By Pepper Parr
October 25th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
For the city of Burlington that last update of the polling results was 11:29 pm.
The numbers shifted a little as each update was done – but the die was cast with the very first results at 8:15
The results shown below have to now be certified by the City Clerk after which they are then OFFICIAL.
There is another round of council meetings in November and then the swearing in takes place and a new Council gets on with the job of working its way through what is going to be a tough four years.
Budgets will swell, OLT meetings will work their way through that process and the city will begin to review the Strategic Plan
Will the level of toxicity remain the same? Shawna Stolte who has been a burr under the Mayor’s saddle will become a thorn in her side. It will not be pretty.
The Integrity Commissioner will be kept busy dealing with the Kearns breach and the Galbraith difficulty in understanding just what a conflict is and his problems understanding the instructions he was given by the Integrity Commissioner.
And, Rory Nisan will continue being the Mayor’s lap dog.
Here are the final results of the initial count of the ballots.
I have been ruuning in elections since early 90’s. We always had good healthy meaningful debates. They stopped in 2018 in terms of Halton Chair and 2022 in terms of Burlington Mayor and Councillors. As well the Burlington web site was diminished in terms of material that could be checked to determine incumbent performance. Incumbents like it that way it increases their 20% advantage from photo ops etc. to even more as municipal elections is all about name recognition. Add missing voters cards and numerous electorate names missing from the Voters List that were there before and you simply shake your head. This Council also introduced or reapproved by-laws that would keep good prospective candidates from appearing at the lectern or making them forewarn council what they were going to say, or you got a note from Kevin Arjoon or his deputy, delegation denied.
If the candidates get to the lectern there is no further discussion on the items a prospective good candidate brings forward. So apart from registering your point unless it is a democracy issue that you can take further with the Ombudsman you are simply wasting your time. Democracy since 2018 has died a very fast but still painful death in Burlington and Halton municipal decision making that is governed by legislation that demands accountability and transparency. Believe you me I am not saying give up I am saying get organized with like minds and lets take this battle to the absolute limits for municipal democracy to be restored. Too many have sacrificed too much for us to do anything else but battle for its restoration.
When I started running for a say in how democracy works in 1990’s my first priority was to increase the number who showed up at the cenotaph on November 11th. It was pathetic. For those who were given the day off it was just another holiday. The memory of the tears running down my father’s face on November 11 as he stood to attention no matter what he was doing can never be forgotten. Now we have the roads and sidewalks surrounding the Burlington cenotaph and Navy memorial packed out. Next step is to return the electorate to the decision making table where they belong. Democracy is back should be our goal generating a new City motto instead of Stand By – never understood what that is supposed to mean in terms of our city.
Ward 5 data seem incomplete?
Editor’s note: It has been fixed
Fixed? The vote % adds up to only about 40. And isn’t Mr. Sharman in Ward 5?
It doesn’t look fixed……….
Voter turnout was down significantly from last election. The main topic on downtown of course is the high rises, but most home owners have seen significant rise their home equity, so that might be part of the growth in support to incumbents. For me, I look at the positive…I worked for my votes, they were not handed to me…as did Tim O’Brien. Looking back, there needs to be a Public Forum Debates…(not question/answer stuff) then people get to know who’s who and incumbents have to defend their track record during crossfire.