It's Over!

So where did we land?

We are nearly six months out from when the campaign nominations officially opened in May. I have a few thoughts about where we ended up after all of the ballots have been counted. If you want to skip the commentary though and just see the final results, you can find them here for Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich. As always, the Waterloo Region Votes website is a great resource for seeing the results across the entire region.

As for my thoughts on where we landed? I’m absolutely thrilled with some election results, disappointed by others, and recognize that many races left us with more of the same (you may see that as a good or bad thing).

I do want to thank everyone who took the time and put in the effort of casting your ballot in the municipal election. Voter turnout was disappointingly low and needs to be addressed (watch for an upcoming post on voter turnout!). But for now, I just want to thank everyone who voted.

I'm also incredibly thankful for those who put their names forward in this election, especially those who ran positive campaigns outlining their vision for a more inclusive and compassionate Waterloo Region. My heart aches for those dealing with a loss this week. I've been there and it's hard.

Waterloo Region has three new mayors and all of them are women: Dorothy McCabe in Waterloo, Natasha Salonen in Wilmot, and Jan Liggett in Cambridge. Of the sixteen positions on Regional Council, ten are now held by women and six by men.

In Cambridge, I was disappointed that former Councillor Liggett won over current mayor, Kathryn McGarry (who served one term as mayor, beating out Doug Craig in 2018). Liggett has opposed Consumption and Treatment Service sites in downtown Cambridge, walked out of council meetings in anger over council votes, and generally opposes building more housing. Speaking of opposing CTS, former Cambridge mayor Doug Craig won a seat on Regional Council representing Cambridge. He has also been a vocal opponent to Consumption and Treatment Services.

Kitchener was mostly ‘more of the same’ with eight incumbents retaining their seat (including the mayor). That leaves three new Kitchener councillors in wards 3, 5, and 10 (Jason Deneault, Ayo Owodunni, and Aislinn Clancy).

Waterloo has a new mayor, Dorothy McCabe, who won in a close race with Shannon Weber. I was also excited to see Chantal Huinink win a seat on Regional Council representing Waterloo.

Over to the townships now, where in Wilmot, Natasha Salonen won the mayor’s race against township Councillor Jenn Pfenning. I don’t know much about Natasha but I was rooting for Jenn Pfenning as I thought she has been a compassionate and thoughtful voice on Wilmot council this term. Actually, I was pretty disappointed by all of the Wilmot results as the entire Wilmot council will consist of new faces. 

In Woolwich, Mayor Sandy Shantz has won a third term, defeating current councillor Pat Merlihan.

In North Dumfries, Mayor Sue Foxton was acclaimed to a third term. In fact, almost all of North Dumfries’ seats were acclaimed, except for ward one where incumbent Rodney Rolleman defeated Timea Brenner.

In Wellesley, Mayor Joe Nowak was also acclaimed, along with incumbent Shelley Wagner and Lori Sebben.

And as for Regional Council, I'm so disappointed that the amazing Matt Rodrigues didn't win a council seat (full disclosure - I did help out on his campaign). I have rarely seen a candidate work so hard on a campaign and I know that Matt would bring that same passion to council. Matt’s perspective and experience are very much needed on Regional Council. This is definitely a loss for this council term.

I was absolutely thrilled with the solid and well-deserved win by Colleen James. I had a chance to canvass with Colleen and I’m very excited about what she'll bring to Regional Council with her expertise, knowledge, and problem-solving approach! 

School Board trustees had garnered a lot of attention (and not for good reasons) this election. So, I was glad to see that we (mostly) elected representatives who are focused on creating an inclusive school system where every student is given what they need.

In Kitchener, incumbents Joanne Weston and Mike Ramsay both won re-election. Trustee newcomers Meena Waseem and Maedith Radlein were both elected and I couldn’t be more happy about that. I was sorry to see that Laurie Tremble did not win re-election though.

Cambridge ran into some issues with their Catholic school board election when they realized that two of the six candidates were left off of the ballot. While they will reschedule voting, I can only imagine that voter turnout will be minimal at best. I really feel for these candidates. One candidate, David Guerin, said, “I am looking forward to seeing the city’s plan for the rescheduled election date. I hope that it includes internet voting and more than one in-person voting date to make it as convenient as possible for the voters.” I agree.

Current WRDSB board chair Scott Piatkowski and vice-chair Kathleen Woodcock both were re-elected in Waterloo and Wilmot on Monday. Marie Snyder, a retired teacher from Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate, also won a seat representing Waterloo/Wilmot.

That’s a little bit about how I am feeling after Monday’s results. What do you think? Were there some big wins or losses that I missed? Feel free to comment!