The recent municipal elections in Ontario resulted in significant changes within local governments, with several incumbents losing their positions to newly elected officials across the province.
Niagara Falls
In Niagara Falls, Jim Diodati was ousted by Lori Lococo, a city councilor serving her second term. She entered the mayoral race after ending her campaign for city council re-election in August. Diodati, who had been mayor for 16 years over four terms, garnered 11,401 votes, placing second to Lococo’s 14,058 votes.
Lococo is now the first woman to serve as mayor in the Niagara Region. She was one of four candidates competing against Diodati, which included Paul Manning, Michael Lucid and Kevin Martineau.
Niagara-on-the-Lake
The unofficial results from Niagara-on-the-Lake posted on the town’s website indicate a voter turnout of 52.4% this election cycle.
A standout result came from political newcomer and business owner Vaughn Goettler winning the mayoral seat.
Goettler takes over from incumbent Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa, who chose not to run again this year. Goettler finished third in the previous election held in 2022 when he ran against Zalepa. This time around, he faced Deputy Mayor Erwin Wiens and regional councillor Andrea Kaiser and won with 5,101 votes or 55.1% of the total.
The new mayor-elect has a background as a retired CEO but lacks prior political experience. However, Goettler has been active as a community volunteer and donor supporting various organizations including the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, Rotary International, Upper Canada Heritage Trail and Niagara College.
Fort Erie
In Fort Erie, Mayor Wayne Redekop lost his position to Tom Insinna amid a voter turnout of 39.1%. Insinna received 6,469 votes to unseat Redekop who was running for his fourth consecutive term.
Redekop finished with 5,065 votes coming second after serving seven terms as mayor since beginning his tenure in 1991.
The incoming mayor Insinna spent three decades as an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and has been representing Fort Erie on regional council since 2018; however that regional council seat will be eliminated by the province soon.
Mississauga
Another significant outcome occurred in Mississauga where Alvin Tedjo was elected as mayor. Tedjo previously served as a city councilor for Ward 2 and ran for mayor against Bonnie Crombie back in 2022.
Crombie received 43,191 votes during this election but announced she would step down as mayor in early 2024 to lead the Ontario Liberal Party.
Tedjo secured victory with a total of 74,479 votes ahead of both Crombie and incumbent Carolyn Parrish who managed to get only 51,853 votes.
Hamilton
In Hamilton-a city known for its steel industry-the electorate voted out incumbent Mayor Andrea Horwath choosing instead Keanin Loomis who is currently president and CEO of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction.
Loomis earned an impressive tally of 61,040 votes significantly surpassing Horwath’s count of just 21,223 while also leading runner-up Rob Cooper by over 14 thousand votes; Cooper had secured only 46,573 votes.
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