the video of the Mayor’s 14 minute rant – take another look HERE
My believe, at the pre-election meeting, Marianne sound very professional and practical and that is a plus for Burlington.
Answer to Penny! They won against the majority. Those who understand and follow municipal politics thanked us the runner for wanting to serve our community Some elected politician, soon after elected, become dictators. scheme on you.
This is one big yawn !
Editor’s note: For a supporter of the Mayor – I guess it would be a yawn – when it should be embarrassing
Disappointed in you Dave, treating issues of democracy/election process competency and a mayor putting a self gratiating totally bizarre spin on our worst election turn out in 50 years, may be for a few a big yawn but for those who respect the cost of democracy it is serious business that needs addressing.
Politicians are ferries
Was there a reason to refuse attendance of candidate scrutineers?
Good question R. Velocci. There are many others such as how many voters cards in terms of percentage were actually sent out. Why was there no date of election on the pre-election Vote 2022 election material we paid for. Why was the city web page with all the information needed for voters to do their due diligence taken down and a very incomplete new web page put up. Why was access to minutes, reports, agenda and attachments previously available on the website taken down just after nominations opened with access for pre-July 2016 only now available thrpugh staff – that is a huge step backwards in efficient use of city resources. Our list of qestions is so long we might and then again might not get through it before the next election. We believe we must draw attention to the city auditor the audits he should be doing to fuilfil the special procedure duty of the Audit Committee! And why are members of Audit Committee not approving the minutes rather than those on council some of whom are unaware whether the minutes are accurate or not approving them. The Clerk has repeatedly refused to answer this one claiming approval by those not on Committee is OK. Don’t think he has read either Roberts or Bourinots Rules of Order, or if he has his ability to retain the rules is somewhat lacking.
Any politician who feels that they won a majority when only 27% of the residents voted really needs to rethink what they are saying.
Some will say that people didn’t vote because they were happy with the existing council. I have to question this – perhaps the real reason could be that they felt that those running against the incumbents didn’t mount proper campaigns? That in fact they underestimated just what was required in the way of money and supporters to be successful.
The fact that there was little public engagement in the way of debates was a great advantage for the incumbents. So many people I talked to had no idea what was happening in their ward, some didn’t know what ward they lived in. They even indicated that they didn’t follow municipal politics and the reason for their vote was based on name recognition and popularity ( they seem like nice people).
It would probably be much more acceptable to all residents if this council acknowledged that the turnout was extremely poor and that they would work hard to regain the residents’ trust in this term of council.