No One’s Stepping Up to Take Over as Mayor

James Brose has been keeping an eye on the website for his small eastern Ontario township’s upcoming fall election, and he’s feeling uneasy.

Brose has served as the mayor of North Algona Wilberforce, a group of cottage communities located about 130 kilometres west of Ottawa, for the past eight years. Before that, he was a councillor for four years in the township of around 3,000 residents.

However, the 69-year-old retired farmer is stepping down as mayor at the end of this term partly due to a health scare he experienced last year.

While candidates in North Algona Wilberforce and over 400 other municipalities in Ontario still have until 2 p. m. on Aug. 21 to submit their nomination papers to run for local council seats – and seven individuals have already done so for North Algona Wilberforce’s four regular council positions – no one had come forward yet by Friday to take over as mayor from Brose.

“I am concerned,” Brose told CBC on Thursday, even though he acknowledged that being mayor is “not a role a lot of people are just so anxious to jump into.”

The position carries a heavy workload, and managing social media interactions can be tough, he noted. Personally, Brose has a son living in B. C., and being mayor doesn’t really allow for long vacations.

Add in a heart attack (which may have contributed somewhat to his workload concerns) and quadruple bypass surgery last year, and Brose decided it was time to step back.

“I’m feeling great and I would like to say I’m back to 100 per cent health. But with that in mind, I was just not certain that I wanted to invest another four years of my time in the role of mayor,” he shared.

So far only one candidate for mayor

The reasons Brose mentioned for not running again-and why others might hesitate to pursue office-are similar to what heard from candidates during the eastern Ontario municipal elections in 2022.

North Algona Wilberforce isn’t alone this year; many areas are facing challenges finding enough candidates willing to step up.

For example, towns like Carleton Place and Petawawa along with the Township of Beckwith have seen only one nominee-the incumbent-file their nomination papers by early Friday afternoon.

This could lead to another round of acclamations similar to previous Ontario elections. In fact, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), 179 municipalities had one or more council positions acclaimed in 2022.

As of Friday morning, five incumbent councillors in Ottawa – Cathy Curry, Laine Johnson, Riley Brockington, Isabelle Skalski and David Brown – had no challengers. The city sent out a reminder regarding the upcoming filing deadline on Friday.

In Arnprior-a town about 65 kilometres from Ottawa-with its seven-member council only five people had submitted their nomination papers by early Friday afternoon.

The AMO reported that thirty-two municipal councils were fully acclaimed in Ontario last year; that’s up from twenty-six councils back in 2018-and they emphasized recently that “healthy democracy depends on competitive elections and diverse voices.”

Incumbent Coun. Dan Lynch is running for deputy mayor in Arnprior; he filed his paperwork early on May 14.

However, he’s not worried about the slow pace of candidates emerging within his community. He’s confident plenty will file at the last moment as they did “at the last minute” four years ago.

“Arnprior is a slow-moving town,” he said.

Lynch also mentioned that outgoing Mayor Brose believes no one has stepped forward yet because “I’ve done such a great job that they don’t want feel they can live up to the expectation.”

Brose added he’d like it if more people would consider taking over but understands why they might hesitate given how demanding it can be.

Lynch pointed out he’s been acclaimed twice before during his four successful bids for council seats; he’d prefer remaining unopposed this fall because residents seem satisfied with what he’s doing.

“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” he remarked.

Both men agree though while money isn’t why they got into municipal politics-the low pay (compared with how much effort goes into it) makes it hard for younger folks balancing work-life commitments.

“If they’re having to do this on a full-time basis,” Brose explained,“the remuneration certainly doesn’t make it viable.”

“And if you’re working full-time trying do this part-time then you’re also taxed with investing additional time which takes you away from family-it all adds up.”

Lynch was more straightforward:
“As a councillor [here], you get $21,000 whopping dollars annually with no pension while putting hours every day handling emails.. For $21k you gotta love your community-you gotta enjoy this work-you gotta be retired.”

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