Municipal Election Round-up
A first look at who's running (or not) in Waterloo Region
We are just over 3 months away from a municipal election (and just over a month away from the Nomination Day deadline of Aug. 19th, 2pm) so I thought we should check in with what we know about this year’s local candidates.
Before I jump into the specifics of wards, regions, and candidates, let’s look at the big picture. Candidates could first register on May 2nd, 2022. I believe there are a total of 79 seats in Waterloo Region at various levels. Several seats currently have no candidates registered.
If you’re interested in staying up-to-date on who is running where, Bob Jonkman has created this handy webpage that is updated quite regularly.
Given the total number of seats available, I will focus on just the Regional Council and the 3 municipalities in this post. In my next update, I will explore the townships and school boards. So, let’s dive in and take a closer look at who is (and isn’t) running.
Region of Waterloo:
Chair: one seat available
Karen Redman registered in May as she seeks a second term as Regional Chair. There doesn’t seem to be a website yet for Karen, but she can be found on Twitter.
Narine Dat Sookram has run for various elected roles previously. Narine has a website, though it notes that more information is coming soon.
Regional Councillor (Cambridge): two seats available
Helen Jowett announced that she will not be running again this year.
Karl Kiefer is also not seeking re-election.
There are currently three candidates for the Cambridge seats on Regional Council.
Prakash Venkataraman can be found on Twitter.
Crystal Whetham is also running for a seat. Crystal doesn’t yet seem to have a presence on social media, but can be reached via email. I believe Crystal is also currently a WRDSB trustee for Cambridge/North Dumfries.
Doug Craig’s name will be on the ballot this Fall, and you may recognize him as he was Cambridge’s mayor for 18 years, until 2018.
Regional Councillor (Kitchener): four seats available
First, let’s see what the current councillors have announced:
Elizabeth Clarke, announced earlier this year that she would not be seeking re-election.
Tom Galloway has not yet announced his plans either way.
Geoff Lorentz also has not announced anything.
And the same can be said for Michael Harris.
At the time of publishing, there are three candidates who have filed for a Kitchener seat at the Regional level.
Colleen James is running and you can learn more about Colleen on her website.
Tom Hiller
Rob Deutschmann, former mayor of North Dumfries and was a candidate for Regional Chair in 2018.
Regional Councillor (Waterloo): two seats available
Jim Erb has filed for re-election and he can be reached via email.
Sean Strickland recently announced that he will not be on this Fall’s ballot.
There are currently no other candidates for the Waterloo seat on Regional Council.
Cambridge
Mayor:
Current mayor Kathryn McGarry’s name will once again be on the ballot this Fall. While Kathryn’s nomination papers list a website, it doesn’t yet appear to be up and running. She is quite active on Twitter though.
There are two other candidates currently running for Cambridge mayor. For those who are familiar with Cambridge council, you’ll recognize one of them. Current ward 4 Cambridge councillor, Jan Liggett, announced in May that she would be running for Cambridge’s top elected position. Additionally, an individual named Randy Carter has filed to run, but there is no contact or additional information to share currently.
Ward 1
Michelle Goodridge has filed, but there is no contact information shared yet.
Ward 2
Current councillor, Mike Devine, has filed for re-election.
Ward 3
Mike Mann is the current councillor but he has not yet announced one way or the other.
Nate Whalen is running, but I have not found any contact information for Nate, yet.
Ward 4
As noted above, current ward 4 councillor, Jan Liggett, will not be running for this position, as she is running for mayor instead.
Running in ward 4 though, are:
Ross Earnshaw
Barbara Harrington
Neither of them have additional contact details posted.
Ward 5
Pam Wolf is running for re-election.
Two others have also put their names forth:
Sheri Roberts
Mark Fisher
Ward 6
The current councillor, Shannon Adshade, has recently filed their papers for re-election. Three other candidates have also filed:
Kris Langford
Bill Conway, who appears to be a current trustee with the WCDSB.
Adam Cooper
Ward 7
Current councillor, Scott Hamilton, is running for re-election. Scott has been in his seat since October 2020, after a by-election.
No one else has registered in ward 7 yet.
Ward 8
Current ward 8 councillor, Nicholas Ermeta, just filed his papers yesterday.
No one else has registered in ward 8 yet.
Kitchener
Mayor
Current mayor, Berry Vrbanovic, has not filed for re-election, and no one else has put forth their name for Kitchener’s top elected position at time of publishing.
Ward 1
No nominations filed as of yet.
Ward 2
Dave Schnider has announced on social media that he will run again this Fall but has not yet filed his nomination papers. No one else has registered yet, either.
Ward 3
Kitchener’s longest-serving councillor (since 2002), John Gazzola, has not announced his plans to run or not.
Rosanne Berwick has filed her nomination papers.
Ward 4
John Vandonk
Ward 5
Kelly Galloway-Sealock announced earlier this year that, after 16 years on council, she is not running again.
Jon Massimi has registered his nomination.
Ward 6
No nominations filed as of yet.
Ward 7
No nominations filed as of yet.
Ward 8
No nominations filed as of yet.
Ward 9
Debbie Chapman has announced that she is running for a second term.
Ward 10
Stephanie Stretch, who ran as a candidate in 2018, is running again this year. Stephanie’s website doesn’t yet appear to be active, but you can find her on Twitter.
Aislinn Clancy
Waterloo
Mayor
Current mayor, Dave Jaworsky, announced in February that he won’t be running again.
Shannon Weber is currently the only candidate to have filed for mayor.
Ward 1
Sandra Hanmer is running for re-election
Ward 2
Current councillor, Royce Bodaly, filed his nomination papers this week.
Ward 3
Angela Vieth announced that after 16 years on Waterloo council, she will not be running again this year.
Hans Roach, a current WCDSB trustee for Kitchener/Wilmot, has registered to run in ward 3.
Ward 4
Diane Freeman is running again. She is completing her fourth term of council this Fall.
Ward 5
Jen Vasic announced that she will be seeking a second term.
Ward 6
Jeff Henry announced that he also won’t be running again. He served 12 years on Waterloo Council, first elected when he was 29.
Ward 7
Tenille Bonoguore, after one term, has also decided to not run again.
Two other candidates have filed in ward 7:
Bruce Polan
If you are an incumbent, please consider announcing soon, as it can impact potential candidates’ decisions on whether to run or not.
If you are considering running, there’s still time and lots of empty seats so far. I ran in 2018 and, while it was a whole lot of work, I learned a ton and met so many amazing people. As always, I am happy to answer any questions you may have about running.
Election Day is October 24th, 2022.
Current Councillors:
Region of Waterloo
Chair – Karen Redman
Regional Councillor (Cambridge) – Helen Jowett
Regional Councillor (Cambridge) – Karl Kiefer
Regional Councillor (Kitchener) – Elizabeth Clarke
Regional Councillor (Kitchener) – Tom Galloway
Regional Councillor (Kitchener) – Geoff Lorentz
Regional Councillor (Kitchener) – Michael Harris
Regional Councillor (Waterloo) – Jim Erb
Regional Councillor (Waterloo) – Sean Strickland
Cambridge
Mayor – Kathryn McGarry
Ward 1 – Donna Reid
Ward 2 – Mike Devine
Ward 3 – Mike Mann
Ward 4 – Jan Liggett
Ward 5 – Pam Wolf
Ward 6 – Shannon Adshade
Ward 7 – Scott Hamilton
Ward 8 – Nicholas Ermeta
Kitchener
Mayor – Berry Vrbanovic
Ward 1 – Scott Davey
Ward 2 – Dave Schnider
Ward 3 – John Gazzola
Ward 4 – Christine Michaud
Ward 5 – Kelly Galloway-Sealock
Ward 6 – Paul Singh
Ward 7 – Bil Ioannidis
Ward 8 – Margaret Johnston
Ward 9 – Debbie Chapman
Ward 10 – Sarah Marsh
Waterloo
Mayor – Dave Jaworsky
Ward 1 – Sandra Hanmer
Ward 2 – Royce Bodaly
Ward 3 – Angela Vieth
Ward 4 – Diane Freeman
Ward 5 – Jen Vasic
Ward 6 – Jeff Henry
Ward 7 – Tenille Bonoguore