This fall, three current members of Burlington, Ont.’s city council are looking to become mayor.
In the municipal elections on Oct. 26, incumbent mayor Marianne Meed Ward will be challenged by Lisa Kearns, councillor for Ward 2, and Rory Nisan, who currently represents Ward 3. All three have been in their roles since 2018.
With three out of six sitting councillors not running again, Burlington will definitely welcome some new faces in the council chamber.
A total of five candidates are in the race for mayor. In alphabetical order by last name, they are:
Here’s more on each candidate:
Kearns
According to her campaign website, Kearns has spent a decade working at Life Labs.
“My approach supports development that brings housing, greenspace and community benefits to the neighbourhood it serves without destroying what’s already there,” she says on the site.
Kearns has been vocal against data centre construction and led an unsuccessful effort for council to impose a moratorium on new data centres.
Her campaign website outlines several proposed initiatives such as piloting on-demand transit, increasing the number of bylaw officers and updating the city’s housing strategy to focus on affordable rentals, “missing middle housing” and larger family homes.
Meed Ward
Meed Ward served as Ward 2 councillor starting in 2010 before successfully becoming mayor in 2018. She chairs Ontario’s Big City Mayors caucus.
Meed Ward states she’s running for a third term as mayor “to provide steady, experienced leadership through an uncertain time.”
Her website mentions that a changing city council makes having an experienced mayor more crucial. It highlights several priorities like transparent budgeting focusing on “needs not wants,” development that protects waterfronts and greenspaces, and maintaining infrastructure properly.
Nisan
Nisan has branded himself as “the only fiscally responsible mayoral candidate.”
Before becoming a councillor, Nisan worked as a federal foreign service officer according to his campaign website. He chairs the Ontario caucus of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
Nisan’s website claims that if elected, he’d tie budgets to inflation rates while also aiming for more housing developments along with promoting better access to parks, ice time facilities and child care programs after school hours.
3 councillor positions to fill
Sine Kearns and Nisan are both running for mayor, residents from Wards 2 and 3 will need new representatives. Additionally, Ward 4 will also elect a new councillor since Shawna Stolte is not seeking re-election.
The candidates for city and regional councillor are listed below:
