And the winner is...

Kitchener Council appoints Stephanie Stretch to the vacant ward 10 seat

When former Kitchener Centre MPP Laura Mae Lindo resigned her provincial seat in July 2023, two sitting Kitchener councillors put forth their name for that position: Aislinn Clancy (Greens) and Debbie Chapman (NDP). Clancy was successful in her run and is now serving the community at Queen’s Park. Of course, that left the ward 10 seat vacant and Kitchener Council was tasked with deciding how to fill it. They had 60 days from Clancy’s official departure of December 14th, 2023 to do so.

Council had two main options: a by-election or appointment. If they chose the latter, there were three options for how to appoint someone: appoint the runner-up from the 2022 municipal election (Stephanie Stretch); appoint an individual via an application process; or directly appoint an individual. Those options are outlined in more detail in this staff report, however, here are a few of the considerations (pros and cons) outlined in that report for each option:

• By-election: timing (a new councillor would not be in place until mid-April); cost of $77,000-$97,000 (that doesn’t include the cost of staffing poll stations); possibility of low voter turnout; a winter campaign period; ensures a democratic process is employed for all electors.

• Appoint the runner-up: a new councillor could be in place by the end of this month; minimal financial implications; a candidate may no longer be eligible or interested in filling the vacancy; a democratic process was undertaken in October 2022, but due to the time elapsed may not be seen as filling the vacancy through a democratic process.

• Appoint via application: a new councillor would be in place by the end of February; provides an opportunity to identify and select an individual possessing a skillset that may not currently be represented on Council; minimal financial implications (~$2,500 for communications); selection of the candidate may not be seen as filling the vacancy through a democratic process.

• Appoint an individual directly: a new councillor could be in place by the end of this month; minimal financial implications; may not be seen as filling the vacancy through a transparent or democratic process.

Kitchener Council met on January 8th (as part of their regular Finance and Corporate Services Committee meeting) to discuss this issue. Click to watch the meeting. Click to see my Twitter recap of the meeting.

Three delegates spoke to the issue. Scott Albrecht was in favour of appointing the runner-up. His reasons included: Stretch finished just 115 votes behind Clancy in that election; Clancy and Stretch had similar priorities for ward 10; and the likely possibility of low voter turnout for a by-election in April. Scott also noted that ranked ballots, while not currently an option for Ontario municipalities, might have prevented this dilemma.

Delegate two, Simon Guthrie (who ran in the 2022 election in ward one), offered what he considers a balanced approach - a Citizens’ Assembly of sorts, where a selected group of ward 10 residents would come together to help choose a candidate which would then be appointed by council. You can read more about Simon’s proposal here.

The final delegate was Brooklin Wallis who has run for a few different positions, including for ward 9 councillor in 2022, where she placed second. Brooklin is supportive a by-election and shares that she would run if a by-election was held in ward 10. She says that she could also support ‘appointment by application’ but not simply appointing the runner-up as that excludes other potential candidates who might also bring something great to the ward.

The meeting then moved onto discussion by council. Councillor Singh weighed in first by proposing a motion in support of appointing the runner-up from the 2022 election. Councillor Schnider said that if that motion fails that he would like to put forth a motion in support of a by-election. (As an aside, I can’t help but wonder how the conversation, and end result, might have differed if Councillor Schnider was first in the queue with his motion for a by-election).

There was a lot of discussion about this possible appointment. Some key issues raised include:

In support of appointing the runner-up:

• How close the runner-up was in the 2022 election

• Cost of a by-election

• The runner-up has run a campaign and been tested by voters through that process

• Clancy and Stretch ran on similar platforms in 2022

• Timing for getting ward 10 representation (that a by-election is just too long for them to wait)

• The importance of listening to the ward 10 residents (this was used in support of appointing the runner-up but I would suggest it could be used just as well in support of a by-election)

In support of a by-election:

• We shouldn’t put a price on democracy

• Might the political landscape and desires of ward 10 residents have changed since October 2022?

Council voted in support of appointing Steph Stretch to fill the ward 10 seat with everyone in support except for councillors Chapman, Deneault, and Schnider.

During the discussion, I couldn’t help but wonder if Stephanie Stretch was actually still interested in this position. Was it possible that Council was spending all this time deciding on appointing the runner-up and maybe the runner-up no longer wanted the position? However, according to this January 8th interview (starting at 19:44) with Councillor Scott Davey on the Mike Farwell Show, Council was aware that Stephanie would be honoured to accept the position if that’s the option Council decided on.

The City Clerk will now reach out to Stephanie Stretch to confirm that she is both still eligible and interested in the position. Once that’s complete, Stretch may very well be sitting at the Council Horseshoe before the end of this month. Congratulations to ward 10’s next councillor!