The chess pieces on the election chess board are moving into place.

By Pepper Parr

May 9th, 2022

BURLINGTON, ON

 

On the surface there isn’t all that much in the way of news about the October municipal election.

Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman filed his papers – he likes the job and is having fun.

Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman – waiting for the voters to come to him

Don’t be at all surprised if you see him doing the reverse of what he did in 2010 when he first ran for public office.

At that time he first filed nomination papers for the office of Mayor. When Rick Gold also filed papers for the job of Mayor, Sharman withdrew the papers for the job of Mayor and filed for the ward five seat – which he won and seems to be saying he would like to hang on to for an additional four years.

Paul Sharman would like to be Mayor but he needs to be certain that he has the support to defeat Marianne Meed Ward, the current Mayor.

Sharman is the best long term thinker this Council has; he has the best numbers mind – Kearns comes close but doesn’t have the depth or experience Sharman has.

Sharman has a clear vision for the city and knows how to get there.

The abrasiveness we saw during his first term of office does not appear to exist in the man’s makeup anymore. What changed – hard to tell but what we saw regularly six to eight years ago we just don’t see anymore.

Stop digging!

Meed Ward is already in a bit of a hole – Sharman just wants to let that hole get deeper – so deep that she can’t climb out of it.
Events at city council this past week suggest she is doing a fine job of digging a deeper hole. A marine term might be apt here; Meed Ward is being ‘deep sixed’.

There is that well known phrase when you find yourself in a hole – Stop digging.

Paul Sharman with his eye on the prize.

That one doesn’t appear to be one that our Mayor has read about.

For Sharman it is a waiting game. In the event that he decides he can’t beat Meed Ward – he is a shoe in for ward 5.

Keep a close eye on what he does in the next couple of months

We do.

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10 comments to The chess pieces on the election chess board are moving into place.

  • Elan

    In my opinion, Paul Sharman”s vision for Burlington is high-rise after high-rise, heavy development downtown and across the currently protected greenspace, removal of any and all attempts to mitigate impact of development on current inter-city residents for infill plans and the clear-cutting of all trees that stand in the way of these goals. HIs only campaing donars are developers. He is Ford. But, unfortunately, I believe MMW, due to her narcissism, is not reliable or trustworthy to represent Burlington’s best interests as a democratic leader. Marsden is shown no leadership capabilities, in my opinion, beyond chaos. Is there another choice for Mayor who migh have some democraticy legitimacy?

  • Alfred

    Hans.

    In fairness, the developers and builders of Burlington built Burlington from the ground up from vacant fields. Into an award winning City.

    I believe our City won the title of Best Mid sized City to live in Canada. 6 out of 7 years. Oakville won once when the rules were slightly modified to get it some glory.

    The Developers created tens of thousand high paying jobs and spent and added Billions into the Burlington economy. They provided safe, and comfortable housing for hundreds of thousands in Burlington. That provided warmth in the winter and air conditioning in the summer to keep them comfortable all year round.

    People lived and raised their families in their homes. People have won the lottery with the increase in prices of their well thought out purchases.

    May I suggest a give a( Developer a hug week). For they more than anyone have contributed to Burlington and all other communities in Canada. Sometimes the truth is just that.

    Paul Sharman for Mayor.

    • Dave Turner

      Hey Alfred. Give yourself a pat on the back won’t you !

      What about artisans, retailers, manufacturing and service industry employers, volunteers who organize kids and youth sporting activities. So many groups way more deserving of the praise for making Burlington the fabulous place it is than developers.

    • Hans Jacobs

      Alfred,
      IMO developers are typically motivated by profit and not altruism. The positive byproducts of their work that you mentioned (employment, economic growth, etc.) were not the reasons that they were in the development business and they have shown no concern for what they have inflicted on Burlington in the last decade; i.e., excessive height buildings, which contribute to traffic congestion and other imbalances. The “highest and best use” for land principle, to which the development industry subscribes, is strictly a Quantitative perspective which maximizes profit; the Qualitative aspect, which would create attractive and livable communities, is of no apparent interest.

      Given the above, any politician that receives financial support from such a Special Interest Group should have her/his position on development studied carefully.

  • Hans Jacobs

    I’m glad that councilor Sharman “likes the job and is having fun”. Hopefully he has learned that the job of elected representative is quite different from working as an accountant and he has modified his behaviour accordingly.
    As I recall, Mr. Sharman won the last election with much less than 50% of the vote in his Ward, which is hardly a strong endorsement from his constituency.
    In addition he received financial support from the development industry, didn’t he? Doesn’t that require some analysis of his “clear vision for the city and how to get there”?

  • Jim Thomson

    If Meed Ward is the Red Queen, what does that make Paul Sharman?

  • Sharon

    Paul Sherman would make an excellent Mayor!
    He’s honest, transparent and most important he listens.
    He would have my vote!

    • Dave Turner

      An honest, transparent, listening politician. WOW ! Then he’s not cut out for the political life. Being that he is reasonably successful at his political life, I have to question the appropriateness of thos adjectives. No politician succeeds without a hard uncompromising streak. Don’t get me wrong, I think Mr Sharman is a huge asset to this council and the City.

  • Mary Hill

    Absolutely no doubt left now as to where the Gazette’s bias lies. Not labeled as an opinion piece. Masquerading as a news report. Shameful !

    Editor’s note: Had I labelled the article as an opinion – it would not according to one reader be biased. Right now it is just plain shameful – which I think I can live with.

    • Mary Hill

      Your reader is correct. An opinion piece by its nature being an opinion is biased. A news report or journalistic article should be factual not opinionated.