By Pepper Parr
June 25th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
In Burlington, local politics doesn’t get much attention. Less than 30% of the population bothers to show up at voting stations.
And the city decided to take a pass on voting electronically from the comfort of your living room chair. You could vote in the advance polls electronically.
Why the difference was never really explained by City Hall.
In a little more than 15 months the 2026 election will take place. Anyone expecting a radically different council is smoking the good stuff.
In order to win a seat on city council the public has to know who you are. And in Burlington, creating a profile is challenging – the current Council members flood social media with their photo ops.
Any politician can be beaten – you just have to get more votes than the other guy and work a lot harder.
Former city Councillor Jack Dennison.
I expect some members of the current council to use that Jack Dennison trick – wait until the very last minute before announcing that you are going to run for office. That tends to keep anyone who wants to challenge you edgy – not knowing who they will be running against.
Burlington doesn’t have very much in the way of community based grass roots organizations. It wasn’t always this way – in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, there were numerous groups that spoke effectively to city Council.
That is not the case today. ECoB did a great job in 2018 in holding all candidate meetings in every ward. BRAG – Burlington Residents’ Action Group faltered. Focus Burlington has yet to show what it can do.
The 2022 City Council – Councillor Shawna Stolte had to attend the swearing-in virtually.
For those seeking public office they have to make sure that there is just one person challenging a sitting member. If there are two people challenging the sitting member, the vote tends to get split, and the incumbent slides through.
Of the seven-member Council – who will run and who may not run and who should not run.
The conflicts of interest are just not recognized by Galbraith.
Kelvin Galbraith, Councillor for ward 1, will run again – he likes the job, and the additional income is good. His constituents don’t seem to have a problem with his conflicts of interest. Nor do they have a problem with the way he has disturbingly prevented Tom Muir from playing an active role in ward politics. Muir can be a problem – but that doesn’t mean he loses his right to speak and take part in what happens politically in ward 1.
Riddled with anxiety
Lisa Kearns, Councillor for ward 2 will either leave politics completely or run for Mayor. She has the best mind on this council but is riddled with anxiety and tends to buckle when pressed. At the moment, she is giving Mayor Meed Ward a run for her money – but other than good theatrics – not much of a difference is being made. Who will run in ward 2 if Kearns leaves? There are some decent options – Keith Demoe isn’t one of them.
Nisan has a game plan, which he is keeping to himself.
Rory Nisan has a game plan, which he is keeping to himself. Why he chose to live in ward 2 after being elected in ward 3 is something he has never explained. He toys with the idea of being Mayor – doesn’t have the depth or the vision
Her thinking on affordable housing was excellent – the problem was she wasn’t able to follow through.
Shawna Stole, Councillor for ward 4 said she would be just a two-term Councillor, which takes her out of the race in 2026. Right? Stole may well prove me wrong.
She has never earned as much as she gets paid as a politician, which is certainly an incentive for hanging around. Neither has she all that much in the way of a difference. Her thinking on affordable housing was excellent – the problem was she wasn’t able to follow through.
Ward 5 constituents have done very well by their council member – developers love him.
Paul Sharman, Councillor for ward 5 – people could read his obituary one day and vote for him on the next. Ward 5 constituents have done very well by their council member – developers love him. At the close of each election, he has a surplus in his campaign account.
His seat is at risk- he might choose to take a pass and retire.
Angelo Bentivegnia, ward 6 Councillor, the best retail politician on this council, may not be able to overcome the anger the people in Millcroft have over his failure to really go to the mat for his constituents when a developer decided to use a large part of the golf course property for some expensive housing.
He did get to the point where he could manage the chairing of a Standing Committee – not quite at the point yet where he fully understands the contents of many Staff reports.
Add to that his health. His seat is at risk- he might choose to take a pass and retire.
Tax increases that exceed 10% have some taxpayers riled up; the absence of a clear vision for the city and the way it grows combined will result in a much different Burlington in a decade. It doesn’t have to be that way, but without some fresh thinking, there is not a lot of hope.
There are men and women out there who could serve the city very well – they have yet to be convinced that they can win and that they are needed.
Hope – most certainly. Fiscal accountability and a vision that reflects what the public wants and what is possible.
It isn’t too late – but there is not much time to waste.
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